I just released the Canadian equivalent of this video - check it out here! th-cam.com/video/-q9YnRamO1I/w-d-xo.html Thanks so much for watching everyone!
Minnesota actually has 11,842 lakes, and Wisconsin has over 15,000(though wisconson only has more because of the different ways these states categorize lakes and ponds)
@@brqxton8974 Minnesota requires a lake to be at least 10 acres in order to count as a "lake". Wisconsin just requires 2.2 acres. Minnesota would have considerably more than Wisconsin with identical criteria. Alaska has far more than both MN and WI.
The island is privately owned and conserved by the family who owns it for use in preserving native Hawaiian culture. Pretty sure outsiders aren't allowed in.
The Robinsons ARE Native Hawai'ian culture. They're part white, but they speak Hawai'ian and having their own island is the most Hawai'ian thing ever. Not like that Larry Ellison guy that owns the old estate of the villain Sanford Dole....
@@countryball-enjoyer There's a consonant between the I's in Hawai'i, indicated by an apostrophe. It's usually dropped talking about the state, but it should be used when talking about native Hawai'ians.
Fun fact about Somersville Lake in WV. Normally, the USACE names dams after either the nearest town or the river they’re on. But the nearest town to the Somersville Dam was the former town of Gad. The Corps realized that Gad Dam wasn’t going to fly because of how it sounded, and that Gauley Dam wasn’t much better, so they had to call it Somersville Dam.
Kinda surprised that Massachusetts's largest lake wasn't Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, but after looking it up, it's actually quite small. The fact that its largest lake, or reservoir, is surrounded by undeveloped land probably does help the water quality a lot. I've noticed that their water is a lot better than other states.
FUN FACT: Quabbin reservoir was the target destination for infestation by the Malicious aliens in "Dreamcatcher" the novel/Movie from Stephen King.. Check it out - the movie has lesser known actors of the time - Jason Lee, Thomas Jane, TImothy Olyphant, Damien Lewis... with a stunning cameo by Morgan Freeman.
Access is actually restricted around the Quabbin Reservoir and several towns were abandoned in order to fill the area with water. I hear that the local historical society may do annual walkabouts of the property though.
Lake Chargogg... is also partially in CT which would have taken it out of the running here regardless, however I do love that lake, grew up like 10mins from there and took a lot of pride in learning how to spell it lol
6:35 Another fun fact about the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts is that 4 whole towns (Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, & Prescott) were flooded to make it.
The street view you showed for Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota was actually primarily showing Lake Audubon. The two lakes are separated by an embankment formed by US Highway 83, and the two lakes have been as much as 41' different in surface elevation when the reservoir side is particularly low. The Snake Creek pumping station on the north end of the highway embankment pumps water from Sakakawea to Audubon, maintaining a target surface elevation of about 1847' ASL for Lake Audubon due to irrigation and water supply requirements.
Sorry for the oversight, and nice catch. I'm in Sweden this week for GeoGuessr commentary work and rushed to get this video finished before my flight - definitely regretting that choice now since I was a little sloppy, but a lesson learned for sure.
@@ChicagoGeographer It's an easy oversight, they look like the same lake! Not a mark on your video's quality, I just noticed and thought I'd share a fun fact. Have fun in Sweden!
@brqxton8974 yeah, I grew up in Iowa. Cousins were from MN. Always having "discussions" about lakes vs reservoirs. Lakes are generally cleaner, unless it's drought. Then they get green and slimy. Reservoirs are muddier and have some current. I enjoy both, but prefer lakes, except in FL. Not a fan of those large reptiles. 😉
I mean not really there's plenty of places that share names with the same origin that are spread way out. Vancouver BC and Vancouver WA come to mind but there's endless examples.
Candlewood Lake 😍 for whatever reason the US Census has 5 separate communities all named after Candlewood Lake: Candlewood Isle, Candlewood Knolls, Candlewood Lake Club, Candlewood Orchards, and Candlewood Shores
The great salt pake is probably larger than lliamna lake right now. With last year and this year both having very wet years, causing it to go up a ton over those years
YOOOOOO TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES MENTIONED! I used to live there in my childhood. I now live in South Florida, but I miss living in Truth or Consequences (And yes, I did use to swim in the lake 😂). Fond memories were made there; Great video man!
