Just Add Water The Joys of Lakeside Camping By Dave G. Houser
RVers who have given it a try will be quick to tell you there are few things that can match the pleasure of a lakeside camping experience. The sound of waves lapping ashore are at the same time comforting and invigorating—offering soothing nights of sleep while encouraging a variety of activities ranging from swimming, fishing, and boating to gathering around a crackling campfire for food, drinks, and friendly conversation. America is home to an amazing number and variety of lakes. The five largest of them—the Great Lakes— are simply humongous. The largest, Lake Superior, covers 31,700 square miles, more than ten times the size of Texas. The total area of all five—Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario—is a whopping 94,250 square miles—almost the same size as the nation’s four largest states combined: Alaska, Texas, California and Montana. It should be noted that all the Great Lakes except Lake Michigan share some shoreline with the Canadian province of Ontario.
Lake Pontchartrain
Some of our nation’s lakes are quite unique. Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, which spreads out over more than 730 square miles, is the second largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous United States after Lake Michigan. Who knew? (Apologies to Walmart.) The country also is home to a pair of saltwater lakes— the Great Salt Lake in Utah, the largest (1,700 square miles) body of saltwater in the Western Hemisphere— and California’s 347 square mile Salton Sea. Louisiana’s Mississippi delta boasts the nation’s most numerous brackish lakes: Pontchartrain, Charles and Maurepas. These semi-salty bodies of water are technically defined as containing from 1 to 30 grams of salt per liter (a maximum of about a teaspoon). Several of America’s best known and most popular lakes are man-made. The Colorado River serves as the source for two large reservoirs that provide hydro power, irrigation water, and recreation—including great camping opportunities—for millions of visitors annually. Arizona’s Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell while Hoover Dam, to the south, forms Lake Mead, bordering Arizona and Nevada. Both lakes cover about 250 square miles, although they’ve been losing capacity in recent years due to the ongoing drought in the Southwest. Surrounded by rolling prairies and holding back the mighty Missouri River, Lake Oahe—occupying 655 square miles in North and South Dakota—is (by default) the largest man-made lake / reservoir in the U.S. Normally Mead and Powell would be larger in terms of volume, but shrinkage due to drought in the Colorado River Basin has given the upper hand to Oahe.
Lake Superior
JUST ADD WATER
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER 2026 | 25
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