West Okoboji Lake and the Iowa Great Lakes
Glacial Lake · Okoboji, Iowa
A glacial lake in the far north-west of Iowa, cut by the Wisconsin Glacier about fourteen thousand years ago and reaching roughly 136 feet — the deepest lake in the state. It anchors a chain called the Iowa Great Lakes, with East Okoboji and Spirit Lake alongside, and it has been a resort area since the nineteenth century. The water really is unusually clear and blue, because it carries very little algae. What it is not is one of only three blue-water lakes in the world, a claim you will hear constantly here and which has been refuted.
West Okoboji Lake, Okoboji, Iowa, United States
The lake and the public beaches are free, and Gull Point State Park is free with free parking as at every Iowa state park. ⚠ MUCH OF THE WEST OKOBOJI SHORELINE IS PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY — plan which public access point you are using rather than driving round looking for a gap. Lifeguarding is limited and seasonal at best; treat most of the lake as unguarded. ⚠ THE WATER IS DEEP AND COLD, roughly 136 feet at its deepest with a pronounced thermocline, so it is very cold a short way below the surface even in August. Boat and paddle hire is seasonal and fills in July and August. Arnolds Park Amusement Park is separately ticketed. ⚠ THE RESORT ECONOMY LARGELY CLOSES IN WINTER, when ice fishing is the local season and ice conditions must be checked locally rather than assumed. ⚠ NO POSTCODE IS RECORDED: it is a lake, and OpenStreetMap returns none.
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