Looping Around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York

The area which is currently known as the Lake Champlain (or simply Champlain) Valley was once an ocean. Through a series of tectonic plate shifts, the predecessors to the current Adirondack and Green Mountains formed and salt water gave way to a freshwater lake.

Lake Champlain touches the states of Vermont and New York in the USA and southern Quebec Province in Canada. It is 514 square miles (1,331 square kilometers) and is 107 miles long. At its widest point, it is 14 miles wide and at its deepest is 400 feet (122 meters).

Although people had lived on this land for thousands of years, Lake Champlain was named by and after Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who also founded Quebec City, in 1609.

The U.S. Navy’s first fleet sailed the Lake during the American Revolution and Benedict Arnold’s fleet lost a battle here near Valcour Island but was successful in delaying the British Fleet’s arrival in Ticonderoga, New York leading to an American victory there. Today, you can visit Whitehall, New York at the south end of the lake, which is credited with being the “birthplace of the U.S. Navy”, the old British fortress at Crown Point and the battlefield of Ticonderoga.

Lake Champlain is also, allegedly, home to “Champ”, a serpent-like monster whom more than 300 people claim to have sighted. In 1970, Vermont Life magazine credited Samuel de Champlain to have seen Champ, though his actual notes indicate it may have been a large fish, like a gar or a gar pike. Other reports have been made over the years, including a photo taken in 1977 by Sandra Mansi whose validity has been disputed as perhaps a “floating tree trunk”. Efforts to validate the photograph were impossible as Ms Mansi no longer had her negative and could not recall where she took it. For more on Champ, click here.

Our trip around the lake began as we crossed from Quebec at Alburg Landing and headed east into St. Albans for lunch at Jeff’s Maine Seafood. We stayed with friends in Essex near Mallet’s Bay in Colchester, in Charlotte near the Essex NY Ferry landing, in Westport, NY and in South Hero, VT. We completed our loop visiting with friends in Oakledge Park in Burlington and with friends of my parents in Chazy, NY before heading north and back across the border.

The Champlain Valley is a beautiful place in the world in any season but is spectacular in summer. If you’re making a visit, consider checking out the Burlington waterfront or taking a ride on the Spirit of Ethan Allen, visiting beaches or boating on the lake and visiting the Lake Champlain islands. Having lived here for many years, I still can’t get enough of this beautiful place. And to all our hosts, thank you for your hospitality, friendship and good times. Until we meet again…

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