The Swimming Hole; Harrisville's Hidden Treasure.

Down a dirt road, teetering on the edge of the town of Harrisville lies a gem. A crystal clear body of water, covered by trees and barbed wired fences. It may be slightly illegal to go to, but the police don't care as long as you're not trashing the area. But why would anyone want to? The clear, small, deep body of water is so beautiful, you almost don't want to jump in.

I went there the first time last summer. The Swimming Hole is actually an old quarry that got filled with water over the years after the all the minerals were taken out. There's a few little fish [although now that I think about it, I don't know how those got there] and some rumored snapping turtles. When I first got there, I was amazed by its beauty, but a little creeped out by the fact that it was a query and thought the water was unsafe. But Don had been swimming there for years and he wasn't glowing green yet, so I jumped in. Let me tell you, you have never felt anything as clear as this water. If you don't think that water can feel clear, you are absolutely mistaken. It feels like a breath of spring air, but on your chest instead of inside it.

Besides its clear water, the Swimming Hole has other magical attributes. There's no outside water corrupting it and it's pretty small [about half a mile long, and 500 yards wide] so therefore it gets warmer faster. That's a big deal when you only have about a month to swim if you swim at the lake here in Northern Michigan. It's June and I can already swim at the swimming hole,so I start my summer early. And The Swimming Hole is relativley private. You have to go through the woods and find a hole in the fence to get there. Only twice, between this summer and last summer, have I seen other people there besides who I bring. It's like having your own personal beach.

Today, Don and I had one of these such encounters. We had just arrived when we heard a car pull up. It took a while, but finally a man came down the path and greeted us. We thought that he was going to tell us that we weren't supposed to be there, but instead he said "So... this is the famous swimming hole?" and sat down and talked to us for an hour. He said that he had lived in this area for a while and never heard of this place until he saw us swimming there last week. He saw us swimming there again and decided to see what was going on. It was pretty nice to have him there because it took my mind off the sun burning my skin. But he didn't overstay his "welcome". He left when Don got in the water.

It's been a pretty rainy June, and it's kicked up a lot of murk from the bottom and created a lot of algae on the top, so I don't think it's the best season to go swimming there, but who cares? It's 80 degrees and that water is nice and cold. Perhaps I'll go again tomorrow.


PLUS! Don doing Asian Poses!