I’ve been swimming every evening since a heat wave hit the northwoods. After a cold blustery June, it seemed like summer was never going to come. Then hot and humid weather arrived at the beginning of July—it was 80-90 for a week straight (the 4th of July parade in Tower was stifling)—and the water in the lake warmed up fast.
But no matter how warm the weather gets, it’s still a shock to dive into Lake Vermilion. And by shock I mean a good, wake-up-the-soul, shake-off-the-cobwebs kind of shock. It’s so enlivening to leap off the dock into that cold glacial lake and have the oppressive heat instantly washed away. For a moment I feel like the kid I was back in the 1960’s leaping off my Grandpa and Grandma Wilson’s dock on Lower Hay Lake north of Brainerd.
I like to swim just before sunset. I took this photo last night from our dock, facing west toward Daisy Island. I was about to dive in…