Hello Lake Ontario! Four Mile Creek State Park (Sept. 28, 2014) and Fair Haven Beach State Park (Sept. 29 – Oct. 2, 2014) [Lake Ontario]

The Place

Lake Ontario is the furthest east of the Great Lakes.  It is bordered by New York State on the South and the Province of Ontario, Canada on the North.  It “starts” at the Niagara River at its western end, and “ends” at the St. Laurence Seaway in the east.  So far we have stayed at two New York State Parks as we’ve traveled east along the southern shore of Lake Ontario.  The parks have been lovely, and spacious with lots and lots of green space.

The Adventure

  

Four Mile Creek State Park is located four miles from the Niagara River.  The British landed at this creek during the French and Indian War in preparation for the siege and taking of the French stronghold, Fort Niagara in 1759.     The park is very popular because of its proximity to Niagara Falls.  Most of the campground is high on a 20 foot bluff overlooking the Lake.  We went down to the water at the famous creek to swim Tiki.  The shore was very rocky with large boulders and rounded stones.  We were only there for one night, and saw this lovely sunset.

Calm Seas for Fetching Tiki

Fair Haven Beach State Park is east of Rochester on Little Sodus Bay and the Lake.  The park has a little bit of everything.  It has the protected bay, a wide sand beach on the Lake, a lovely pond inhabited by about 12 swans and countless geese, a bluff overlooking the Lake, hardwood forests, and grassy open areas.   Our campsite is at the top of the bluff, about 150 feet above the level of the Lake.

Rolling Seas for the Kayak Paddle

We took the kayaks out on the pond and the Lake.  The small boat launch is into the pond, then you paddle about 100 yards through a channel to get to the Lake.   When we started the process of inflating the kayaks, the Lake was very calm and still.  By the time we got out into the Lake, the winds had picked up and the seas were rolling with 2 foot white capped waves.  So, we turned back and had a nice paddle along the shores of the pond instead.  There were geese, ducks and a rather elusive heron.  The swans were quite lovely.  Some of them were greyish in color, leading us to believe that they were young swans.  While we were out on the pond, we were startled several times by very large fish jumping out of the water.  We learned later that these were King Salmon that come to spawn in the pond every Fall.  No wonder the channel between the pond and the lake has fishermen along the sides!

The Lake

Lake Ontario is the 14th largest lake in the world and the smallest of the Great Lakes in surface area. It is the second smallest next to Lake Erie in volume.  It is very deep and ranks second in average depth only to Lake Superior.  Toronto, Ontario is the largest city along it's shores.

Keep scrolling for amazing photos of some of the swans!