We found Moreau Lake State Park after an exhaustive search for activities that were reasonably priced and appropriate for distancing. At $8 per car, the entrance fee felt much more reasonable than several of the exploration parks that charged $10-20/pp to hike in forests and explore rock structures.
We arrived at Moreau Lake on a scouting expedition one overcast evening. It drizzled while we were there, but we were able to gather reconnoissance for future visits. There is a beach with a large section overseen by a lifeguard and a section that is unguarded. The park has a nature center, currently closed, and boat access. Only unmotored boats (and other floatation devices) are allowed on the lake.
Moreau Lake is a “kettle hole” lake which means it was formed by glaciers pressing down as they slowly moved. This explains its bowl shape (it’s an average of 32 ft deep and 50 ft at the deepest point). The last glacier melted roughly 10,000 years ago leaving behind the lake we see today. There is a little over 3 1/2 miles of shoreline around this 128 acre lake. The kids dubbed this the “glacier lake.”
(Doesn’t John look like his mask is a beak here?)
We took a short walk, but both kids slipped off the wet logs they were walking on and it began raining more earnestly, so we decided to make it a quick exploration. Before we left, we found a turtle’s nest that the park rangers had labeled and roped off.
The selling point for this park is the unique layout of the picnic tables. As you begin walking through the forest, there are picnic tables and charcoal grills periodically. It looks like a tornado swept them up and deposited them in random semi-clearings throughout the forest. There is an abundance of picnic tables with views of the forest and lake. We even found one picnic table had been dropped in the water, further reinforcing my idea that they landed haphazardly.
We returned on an overcast day with hopes for the beach. Dogs are not allowed in the guarded section of the beach, but are permitted everywhere else. The land directly adjacent to the “real beach” was acceptable, so we set up our beach chairs and supplies there. Pre-pandemic, I ordered a new set of beach toys off Amazon for our adventures, and the toys with their mesh bag have produced so much unbridled joy that they are worth their weight in gold. The girls were most delighted to swim in the deep section, playing “swim lessons” and practicing floating. Since they had only been able to get in waist-high in Lake Erie, they found the experience of “real swimming” to be simply marvelous. At some point, the lifeguards announced that there was bad weather coming in and the water would close in the event of lightning. Everyone started packing up; I spent this time attempting to garnish the attention of my little mermaids. By the time I had lured them back to land, a torrential downpour had started and we ran to the car, soaking. We waited out the storm while we ate our lunch watching most of the other few guests as they left. When we were done eating, the rain had cleared and we returned to beach frolicking until the beach closed for the day. Our chairs were a bit wet for the rest of the day and never quite dried out since the sun didn’t fully re-appear, but there was enough sunshine in our hearts to last us all day.
We returned on the 5th of July and, as expected for a busy holiday weekend, the beaches were way too busy. There are strict rules about occupancy on the beach, but unfortunately, this led to a line up of people waiting to get on and standing close to the beach so it was impossible to enter or leave without walking through a small crowd. We briefly explored the trails, but they were all overrun with hikers and picnickers. We left, feeling a bit deflated. After a little bit of creative thinking, we decided to purchase an inflatable boat.
Anyone who knows my history with inflatable rafts will find this amusing. Luckily, our boat is supposed to be non-penetrable and there are three chambers in case one fails. We all enjoyed our time on the lake. Since the boat only came with one set of paddles, John was our designated engine. I was able to sit back and enjoy the light dancing on the water and the cool breeze across the lake. As soon as we reached a deep section, the kids dove into the water and only re-emerged for food. After our first trip with the boat, we learned to bring a plastic bag for our snack bag, leave the towels in the car (every time the kids came into boat, it was like the skies opened up on us, splashing and adding an inch of water to the bottom), and try to keep electronics to a minimum and within the waterproof envelope that came with the boat. John would occasionally row us closer to shore to play Wizards United. I rotated between reading, writing, and listening to music/podcasts. The kids played all sorts of water games, and they used an empty iced tea gallon jug as a flotation device when they got tired. Since then, we remembered the blow-up floats we’ve stored in our garage for years (but were unable to use at our community pool) and had stuck in the outside compartment if our RV “just in case.”
We returned another evening for an evening boat trip, preferring this quiet lake for our purposes to the more popular Lake George. While we were on the lake, we saw several swimmers, crossing the lake, paddleboarders, and kayakers.
On one of our last days in the area, I returned to the park with the kids, hoping the beach would be less crowded on a weekday. Unfortunately, there were too many beach-goers, so we decided to hike around part of the lake, hoping to find a secluded entrance to the water. As we entered the forest, we were met by HUNDREDS of tiny frogs. The kids stopped for a few minutes and scooped up handfuls of baby frogs to examine. As we returned them to the forest floor, we made sure to point them back in the direction they had been heading. It was difficult to hike through this area and avoid stepping on the baby frogs because there were that many coming in from the shoreline.
Once we were halfway around the upper loop of the lake, we found some informational signs and learned more about the natural habitat and creatures at Lake Moreau. Lake Moreau is home to some bald eagles in the spring and early summer. The bald eagles travel to and from Newfoundland. At one time, there was only one nesting pair of bald eagles in the area, but a ban on DDT in the 1970s has helped the population move from endangered to threatened. Unfortunately, the walk was very buggy and the only entrances to the water were in marshland. I had visions of water snakes and other nefarious creatures, so we stayed on the path until we hit the campground.
As with all the state parks we visited, I was impressed with the campsites. Lovely scenery and spacious sites can be found in the Moreau Lake campground. Since I did not have cell signal or a map, I trusted my gut, following the road through the campground until we found another hiking trail. This path brought us down towards the lake (and eventually across it), we found several little doorways towards the water. While we were not alone, I found a comfortable plot of sand far from the others on this side of the lake so I could enjoy a podcast while watching the kids wade into the water, splashing and floating to their heart’s delight.
Moreau Lake gets a big thumbs up for providing sand, sun, and lots of restorative time on the water.
