Madison Beaches...Good, Good, Good Vibrations
It's a hot, muggy Madison day and nothing would feel better than a cool dip in the lake. Take your pick, we've got lots of Lakes: Mendota, Monona, and Wingra are all within the city's limits. And Madison has plenty of beaches, too --- 13 in all, ten of them with lifeguards.
What Madison doesn't have, however, is consistently swimable water. The problem? Well, all those wonderful bodies of water are surrounded by yards and parks lush with grass, leaves, and other plant life. And all that plant life, when it runs off into the lakes, provides nutrients for algae growth. Also, the ducks, geese and other water fowl that swim and dip in the lakes do what all living things have to do after they eat...which means that certain unmentionable bacteria sometimes show up in the water.
However, that doesn't mean you can never swim. The city's health department monitors the beaches on a daily basis. You can check conditions and whether a particular beach is open or closed at www.cityofmadison.com/beaches/ .
The four major beaches with lifeguards and hours 11am-7pm are:
BB Clarke Beach, 835 Spaight Street
Olbrich Beach, 3527 Atwood Ave.
Tenney Beach, 1254 Sherman Ave.
Vilas Beach, 1339 Vilas Park Drive
Other beaches with lifeguards and hours 12:30pm-4:30pm include:
Bernies Beach, 901 Gilson Street
Esther Beach, 2801 Winona Way
Spring Harbor Beach, 1918 Norman Way
James Madison Beach, 614 E. Gorham Street
Olin Beach, 1155 Olin-Turville Court
Warner Beach, 1101 Woodward Drive
Three city beaches do not have lifeguards. Swimming is permitted, but swim at your own risk:
Brittingham Beach, 701 West Brittingham Place
Hudson Beach, 2713 Lakeland Ave.
Marshall Beach, 2101 Allen Blvd.
And of course, there's the pier at Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. (just off Memorial Union Terrace) There is no beach, but there is a lifeguard on duty from 11am-8pm.
The www.cityofmadison.com/beaches/ website includes links to maps for each of the beaches. Other information about Madison's beaches can be found at http://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/beaches.html .
