Lake Champlain

For natural beauty at its finest, visit Lake Champlain. Situated between the beautiful Adirondacks and the Green Mountains of Vermont, there is plenty to do here year round. Cast a line and go fishing, float lazily along the lake in a canoe or take in your surroundings by boat, either on your own or on one of several cruises. With Lake Champlain situated in the middle of the Adirondack Park you can enjoy biking, hiking and bird watching. Even a drive around the area is full of beautiful scenery.

Lake Champlain is enormous. It was briefly considered to be the 6th Great Lake. It covers approximately 435 square miles, and is roughly 110 miles long, and 12 miles across at its widest point. The maximum depth is approximately 400 feet!

Visitors love to cruise Lake Champlain, and there are many boats that go out during the evenings in summer months. Choose from dinner or brunch cruises, singles cruises, concert cruises, sunset cruises, and even comedy tours. Yachts, motorboats, an canoes can be chartered or rented from the Westport Marina. If your boat needs servicing, you can wait in the marina's gallery and bar and enjoy great food and live entertainment. You can also pick up a picnic lunch from the gallery to enjoy on the lake. Sailing, paddling, and rowing are popular activities too.

Lake Champlain is a great place for fishing and diving. The Lamoille River, which flows into the lake, is one of the best places in the state to catch trout and go fly-fishing. Divers have found interesting historical artifacts dating back to the 1700s. Lake Champlain is one of the best place in the United States to take a look at the well-preserved wooden shipwreck that have remained intact on the bottom. Diving season begins in early June and runs until the end of August, but be advised that Lake Champlain is still very cold (40-50 degrees at its warmest). Local authorities recommend that only certified divers with similar experience should dive in the area. Register in advance with Burlington Community Boat House every time you dive.

When you're back on land, take a ride on the Lake Champlain Bikeways, a 350-mile scenic route around Lake Champlain through New York, Vermont, and Quebec, Canada. You can also bike any of the 14 trails on paved and unpaved country roads on the Adirondack coast. The more adventurous biker can try the Barn Rock Bay Trail, a woods road in the Split Rock Mountain area that drops down to the shore of Lake Champlain to terminate at a sandy beach in a scenic cove. Explore both sides of Lake Champlain by taking your bike on the ferry to bike the Water's Edge Trail. While there, visit Clintonville, which almost became the capital of New York State.

There are roughly 80 islands in northern Lake Champlain, against the Canadian border and connected by bridges and causeways. The 30-mile main road is relatively straight and quick. On your drive, pull over at one of the many parks to enjoy the scenery. If you have a boat or kayak, you can explore several small island parks between the island and the mainland. Camping is available at the Grand Isle and South Hero parks. There's plenty of golf to be played in any of the island's towns. With miles of shoreline available, as well as docks in private marinas and state parks, there are many areas to enjoy canoeing, kayaking or just motoring. You don't have to rush back to the "mainland" of Lake Champlain. In each island town you can stay at cottages, B&B's and inns and eat at various lakeside restaurants.

In the fall, view the beautiful Fall Foliage with a tour on a Lake Champlain ferry or cruise. Peak viewing is usually during the middle of October. The changing of the colors of the mix of hardwood trees, including maple, birch, oak, ash and the beautifully crisp fall weather make watching nature work very memorable. North Hero Island and South Hero Island, reached by U.S. Highway 2 from Burlington, offer lake-level views of the foliage in Vermont as well as the in Adirondacks in New York.

One of the more enduring myths surrounding Lake Champlain is that of Champ. Reminiscent of the Loch Ness monster, Ogopogo and other phenomena of cryptozoology, Champ is purportedly a giant aquatic animal that makes the lake its home. Sightings have been sporadic over time. Regardless, locals and tourists have developed something of a fondness for the creature and its legend, and depictions of Champ can now be found on tee shirts, coffee mugs, and many other tourist souvenirs. You never know, you may catch a glimpse of the legendary sea monster!

Situated in the Champlain Valley between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Even just the drive across Lake Champlain is very beautiful. Most drives are marked on the map as scenic, even the Interstate Highways. Lake Champlain can be crossed by road at only two points, near the very far southern and northern reaches of the lake. In the south, it is crossed by road at only one southerly point, the Champlain Bridge, connecting Chimney Point in Vermont with Crown Point, New York. Numerous ferries cross the lake throughout the day from Plattsburgh, Essex and Ticonderoga. Trips across take anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour, depending on lake conditions and where along the lake the crossing is made.