Somewhat apocryphal, but the West Virginia legend says that when "Summersville" Dam was built, there was a village near the dam-site called "Gad." It was the Army Corps of Engineers' custom to name the dam and the lake after the nearest town (or village) but nobody in their right mind wanted to call it the "Gad Dam" so they named it after Summersville...which is nowhere really near the dam or even the lakeshore. Various people say that the village of Gad was just on the other side of the dam-site so now is under water...so it's kind of hard to prove whether the story is fact or a bit of folk history. But it's fun either way.
Not only is Lake Michigan the largest lake entirely in the US, it's the largest lake (by surface area) in the world that is entirely within one country (Lake Baikal, in Russia, is larger by volume, but has a smaller surface area).
Lake Baikal is such an unique place in the world, that geologists have estimated the actual rock lakebed/ floor lies below a couple thousand feet of sediment. It has several different ecosystems, much like the ocean tiers.
@@tonydentonarms4112 You seem to have overlooked six very important words in my statement. For ease and convenience, I will restate them here with increased emphasis so they have some chance of registering in your mind. "THAT IS ENTIRELY WITHIN ONE COUNTRY"! Lake Superior, while larger than Lake Michigan, is divided between the US and Canada. The same is true of Lake Huron. Lake Michigan is entirely within one country: the US.
Dude, the first time in was in Colorado we went over the reservoir at maybe 11pm with a full moon. It was amazing the way the moonlight was bouncing off the lake and the mountains. The black canyon, which is a national park just west of there is also extremely underrated. It's one of my favorite national parks I've been to. (I'm about a third of the way through them).
Tennessee also had no natural lakes until the Mississippi River earthquakes of 1811-1812 ( one of which is believed to have been the strongest recorded earthquake in US history) REVERSED the flow of that river and created Reelfoot Lake in the northwest corner of the state- still its only natural lake!
Ok I drove through Accident, MD last week, not knowing that was the town I was in and ate at a restaurant called The Ridge. The next day I'm checking my checking account and it shows a charge from MD, with the word Accident...and im like what the hell?
Love this video! Massive fan of all your videos (your US GeoGuessr skills are amazing...) but I love these state run downs. Your Highest Point in Every State is one of my all time faves! Thank you for always making awesome content, CG!
A lot of those lakes are rivers with dams across them. One of the largest is Lake Mead that was at one time 112 miles long and the largest man-made lake in the country. Because of the height of Hoover Dam across the Colorado River, Lake Mead is quite wide at several places. But, at heart, it is still a river with a dam across it. I have been up in the Northeast end of Lake Mead until we could not get the motor to push us any farther due to the swift river current as the Colorado left the Grand Canyon (This was about 1958).
15:58 many people would think that lake Tahoe is the biggest lake in California (it shares a state border with Nevada). But I drove around Tahoe in about 45 minutes. The Salton Sea took way longer to get around. I was extremely surprised.
I hadn't been to any of these when I first watched but I recently camped at Carlyle Lake, IL. It was really pretty and I like how it had a lot of biking trails and I love biking. 😄
We have had a couple great snow years, so the GSL is up about 7 feet from where it was at the 2022 record low so it might actually be back in #1. 😁 The 2022 record low was a surface elevation of 4188', it's up to 4195' now. The record in the 1980s was 4211' when it hit that >3200 mi²... it's fairly shallow, so small changes in depth make the surface area change dramatically.
I was curious what would happen if you added in the Canadian provinces to this list, how they would fare. As such, I've reranked the top 20, including lakes entirely within a Canadian province or territory (spoilers, by the way, if you haven't watched the video) 1. Northwest Territories - Great Bear Lake (31,153 km) 2. Manitoba - Lake Winnepeg (24,514 km) 3. Newfoundland and Labrador - Smallwood Reservoir (6,650 km) 4. Nunavut - Nettilling Lake (5,542 km) 5. Ontario - Lake Nipigon (4,848 km) 6. Quebec - Caniapsicau Reservoir (4,318 km) 7. Saskachewan - Wollaston Lake (2,681 km) 8. Alaska - Iliamna Lake (2,622 km) 9. Utah - Great Salt Lake (2,460 km) 10. Florida - Lake Okeechobe (1,891 km) 11. British Colombia - Williston Lake (1,761 km) 12. Louisiana - Lake Pontchartrain (1,634 km) 13. North Dakota - Lake Sakakawea (1,489 km) 14. Alberta - Lake Claire (1,436 km) 15. Minnesota - Red Lake (1,150 km) 16. Nova Scotia - Bras d’Or Lake (1,099 km) 17. Montana - Fort Peck Lake (991 km) 18. California - Salton Sea (824 km) 19. Wisconsin - Lake Winnebago (557 km) 20. Texas - Sam Reyburn Reservoir (464 km) Sorry about the lack of freedom units.
