Northeastern rocky Lake Ontario shoreline at the entrance to the St. Lawrence River near Cape Vincent, New York. Nikon D70/Tokina 12-24mm, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 200, EV +0.3, 12mm focal length.
I have shown you many photos from and of Lake Ontario over the years. This week, I am going to share the history, uses and more beauty of the smallest (in surface area) lake of the Great Lakes. Lake Ontario has a shoreline 712 miles (1,146 km) in length. I am most familiar with the eastern shore from Oswego to Cape Vincent having grown up camping in many of the New York state parks found between the two locations.
Lake Ontario was formed after the glaciers from the last Ice Age receded along with the other Great Lakes creating the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. Together, the Great Lakes holds 21% of the world’s freshwater. The name Ontario means ‘beautiful lake’ and lives up to its name during the months when the Sun sets over its horizon. It is the 14th largest fresh water lake in the world.
Beaches farther south still have rocks mixed with more pleasant sands like this beach near Sandy Creek, New York. Nikon D70/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/100s, f/8, ISO 200, EV +0.3, 16mm focal length.
Lake Ontario sand dunes are ecologically sensitive communities made up of beach grasses, wildflowers and cottonwood trees. New York state has protected stretches of dunes along the eastern shore to keep people from literally trampling them away.
Boardwalk trails through the sand dunes of the Deer Creek Wildlife Management Area near Sandy Creek, New York. Nikon D70/50mm, 1/40s, f/16, ISO 200, EV +0.3.
Lake Ontario’s orientation allows for northeastern winds to flow over the waters which influences the weather along the eastern shore. Lake Effect creates record breaking snowfall from Syracuse to Watertown with some storms dumping over 40 inches (101 cm) in a day. Seasonal snowfall can easily reach 20 feet (600 cm) or more. In the other seasons, rain and fog can be caused by the lake.
A Lake Effect fog forms over the Oswego Harbor. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/320s, f/9, ISO 200, EV 0, 300mm focal length.
Living near a Great Lake is both extreamely enjoyable and trying. I would not trade it for any other place on Earth. 🙂
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I haven’t ever visited Lake Ontario or been in the area or Great Lakes. Gorgeous scenes, and I really like the foggy lighthouse scene. I love waterway photography.
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You and Preston would love a visit to the Great Lakes. Totally different than a trip to the seashore.
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I love the great lakes region. Though I grew up in the Deep South, once I made it to the shores of Lake Michigan, I knew I’d never leave! Excellent photos.
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Thank you, Jason. Nice to see someone who has moved to a Great Lake area.
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Such incredibly cool photos! I LOVE the clouds in that first shot — spectacular…
🙂
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Thank you! BTW, love your blog and I am no stalker. 🙂
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I have lived in Illinois, and Michigan and have enjoyed Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erei for a summer. Have taken frequent trips to Macinac Island. LOVE the great Lakes, enjoyed visiting Canada. I now live in Fla. but miss the more pristine fresh water Lakes. Your pictures are amazing and the clarity is striking!! In Michigan our ‘Lake effect” was the constant clouds and rain in the summer afternoons, by 2pm they would come rolling in off the Lake, usualy Heron!
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I drove through a Lake Michigan Lake Effect snowstorm a couple of years ago so I know it is more than rain. 🙂 We get those too off of Lake Ontario. Lake effect clouds are incredible to see from the distance. Like a wall of fluff.
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Welcome to all the new viewers and readers coming in from the Freshly Pressed page today. This is the second time I have made it on FP. Interestingly, the other one was about the bluffs along the southern shore of Lake Ontario: Showing Scale.
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21% of the world’s freshwater! Crikey. Love the picture of the beach near Sandy Creek.
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Thanks that percentage is for ALL of the Great Lakes combined. What’s really sad is how awful we take care of it. 😦
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Hello from a fellow blogger on the shores of Lake Ontario: I live in the
Rochester area and love strolling along Charlotte Beach and Hamlin Beach. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.
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Thanks! I enjoyed photographing the Lilac Festival this year.
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I live in Toronto and see this beautiful lake every day! Great shots!
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Love Toronto (but not their hockey team). Thanks!
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Great photographs 🙂 Very inspirational. I also live on the shore of Lake Ontario, but on the northwestern side, in Toronto, Ontario.
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Hello, my Canadian neighbors!
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I live in that lake effect snow area! Gosh love the storms that come through. When I visit my brother at Oswego, the winds can be intense but the sunsets are the best!
Love the post! Pictures are beautiful and thanks for the facts!
