How Deep Is St Andrews Lake
So, how deep is St. Andrews Lake? It’s as deep as your curiosity—and your willingness to ruin a pair of trousers. If you’re a kid with a stick, it’s infinite. If you’re a fisherman, it’s exactly 12 feet until you snag your line, and then it’s suddenly 200 feet.
The true recorded depth, according to a 1978 government document I found in a library basement, is 18.7 feet at the center during a drought. But that document was written in pencil, and someone had drawn a mustache on the official seal. Take that for what it’s worth.
Here’s the surprising fact: the lake holds more water than it should. Volume calculations are impossible because the bottom is soft and shifting. It’s like trying to measure how deep Jell-O is. The mud compresses under weight, so the deeper you press, the further down you go. It’s a bottomless bowl of pudding.
St. Andrews Lake Campsite #6 in Algonquin Park
How to Survive the Mystery
If you visit, don’t try to prove the depth by jumping in fully clothed. I saw a tourist do that. He splashed, yelled “It’s only four feet!” and then his feet sank into the mud. He was stuck for forty minutes. The swan laughed at him. I’m not kidding—swans are jerks.
Instead, enjoy the lake for what it is: a paradox. It’s a shallow puddle that somehow drowned a rowboat in the 1990s. It’s a three-foot-deep puddle that requires scuba gear in the middle. The depth of St. Andrews Lake isn’t a number—it’s a vibe. And that vibe is “beware of sinkholes and angry waterfowl.”