I actually lived near Milford Lake in Kansas for a couple of years, but didn't know it existed at the time due to living even closer to the similar but slightly smaller Tuttle Creek Reservoir, which was the lake my family always went to when we lived in the area.
Smith Mountain Lake is quite literally my favorite place in the world. My dad and I are actively campaigning to convince my mom for them to move there when they retire.
Went to Carlyle Lake for the first time in April as it was JUST inside the path of totality for the eclipse, and I was really impressed! Rent a cabin was very reasonably priced, and getting to camp in a cabin about 15 feet from a lake, that was cool. Highly recommended!
the spiderweb-y alcoves of lake Cumberland, paired with the rocky and forested edges, make for very peaceful and relaxing places to lay anchor and wade. and theres plenty of room for tubing in the wider sections
Great Video, though as a native Utahan I do have a comment on the Great Salt Lake. Though it is currently very low, we actually have had two good snow years in a row as of 2024 so the lake has actually been rising recently. If you go to google earth and zoom in on the great salt lake you may notice that it changes size, because the satellite imagery is more recent on the zoomed out image. It's a great way to see how much the lake has recovered, and I hope it continues to do so.
I live about 15 minutes from Oneida Lake in NYS, and it is enormous. I've gone fishing there before, and when you're in the middle of the lake, you can't see any land around you. I work in the town of Sylvan beach and can catch views of the sun lowering itself beneath the lake some nights, it's beautiful.
Pyramid Lake is wonderful. I live in Michigan, have been to 3 of the 5 Great Lakes, but this is my favorite. It's warm, salty and out in the middle of nowhere. It is on an Indian reservation (or so I was told) and there is no development on the lake. It is like swimming in a heated pool and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. The tufa pyramid is what the lake was named after.
@@beachboysandrew The major portion that is accessible is in the former town of Dana. According to the article on Prescott, Massachusetts in Wikipedia, "the public is not allowed on the ([Prescott] Peninsula) except for an annual tour given by the Swift River Valley Historical Society, or for hikes conducted by the Society." The article also has a photo with a Town Line sign, the former border with New Salem.
I would love to see you and CityNerd do some sort of collab to combine both your knowledge of urban planning and geography to reach a lot of new people
A reservoir video would be neat. Kentucky and Barkley lakes are both massive and connected via a canal making them together one of the largest connected watersheds.
Taking a quick pause to say you've finally mentioned a lake I've heard of...Lake McConaughy in Nebraska! We camped at that tiny lake just below the dam, Lake Ogallala three weeks ago on a quick 6k mile road trip to the PNW 🙂! Back to the video; you haven't mentioned my home state of Texas yet where most if not all of the lakes of any size are reservoirs.
2:32 In 1981, Flight 458 crash landed on the Scituate Reservoir after an in-flight fire, when it crashed landed, only one person died and 11 more survived.
hah I drive on that exact road in RI where you dropped the street view pretty often, my fiance and I call it the scenic route when we have to go to CT, it's slightly longer for us but it's a much prettier drive across the state
I live in Upper Michigan and surrounded by Lake Superior on three sides. I love the weather here and the 7mo of snow. Ive been to Smith Mountain Lake several times. Its like warm bath water. Its weird
What's interesting is that, in the wet season, the Everglades is either a 50-100 mile wide slow moving river from Okeechobee to Florida Bay, or a giant 6,000 sq mile lake that's an extension of Okeechobee. If you're including River reservoirs and seasonal lakes, then in my opinion the seasonal Everglades/Okeechobee should count as the largest lake located entirely in a state.
I just released the Canadian equivalent of this video - check it out here! th-cam.com/video/-q9YnRamO1I/w-d-xo.html
Thanks so much for watching everyone!
Someone from Minnesota needs to rank all 10,000 lakes from best to worst.