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I went to Oswego State and have experienced those winds first hand. Lots of fun to walk in on icy sidewalks around campus.
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It’ been about five years since I last visited the lake. Magnificent!
Best wishes from South Africa…
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🙂
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I crossed one of the lakes before when I went to Sault Ste. Maire to work at an Air Force Base there. The base was closed and turned into a prison. I do remember how bitterly cold it was.
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Sounds like you didn’t have a fun time there, Preston. You must visit again during the summer or early fall.
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I love the Great Lakes, which I guess is obligatory considering that I am from Michigan.
All jokes aside, these views remind me of Lake Michigan some. Lake Michigan is easily my favorite. If you have the time maybe you should check it out in the summer. There’s a ton of dunes, wineries, and the beaches are amazingly sandy.
You made me want to visit Ontario for more than just a few hours – which was the result of driving past it on a road trip. =]
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Lake Michigan is similar but different than Lake Ontario as they are 90 degrees apart in orientation. I know of Michigan’s dunes. I do need to visit western and northern Michigan someday. I have a couple of bloggers I follow I could visit along the way, too.
Next time, sue the Seaway Trail along the Lake Ontario. Do a search and get the brochure to find all the hidden treasures along the lake.
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Nice to see Canadian content on FP. I grew up in Toronto and go back often; one of my favorite memories is the ferry across the bay to the Islands. Being on a lake is lovely.
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Eh? Not really Canadian but we do share the same lakeshore!
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These were so beautiful. What a great place to see and visit. Stunning photos.
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that’s a great lake. I like it 😀
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Beautiful images. Thanks for the overview on Lake Ontario and congrats on the FP!
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Thanks, I have slipped off the front page of WordPress.com so I should be able to catch up with the comments.
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My hometown is Rochester, NY so seeing some images from my “backyard lake” was nice. Saw this on the WordPress homepage. The Lake Effect fog over Oswego Harbor was very nice in particular. And oh… To hear “Lake Effect”. 🙂 It was my mom’s go-to reason why anything was the way it was in Rochester. Thanks for a little of “home”.
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You’re welcome, Jenn. If you search for Rochester on my blog, you will find other posts right IN your old backyard.
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I’ve lived by Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario (in Rochester NY) and have frequently visited Lake Superior. People who have never seen them have no idea how big they are. The gigantic ore freighters at the edge of the horizon look like ants, even though they are huge. Jenn (above) references lake effect – it’s a big deal especially when it snows. Of course, Rochester snows every day from Halloween to Easter!
http://dogear6.com/2011/04/12/wonder-at-the-vastness-of-everything-around-us/
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Oh dogear6, you know that Rochester gets 6-inch snowstorms all the way into May! As a good friend growing up put it: Rochester has 9 months of snow and 3 months of bad sledding. *smile*
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Rochester does not get nearly the snowfall Syracuse and it’s suburbs get each year. Of course, the Tug Hill Plateau area is king when it comes to snowfall. They get nearly 200 inches each year.
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Fabulous photos and write up on my home province. Congrats on Freshly Pressed.
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Beautiful. My favorite is that walkway to the beach. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed.
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That is a lovely hike through the dunes. Thanks!
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Wonderful photos! I like the boardwalk one the best. I grew up in Toronto and saw Lake Ontario from the other side. It’s a wonderful body of water, as are all the Great Lakes. I’ve visited them all, but saw Lake Ontario and Lake Huron most often. I still miss the lakes and hope to live near them again someday. Thanks for sharing the beauty of them with everyone on WP.
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great photos! thanks for the background on the lakes!
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last time i saw it, it was during winter. it was’t so beautiful then. thank you!
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Scott,did you get Freshly Pressed again? There are a TON of comments and likes here today! Congrats if this is the case! Your Great Lakes post always make me want to visit.
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Yes I did. I am going to have a devil of a time responding to everyone but I shall try. I need to make time for the Big E, too. Someday you’ll come here and I’ll show you some fabulous places to photograph and to eat.
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So beautiful! Guess I need to visit Lake Ontario!
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I’m originially from Green Bay, WI so I’m very familiar with the Great Lakes as I’ve visited them often. Beautiful pictures! Makes me kind of home sick. 😦
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This is a great review. You just inspired me to visit Lake Ontario. You precisely explained how it was form after the glaciers receded and how it holds 21% of the world’s freshwater. Very inspirational.
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I grew up in Rochester and went to school at SUNY Brockport. My college boyfriend and I used to head up to the lake in the evening in warm weather, build small fires from driftwood and roast marshmallows. Thanks for the memories!
