Scanlon Creek Beach

Scanlon Creek is a 722 acre conservation area is located just north of Bradford with over 10km of hiking trails. In the 1970’s a dam was built to create an artificial lake for swimming and fishing and for many years the beach was the main draw for Scanlon Creek. The beach closed in 2003 because of poor water quality and the change rooms have been closed ever since. The beach is in the process of being converted back into its natural state. I only swam there once when I was a kid in the late 90s and my mom said I came out of the water covered in leaches so I wouldn’t recommend going for a swim. The change rooms are sealed up pretty tight, you may be able to scale the outdoor shower walls to get in but it was too icy when I was there to try. There is also a door to a cellar but it was covered in ice as well and I wouldn’t recommend exploring it in the summer there are bees nest everywhere. There are currently no plans to reopen the beach, the current plan is to destroy the 70’s dam and drain the lake returning it to a wet land. One idea is to convert the change rooms into a class room however I don’t see this happening. The building is starting to crumble and the conservation authority isn’t willing to spend the money fixing up a change room at an abandoned beach.

References http://www.lsrca.on.ca/pdf/reports/scanlon_mgmt_plan_2009.pdf