Good idea
My number one is lake of the woods.. best fishing
Minnesota actually has 11,842 lakes, and Wisconsin has over 15,000(though wisconson only has more because of the different ways these states categorize lakes and ponds)
@@stevepalmberg5905I concur
@@brqxton8974 Minnesota requires a lake to be at least 10 acres in order to count as a "lake". Wisconsin just requires 2.2 acres. Minnesota would have considerably more than Wisconsin with identical criteria. Alaska has far more than both MN and WI.
that "amongus" review of the lake in Hawaii had me rolling; we gotta find that guy and fly him out to see his amogus lake once and for all
The island is privately owned and conserved by the family who owns it for use in preserving native Hawaiian culture. Pretty sure outsiders aren't allowed in.
The Robinsons ARE Native Hawai'ian culture. They're part white, but they speak Hawai'ian and having their own island is the most Hawai'ian thing ever. Not like that Larry Ellison guy that owns the old estate of the villain Sanford Dole....
@@rovsea-3761 It is by invitation only.
@@hbowman108I’m sorry, hawai’ian?
@@countryball-enjoyer There's a consonant between the I's in Hawai'i, indicated by an apostrophe. It's usually dropped talking about the state, but it should be used when talking about native Hawai'ians.
Fun fact about Somersville Lake in WV. Normally, the USACE names dams after either the nearest town or the river they’re on. But the nearest town to the Somersville Dam was the former town of Gad. The Corps realized that Gad Dam wasn’t going to fly because of how it sounded, and that Gauley Dam wasn’t much better, so they had to call it Somersville Dam.
awe theyre no fun. lol
Kinda surprised that Massachusetts's largest lake wasn't Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, but after looking it up, it's actually quite small.
The fact that its largest lake, or reservoir, is surrounded by undeveloped land probably does help the water quality a lot. I've noticed that their water is a lot better than other states.
I'm sure it would be first if measuring by how many letters are in its name, rather than by surface area.
FUN FACT: Quabbin reservoir was the target destination for infestation by the Malicious aliens in "Dreamcatcher" the novel/Movie from Stephen King.. Check it out - the movie has lesser known actors of the time - Jason Lee, Thomas Jane, TImothy Olyphant, Damien Lewis... with a stunning cameo by Morgan Freeman.
Access is actually restricted around the Quabbin Reservoir and several towns were abandoned in order to fill the area with water. I hear that the local historical society may do annual walkabouts of the property though.
Lake Chargogg... is also partially in CT which would have taken it out of the running here regardless, however I do love that lake, grew up like 10mins from there and took a lot of pride in learning how to spell it lol
@@BendyDH No it's not. That lake just misses CT by mere feet.
Now we need a list with only natural lakes and a separate list for only manmade lakes
No
@@random_stuff_channelYes
Yes
Texas doesn't have a single natural lake on the surface and I suspect neither do many other States.
Every lake is man-made
6:35 Another fun fact about the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts is that 4 whole towns (Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, & Prescott) were flooded to make it.
... and it's pronounced KWAW-bin.
Massholes ruin everything
Not sure if it’s a fun fact but yeah
Another fun fact: Greenwich here is pronounced GREEN-wich, as in the color, not like as in just about every other place in the US or UK.
The Lake w/swirl on the thumbnail is BearLake, Idaho/Utah.
No, that's the spiral jetty on the Great Salt Lake.
@@laynapalmer837 Wrong
The street view you showed for Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota was actually primarily showing Lake Audubon. The two lakes are separated by an embankment formed by US Highway 83, and the two lakes have been as much as 41' different in surface elevation when the reservoir side is particularly low.
The Snake Creek pumping station on the north end of the highway embankment pumps water from Sakakawea to Audubon, maintaining a target surface elevation of about 1847' ASL for Lake Audubon due to irrigation and water supply requirements.
Sorry for the oversight, and nice catch. I'm in Sweden this week for GeoGuessr commentary work and rushed to get this video finished before my flight - definitely regretting that choice now since I was a little sloppy, but a lesson learned for sure.
@@ChicagoGeographer It's an easy oversight, they look like the same lake! Not a mark on your video's quality, I just noticed and thought I'd share a fun fact. Have fun in Sweden!