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I went to SUNY at Oswego and we did the same thing early in the Fall semester.
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“And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her”
…Lightfoot
Nice pics. Way worthy of the history.
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If you like this post, check out this one… Laker. My tribute to the famous shipwreck and song.
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great pics! i’ll be out that direction in october and will have to take in the scenery.
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Great photos!
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Beautiful captures. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. I traveled to the U.P. of Michigan a few years ago and will never forget the massive fresh water experience. I’m from Arizona and used to seeing the other side of the lake!
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Congratulations on the gorgeous photography. I feel as if I am there. Wonderful!
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Breathtaking photography! Now I want to see it for myself.
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Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario…so smack dab in the middle of Lakes Erie and Ontario. The Great Lakes are amazing…I was so fortunate to be within a day’s driving distance of all of them… I now live near the Arctic Ocean on Baffin Island…but I certainly miss my lakes. Will be visiting them in August…thanks for the beautiful reminder to visit…
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Wow…you are up there! Enjoy your trip south to the temperate lakes and streams of your youth.
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Thanks for sharing! Love the water and feelings it invokes.
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Thanks for all the lovely views! Love it especially the Broadwalk Trail!
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You know, I’ve never made it to Sandy Creek, which explains why that’s the one picture I didn’t recognize. Love these shots; heck, there’s almost never a bad shot of Lake Ontario. 😉
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One of these days, you and Robyn will have to come up to my parent’s camp to see these areas. The walk is not nearly as bad as the one you went on last weekend. 😉
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See there, I never knew your parents had a camp up there; the secrets you keep? Maybe we need to make a trek one weekend morning; did you know Wades is still open?
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Really? I can not believe I have not mentioned that fact. They’ve had it for years. You told me Wades was still open. Will give you a call to figure out when.
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So beautiful!Thanks to share
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love the fog over Oswego Harbor 🙂
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Small, but certainly not tiny. Taken all together, the Great Lakes hold so much water I can’t even wrap my mind around it.
Beautiful shots – thanks for sharing and glad you got Pressed!
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I LOVE lake Ontario. I stayed in a friend’s cabin at the edge of the water last fall and I can still vividly remember the sunsets and the sunrise. It seemed as if on every street and around every corner there was the photo of the century just waiting to be taken. I am still enamored with the beauty of this area. I am happy with what you are doing, showing the lake to those not fortunate enough to live there. Beautiful
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When it comes to summer sunsets, this area along the southern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario are some of the best in the world. Even National Geographic said so.
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My mom is from Minetto…
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Gorgeous pictures!! Simply breathtaking.
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What a beautiful place, Scott ! Your pictures tellhow much you love living there. Each one shows a different aspect of Lake Ontario : the vastness, the dunes and the dreamy look on a misty day. Congratulations !
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Thanks, Isa! There’s more to come this week. You’ve seen others in the past, dear friend.
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My eyes infected by your photos, wish i were there .. XD
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I had been to Canada once and the most striking memory I retain of Canada is the lake. Love your photos and the interesting information you share about the Lake.
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great view, great lake, great photos!
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Amazing place and beautiful photos! I miss home now..
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Beautiful pictures. The nearest I’ve got to Lake Ontario is Toronto, and much as I love the city, I think your side is more aesthetically pleasing!
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed 🙂
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Absolutely stunning!
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This set makes me seriously homesick.
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Awww, sorry, Greg. Must be hard at times living so far from home. Beautiful blog and very interesting work you do.
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good one
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amazing
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The photos makes me want to go and see it with my own eyes- not just through the lenses of the camera.
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Wow!! It is beautiful!! The nature is really great!
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Beautiful place, and lovely images, congrats on being pressed too!
Rob
http://robfranklin83.wordpress.com
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Nice snaps! Got nothing more to say. 🙂
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So beautiful. . those images are amazing. .
Congratulations on being pressed! Well deserved 🙂
Edwin
http://awkwardlist.com
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Hi Scott,
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. Your passion comes through in both your photos and your writing.
I live across from Westcott Beach State Park and am in LOVE with Lake Ontario. (This time of year that is easy to say.)
The wind off Lake Ontario is very important to all of us and creates marvelous, ever changing weather patterns; every local is sensitive to what is “coming off the lake”. The Wind and the Lake protect us – keeps us warmer in the winter, sends the snow past us to neighboring towns,
When I am standing in my front yard in a parka, trying to get my dog to do his business in the frigid winds, I sometimes question my sanity, but as you can tell – I know how lucky I am.
