What better way to celebrate a new year than a swim in Canyon Lake, where I first fell in love with open water swimming 8 years ago.
Canyon Lake is one of four reservoirs that were formed by the damming of the Salt River in 1925. The lake has a surface area of 950 acres, and is the third and smallest of four lakes created along the Salt River. The average depth is 130 ft, and surface elevation is 1660 ft. It’s within the Superstition Wilderness of Tonto National Forest, which encompasses 2,873,200 acres and is the fifth largest national forest in the United States.
There are two main swimmming areas at the lake, Acacia and Boulder. Boulder prohibits motorized boats, so it’s great to swim there when the lake is busy. The area near the beach at Acacia is a “no wake” zone. On days like this, when there is only a boat or two on the water, I prefer to swim here at Acacia with a view of these stunning canyon walls.
The air temperature when I arrived was 60F and the water temperature near the shoreline was 54F. I keep a pool thermometer in my swim bag, and I’ve been documenting the lake temperature over several years. Five years ago, I swam around this time in January and the water temperature was the same. I swam then without a wetsuit, and I was determined to do it again even though I’ve done no cold water training for the past few years.
I’ve learned the hard way to enter the water gradually, making sure my breathing is relaxed and easy before I completely submerge. It took a few minutes to adjust, but as I started slowly swimming I was suprised that it almost felt comfortable. I swam out to the first buoy and then parallel to the shore to another buoy.
I made a few loops and then came back to shore, hanging out in the shallow water for a while enjoying what felt like warm water at that point. I was tempted to stay in longer than 25 minutes, but I had accomplished my goal and didn’t want to overdo it the first time. I sat on the beach for a while with a large towel wrapped around me, and again was suprised that I never started shaking!
Canyon Lake is about a 2 hour drive from Tucson, but the joy of open water swimming in such a beautiful place makes it worth while!
If you’re interested in swimming with a group at this lake or others in Arizona, please check out two Facebook groups I manage: AZ Open Water Swimming and Southern Arizona Open Water Swimmers.