Oops! All Reservoirs
I wouldn't have included reservoirs. For example, GA has almost no bodies of water that are not reservoirs
@@asajayunknown6290 pretty much all of the appalachain states have little to no natural bodies of water, which is sort of odd
@brqxton8974 yeah, I grew up in Iowa. Cousins were from MN. Always having "discussions" about lakes vs reservoirs. Lakes are generally cleaner, unless it's drought. Then they get green and slimy. Reservoirs are muddier and have some current. I enjoy both, but prefer lakes, except in FL. Not a fan of those large reptiles. 😉
@@asajayunknown6290 fellow Iowan with cousins from minnesota aha!
this is basically the history of the salton sea
What's weird is that Houghton Lake in Michigan is a 6 hour drive from Houghton, MI.
Yeah, I thought Gogebic would have been the largest lake in Michigan...which is much closer to Houghton, Mi. Snowmobiled that lake many times!
I mean not really there's plenty of places that share names with the same origin that are spread way out. Vancouver BC and Vancouver WA come to mind but there's endless examples.
I went to Lake Guntersville a few days ago! Beautiful lake, there's an incredible sunset spot there at Weathington Park
I was thinking lake Martin would be the largest
it's RC!
That's wonderful! As a former Alabama resident, I've yet to visit Lake Guntersville, but thanks to you, it's now on my bucket list.
Candlewood Lake 😍 for whatever reason the US Census has 5 separate communities all named after Candlewood Lake: Candlewood Isle, Candlewood Knolls, Candlewood Lake Club, Candlewood Orchards, and Candlewood Shores
The great salt pake is probably larger than lliamna lake right now. With last year and this year both having very wet years, causing it to go up a ton over those years
I was gonna say! Why use a metric from three years ago when the lake has surged up since then
But in volume its not even close. Iliamna is thousands of feet deep.
Great video. So many states have beautiful largest lakes. My state, CA, has the Salton Sea which stinks to high heaven most of the time.
YOOOOOO TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES MENTIONED! I used to live there in my childhood. I now live in South Florida, but I miss living in Truth or Consequences (And yes, I did use to swim in the lake 😂). Fond memories were made there; Great video man!
How many Archæans do you have to fend off daily?
“amongus”- Epinator88, 2022
Somewhat apocryphal, but the West Virginia legend says that when "Summersville" Dam was built, there was a village near the dam-site called "Gad." It was the Army Corps of Engineers' custom to name the dam and the lake after the nearest town (or village) but nobody in their right mind wanted to call it the "Gad Dam" so they named it after Summersville...which is nowhere really near the dam or even the lakeshore. Various people say that the village of Gad was just on the other side of the dam-site so now is under water...so it's kind of hard to prove whether the story is fact or a bit of folk history. But it's fun either way.
It's West Virginia so it's probably true. Gad Dam, almost heaven.
Gad damn Dam 😂
i own a house on lake winnipesaukee's birch island lol, this video is great bro keep it up
Whenever I hear the name Lake Winnipesaukee I think of the movie, "What about Bob!"
Not only is Lake Michigan the largest lake entirely in the US, it's the largest lake (by surface area) in the world that is entirely within one country (Lake Baikal, in Russia, is larger by volume, but has a smaller surface area).
Lake Baikal is such an unique place in the world, that geologists have estimated the actual rock lakebed/ floor lies below a couple thousand feet of sediment. It has several different ecosystems, much like the ocean tiers.
Lake superior is the largest lake in the would by surface area not by volume. Sorry lake Michigan is not the largest
@@tonydentonarms4112 Lake Superior, isn't only a US lake.
@@tonydentonarms4112 You seem to have overlooked six very important words in my statement. For ease and convenience, I will restate them here with increased emphasis so they have some chance of registering in your mind. "THAT IS ENTIRELY WITHIN ONE COUNTRY"! Lake Superior, while larger than Lake Michigan, is divided between the US and Canada. The same is true of Lake Huron. Lake Michigan is entirely within one country: the US.
@@tonydentonarms4112 Tony..Tony..Tony..have a cup of tea and think about it.
I have driven past blue mesa reservior on US-50 and it truly does have stunning eye candy scenery. Very underrated part of colorado if you ask me
Dude, the first time in was in Colorado we went over the reservoir at maybe 11pm with a full moon. It was amazing the way the moonlight was bouncing off the lake and the mountains.
The black canyon, which is a national park just west of there is also extremely underrated. It's one of my favorite national parks I've been to. (I'm about a third of the way through them).
Awesome video! I’d love to see a video about Canada’s largest lakes by province. There’s a lot of big lakes there!
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northwest Territory are like half water!