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Westcott was my family’s favorite state park. We camped there many times and I remember fishing in the boat dock area when I was a kid. Had (still has?) one of the best beaches on the eastern shore.
Sanity is relative. 🙂 The rewards far away the demands of Lake Ontario.
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Greetings from a fellow Oswego Alumni! Can’t tell you how many evenings, in the late 8o’s, I sat out behind Johnson and Lakeside Dining Hall to watch the sunset with friends. I have one sunset picture (film) that I enlarged and framed. We live in Auburn and still make a yearly trek to Rudy’s for fish, drive the campus, and enjoy ice cream before heading back home. I can remember the icy cold days walking to classes, with lake-effect snow stinging your face. Brrr!
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I was a decade behind you but somethings never change. Going out to watch the sunset after dinner was a ritual I loved doing. In fact, I’ll be doing that tonight as I head up for dinner at Rudy’s for a fish sandwich. I’ll be thinking of ya, Deb!
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I want to stay there after seeing those amazing pics!
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Beautiful pictures. I am from Burlington, Ontario and enjoyed weekend trips to the Lake. I am now in Texas and miss the calming waves.
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very beautiful pictures bro!! 😉
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I really like the pics! Great Blog!
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Very nice:)
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Beautiful photographs. I love seeing pictures of Canadian, thanks for the post.
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VERY nice shots, Scott! The last one, the foggy lighthouse, is really, really great!
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Thank you for the beautiful pictures and article about Lake Ontario! I grew up on or around the lake, Williamson, NY to Waterport, NY going west. I was lucky enough to live on the lake while I was in high school and spent a lot of time on the shore just looking out toward the horizon.
One evening at sunset I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the buildings of Toronto reflected upside down in the clouds on the western horizon and didn’t have any film in my camera! I live in the south, near the ocean now, and I miss the lake almost daily in the summertime.
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Thanks for sharing. Is very good and very interesting.
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California, you can have your “paradise” of salt water. I’ll take my Great Lakes over any other shoreline any day! The only Great Lake I’m not so ecstatic about is Erie. Now, Superior is something truly wonderful!
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The picture of the walkway to the ocean is my favorite. Excellent work. Glad I found you. Always nice to find other photographers out here posting and not just selling. Come by and visit at my spot when you have a second… http://www.cbowiephoto.wordpress.com
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Love the lighthouse shot!
I’ve been to a few of the Great Lakes (and lived near Lake Michigan for about 8 years) but have never been to Lake Ontario.
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You have an open invitation. Maybe next year, eh?
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Thanks! 🙂
You never know… next year could be a possibility (maybe!)
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Thank you for sharing content.
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Awesome pics! What do you shoot with?
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Visit my Equipment page (link at top of page) for a round up of all the stuff I use.
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I love the last shot, I would never have thought to include the bottom path(walkway) in the photo. I took me forever to scroll down to make comment. 😉
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That’s part of the break wall and it helps lead the eye through the photo. At least, I hope it does!
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These are really wonderful photos, Scott!
You certainly have got a lot of (well deserved) comments on this post,was it presented on Freshly pressed?
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Oh, I just read that you did have it on Freshly pressed, – so this mean one answer less to write. 🙂
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But how could I not respond to my favorite blogger from Denmark? Hi, Birgitte! Having a good summer?
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A bit rainy I would say, after 2 times cloudburst (for the time being), but a good blog-compliment make the inner sun shine . 🙂
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You were Freshly Pressed on this one! Congratulations, Scott. 🙂
“Living near a Great Lake is both extreamely enjoyable and trying. I would not trade it for any other place on Earth.” I hear ya on that one. I live near Lake Erie.
Your photos are beautiful and I enjoyed learning something about Lake Ontario. Makes me want to visit the lake again someday.
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Thanks, Robin! I know you have been traveling a lot this summer but a Great Lake is worth another trip. 🙂
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Very nice work Scott, Upstate New York is one of the most beautiful places in the world!
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You ain’t just whistling Dixie! You should come up now and escape the heat in Florida.
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I had to make a special trip to the Elk Rapids library to see all the photos, and it was worth it. They’re just wonderful Scott. I’m glad you were Freshly Pressed. The landscape looks just like home–imagine that!
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What? No broadband at the Writing Studio and Bait Shop yet? Thank you for making the trip. Makes me feel good you feel it was worth the effort.
I see many similarities to your neck of the woods…er, lakes. 🙂
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What a fabulous post you have made here – I’m glad this got “Freshly pressed” and and thus was viewed – and commented! – by many. I hope you get time to relax in the summer in between reading and replying all the comments;-)
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