Seasonal Swimming (Seattle, Kirkland, Sammamish: neighborhood, school, live)

[Summitt]

Can you swim comfortably in the summer months in Northwest WA? If so, how long does the season last? Curious about lakes, neighborhood pools, rivers etc.

[tobester]

I assume you're referring to swimming outside ... yes, you can be comfortable. The best outdoor pool (IMO) is Colman Pool in West Seattle. It's a 50 meter pool which makes it great for lap swimming. I believe it's open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Our other favorite place to swim in Andrews Bay in Lake Washington, near Seward Park. It's a favorite of open water swimmers and triathletes. The south end of the bay is clear of boats and has a buoy marking about a 1/4 mile distance from shore. We swim there from mid-June to mid-September, but do wear wet suits. Water temps are in the high 60's. If you're looking for life-guarded beaches, there are many in Seattle (open during school's summer vacation times).

[PollyGlott]

Many smaller lakes are great for swimming in summer.
I swim in the lake that I live on in Pierce county from late June to Sep.
In July, the water reaches the high 70s.

[BellevueNative]

There are lots of public beach parks for swimming along Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. Some of the ones that come to my mind first:

Chism Beach, Enatai Beach, Clyde Beach, Medina Beach, Luther Burbank, Coulon, Juanita Beach and a couple others on the Kirkland waterfront...all on Lake Washington.

On Lake Sammamish there's Lake Sammamish State Park and Idylwood Beach.

As for community pools, private membership community pools are very popular in the Puget Sound area. My family belonged to one when I was growing up. Go here for a list of many pools on the Eastside: Midlakes Swim League : or to Seattle Summer Swim League for a list of pools in the city of Seattle and just in its outskirts (though the website is pretty empty, with some digging you can find some names of pools that might be close to you). They may look like they're all about the kids' swim teams, but if you look up your neighborhood pool and go to their website, you'll see that they're mostly Open Swim clubs for anyone interested in membership.

[cjg5]

I've spent my entire life outdoor swimming in the summer months around here, both in Western and Eastern Washington. (Of course Eastern WA is better for this, but Western WA has MANY good lakes for swimming in during the summer).