Fun fact: There are 0 natural lakes in Maryland- which is the only state without a natural lake
Tennessee also had no natural lakes until the Mississippi River earthquakes of 1811-1812 ( one of which is believed to have been the strongest recorded earthquake in US history) REVERSED the flow of that river and created Reelfoot Lake in the northwest corner of the state- still its only natural lake!
Texas as well
Caddo Lake (it’s on the border with Louisiana) is the only one, but again, that’s on the border
KS has natural lakes, just a an oxbow lake-a cut off when the Kansas River changed course.
KS- NO natural lakes.
@@Wemzii0I believe you mean Caddo Lake. Cross Lake is fairly close to Caddo Lake but it is in Louisiana. In fact, 3/4 of Caddo is in Louisiana too.
Ok I drove through Accident, MD last week, not knowing that was the town I was in and ate at a restaurant called The Ridge. The next day I'm checking my checking account and it shows a charge from MD, with the word Accident...and im like what the hell?
Of all state abbreviations to have after Accident! (Illinois’ abbreviation would fit it better!)
Awesome video! Love these more informative ranking style ones. Would be cool too see this same list but for Canadian provinces!
Love this video! Massive fan of all your videos (your US GeoGuessr skills are amazing...) but I love these state run downs. Your Highest Point in Every State is one of my all time faves! Thank you for always making awesome content, CG!
I've been Moosehead, but none of the others. That highway over Lake Pontchartrain looks crazy.
I've driven it and it was terrifying! Like driving to the middle of the ocean.
12:25 something else about lake winnebago is that there are 6 lighthouses around the lake.
I grew up in Michigan. Alot of those lakes look like rivers to me 😮
A lot of those lakes are rivers with dams across them. One of the largest is Lake Mead that was at one time 112 miles long and the largest man-made lake in the country. Because of the height of Hoover Dam across the Colorado River, Lake Mead is quite wide at several places. But, at heart, it is still a river with a dam across it. I have been up in the Northeast end of Lake Mead until we could not get the motor to push us any farther due to the swift river current as the Colorado left the Grand Canyon (This was about 1958).
i would love more geo vids like this if you like making them. super high quality!
Very good video! would love to see more similar to this style
15:58 many people would think that lake Tahoe is the biggest lake in California (it shares a state border with Nevada). But I drove around Tahoe in about 45 minutes. The Salton Sea took way longer to get around. I was extremely surprised.
Not biggest, but possibly deepest and coldest.
Grand Lake St Marys was built as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie canal.
You should also do largest natural lakes in the US
Yeah, that camping trip was damn cold
I've never been colder in my life lmao that was a wild time
Sounds exactly like Indiana 😂
That’s Idaho and Utah’s Bear Lake in the thumbnail, known as the Caribbean of the Rockies.
I’d love to see this for Canada next!
Lums Pond has a great ziplining/obstacle course thing in the trees that crosses over the pond several times
I hadn't been to any of these when I first watched but I recently camped at Carlyle Lake, IL. It was really pretty and I like how it had a lot of biking trails and I love biking. 😄
We have had a couple great snow years, so the GSL is up about 7 feet from where it was at the 2022 record low so it might actually be back in #1. 😁 The 2022 record low was a surface elevation of 4188', it's up to 4195' now. The record in the 1980s was 4211' when it hit that >3200 mi²... it's fairly shallow, so small changes in depth make the surface area change dramatically.
Living in Bloomington, IN, I was happy to see Lake Monroe on here! I recommend visiting again when it's not snowing, nice place 🙂
Oh cool, I got family that lives in Bloomington
That is a pathetic choice for Indiana since Lake Wawasee is a real lake and a very nice one.
As a repeat visitor to the scout camp on lake Monroe, I wouldn’t call the rainy weather of that place during the summer nice.
Fun fact about Summerville lake in WV. There’s a city at the bottom of the lake that was flooded over
A lot of the man made lakes have old towns underneath them. We have a few in Ohio.
I was curious what would happen if you added in the Canadian provinces to this list, how they would fare. As such, I've reranked the top 20, including lakes entirely within a Canadian province or territory (spoilers, by the way, if you haven't watched the video)
1. Northwest Territories - Great Bear Lake (31,153 km)
2. Manitoba - Lake Winnepeg (24,514 km)
3. Newfoundland and Labrador - Smallwood Reservoir (6,650 km)
4. Nunavut - Nettilling Lake (5,542 km)
5. Ontario - Lake Nipigon (4,848 km)
6. Quebec - Caniapsicau Reservoir (4,318 km)
7. Saskachewan - Wollaston Lake (2,681 km)
8. Alaska - Iliamna Lake (2,622 km)
9. Utah - Great Salt Lake (2,460 km)
10. Florida - Lake Okeechobe (1,891 km)
11. British Colombia - Williston Lake (1,761 km)
12. Louisiana - Lake Pontchartrain (1,634 km)
13. North Dakota - Lake Sakakawea (1,489 km)
14. Alberta - Lake Claire (1,436 km)
15. Minnesota - Red Lake (1,150 km)
16. Nova Scotia - Bras d’Or Lake (1,099 km)
17. Montana - Fort Peck Lake (991 km)
18. California - Salton Sea (824 km)
19. Wisconsin - Lake Winnebago (557 km)
20. Texas - Sam Reyburn Reservoir (464 km)
Sorry about the lack of freedom units.
Requires math.
I actually lived near Milford Lake in Kansas for a couple of years, but didn't know it existed at the time due to living even closer to the similar but slightly smaller Tuttle Creek Reservoir, which was the lake my family always went to when we lived in the area.
They/he could have at least chosen Wilson Lake-a beautiful reservoir with water that is at least swimmable.
Smith Mountain Lake is quite literally my favorite place in the world. My dad and I are actively campaigning to convince my mom for them to move there when they retire.
15:42 OSHKOSH MENTIONED🔥🔥🔥🔥
Backrooms
I have been to the ones in IN, MI, TN, KY, LA.
And of course I've flown over the great salt lake countless times
Went to Carlyle Lake for the first time in April as it was JUST inside the path of totality for the eclipse, and I was really impressed! Rent a cabin was very reasonably priced, and getting to camp in a cabin about 15 feet from a lake, that was cool. Highly recommended!
@NicCageCDXX
Glad you liked it, I live in Carlyle
Carlyle is beautiful
the spiderweb-y alcoves of lake Cumberland, paired with the rocky and forested edges, make for very peaceful and relaxing places to lay anchor and wade. and theres plenty of room for tubing in the wider sections
Very interesting video. The speaker's extreme vowel sounds are comparable to the weather guy on Max Velocity channel.
Excellent video and narration.
I'm on number 42 as I write this, and I'm subscribing. You have a great voice for TH-cam!
he sure sounds a lot older than he looks! Its that MOVIE ANNOUNCER effect for sure/.
Great Video, though as a native Utahan I do have a comment on the Great Salt Lake. Though it is currently very low, we actually have had two good snow years in a row as of 2024 so the lake has actually been rising recently. If you go to google earth and zoom in on the great salt lake you may notice that it changes size, because the satellite imagery is more recent on the zoomed out image. It's a great way to see how much the lake has recovered, and I hope it continues to do so.
I live about 15 minutes from Oneida Lake in NYS, and it is enormous. I've gone fishing there before, and when you're in the middle of the lake, you can't see any land around you. I work in the town of Sylvan beach and can catch views of the sun lowering itself beneath the lake some nights, it's beautiful.
MN actually has about 14000, everything from lake como which is basically a large mud puddle to mille lac which is an inland sea
Pyramid Lake is wonderful. I live in Michigan, have been to 3 of the 5 Great Lakes, but this is my favorite. It's warm, salty and out in the middle of nowhere. It is on an Indian reservation (or so I was told) and there is no development on the lake. It is like swimming in a heated pool and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. The tufa pyramid is what the lake was named after.
Very interesting, well done. Thank You.
Save the GSL so we’re not breathing in arsenic here in Utah!
A lot of these "lakes" are really just thicc rivers.
I grew up about 3/4 mi from lake Winnebago. Nice to see it rank so high.
As someone originally from MA, “Quabbin” is pronounced more like “Quawbin” than “Quahbin”
Also, only about half the land is accessible on foot - the rest is strictly off limits to the public, and has become stricter about this over time
@@beachboysandrew The major portion that is accessible is in the former town of Dana. According to the article on Prescott, Massachusetts in Wikipedia, "the public is not allowed on the ([Prescott] Peninsula) except for an annual tour given by the Swift River Valley Historical Society, or for hikes conducted by the Society." The article also has a photo with a Town Line sign, the former border with New Salem.
@@edwardrasmussen3465 Yup! I've been trying for years to go on that annual tour, but it always gets booked up well in advance.
We don't even consider Fort Peck a "lake" in Montana our biggest lakes are Flathead followed by Canyon Ferry
I would love to see you and CityNerd do some sort of collab to combine both your knowledge of urban planning and geography to reach a lot of new people
great work dude!
please do a Finger Lakes video when you can.
:-)
The great salt lake has been rising the past few years and has already claimed 1st place again! Great video by the way
Lake Winnebago is pretty cool; part of the Niagara escarpment runs on its east side. The same escarpment the falls fall over in NY and Ontario.
I almost live along lake Winnebago
To me it’s a large swap. Pretty shallow for a lake that size. No deeper than 20 feet.
The only ones I have been to is Watts Bar lake, lake pontchartrain, and Cumberland lake and they were pretty cool
Bud, I wanna know which USA lake has the most largemouth bass per Square Yard.
Possibly Erie
Lake Cumberland in Kentucky has 1,255 miles of shoreline. The state of Florida has 1,355 miles. It’s also 197 ft deep at its deepest
Hello from Portland Connecticut
Went to carlyle last summer. Beautiful scenery, nice beaches, and great hiking trails. I highly suggest a visit
4:18 I can see my parents house!
What
Hey, you are good at this. Do it with the countries of the world, please. 🙂
This made me wonder about the District of Columbia, which has Kingman Lake, smaller than all 50 states' lakes.
Good stuff CG! and I’ve been to Klamath Lake a couple times
I really enjoyed this. Video was put together very well
A reservoir video would be neat. Kentucky and Barkley lakes are both massive and connected via a canal making them together one of the largest connected watersheds.
Not me skipping straight to Illinois because I live there too 😂😂😂
Very good production values. Good job.
This guys voice is Awesome.
I was very surprised that I have been to 9 of the lakes on this list! How cool!
I've been fortunate enough to have spent a lot of time on Fort Peck reservoir in Montana. Mighty dry around there. We hunted mule deer mostly.
Taking a quick pause to say you've finally mentioned a lake I've heard of...Lake McConaughy in Nebraska! We camped at that tiny lake just below the dam, Lake Ogallala three weeks ago on a quick 6k mile road trip to the PNW 🙂! Back to the video; you haven't mentioned my home state of Texas yet where most if not all of the lakes of any size are reservoirs.
i live in missouri and thought it was ozark lol thanks for teaching me this!
I learn more about my country from you than I did in 12 years of geography in school, thank you for leaving out metrics,. 🇺🇸
The largest natural lake in New Mexico is called Stinking Lake.
2:32 In 1981, Flight 458 crash landed on the Scituate Reservoir after an in-flight fire, when it crashed landed, only one person died and 11 more survived.
About 4 square miles of Lake Guntersville is in Tennessee, not entirely in Alabama.
I was waiting to hear you butcher the pronunciation of Pend Oreille, but you completely nailed it.
hah I drive on that exact road in RI where you dropped the street view pretty often, my fiance and I call it the scenic route when we have to go to CT, it's slightly longer for us but it's a much prettier drive across the state
Raystown Lake is about 90 minutes from where I live. The only other lakes on this list I have been to are Lake Okeechobee and Fort Peck Lake.
I live in Upper Michigan and surrounded by Lake Superior on three sides. I love the weather here and the 7mo of snow. Ive been to Smith Mountain Lake several times. Its like warm bath water. Its weird
With a voice like yours, you could find a great career as a sportscaster or something of the like!
Wisconsinite here. I actually almost live along Lake Winnebago and see it every day!
Lake Winnebago is amazing! My godparents have a house right on it and its pretty shallow around the edges (then it drops off but you know)
I was literally just thinking about what it would be like if you did this video, and here it is.
Montana's largest lake is Flathead lake, largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi
well this video blew up!!! Nice one :)
Nice keep up making and posting great videos
What's interesting is that, in the wet season, the Everglades is either a 50-100 mile wide slow moving river from Okeechobee to Florida Bay, or a giant 6,000 sq mile lake that's an extension of Okeechobee.
If you're including River reservoirs and seasonal lakes, then in my opinion the seasonal Everglades/Okeechobee should count as the largest lake located entirely in a state.