Thoughts From a "Lost Canadian" About Canada's Many Wonderful Lakes!

As a "Lost Canadian" who has lived in the USA all my life (mostly Michigan, which is close to Canada), I feel like there are so many things for me to learn about my new country - Canada. So, I've been writing about things I'm learning - such as about the amazing National Parks in Canada, and lately I've been writing about some of the unique, even "quirky" things about Canada - such as their "Whisky War", their "Monopoly Money - Loonies & Toonies, interesting foods, and "The Great Maple Syrup Heist"! Today I'm very happy to let you know about some of the interesting - and even "quirky" things I learned online about Canada's lakes . . .

• Canada has over two million lakes—containing roughly 20% of the world's freshwater.
• They eventually ran out of majestic names and officially resorted to naming bodies of water Stupid Lake, Big Ass Lake, and Crotch Lake.
• Lake Kliluk - known as Spotted Lake (British Columbia) - (or kłlilxʷ in the Syilx Okanagan language): Located outside of Osoyoos, this highly mineralized body of water evaporates in the summer to reveal a surreal, polka-dotted landscape of 365 colorful brine pools. It is a culturally sacred indigenous healing site.
• The different shades of blue, green, yellow, and brown of Spotted Lake are created by varying concentrations of naturally occurring minerals, making every season’s pattern slightly different. (I LOVE polka-dots, so these lakes are lakes I'd love to see for sure!)
• Little Limestone Lake (Manitoba): An incredible marl lake whose water naturally changes color. As water temperature fluctuates, calcite dissolves or precipitates, shifting the lake's appearance between milky turquoise and crystal clear, sometimes in a single day.
• Pingualuk Lake (Quebec) pronounced PING-wah-loo-ik (or ping-gwah-LOO-ik). The name comes from the Inuktitut language, which translates to "pimple" or "where the land rises". Hidden in a meteorite crater formed 1.5 million years ago. Because the crater has no inlets or outlets, it contains some of the purest, most transparent freshwater on the planet, with visibility extending over 35 meters.
• Longest Lake Name (Manitoba): Canada boasts a lake named Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik - pronounced phonetically as pek-wach-nuh-MY-koss-kwa-skway-pin-WAH-nik, locals usually just call it "Lake Pekwach". The 31-letter name is Cree for "where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks".
• Big Ass Lake in Nova Scotia was officially registered with the Canadian government on March 5, 1953 and has been on the map ever since.
• Crotch Lake in Ontario is 5,300 acres of pristine backcountry wilderness with 72 campsites and great fishing. It earned its name because the lake is forked like the branch of a tree. Nobody thought to call it Forked Lake.
• Pickle Lake is a real town in northern Ontario, founded after a gold discovery in 1928 and named after a lake someone thought resembled a pickle. Over 2.5 million ounces of gold were pulled from the ground nearby. The ghost town beside it is called Pickle Crow.
• Then there is Stupid Lake, Crazy Lake, Ooze Lake, and Eerily Wet Lake, all officially listed in the Canadian Geographical Names Database, which carries a formal government advisory warning some names inside are offensive.
• Eerily Wet Lake is an officially listed, real-world glacial body of water located in British Columbia, Canada. It spans approximately 750 meters in length and is geographically normal in almost every way. The lake gained its peculiar and slightly haunting name simply because it sounds amusing or strange when giving directions.
• This Lake, That Lake, & The Other Lake: Located in Ontario, these three small, adjacent bodies of water were given the most literal titles possible when explorers ran out of creative inspiration.
• Second Lake, Third Lake, & Fourth Lake: Rather than inventing distinct names for every body of water, many regions in Atlantic Canada feature numeric lake chains.
• Lake Winnipeg (Manitoba): Derived from the Cree phrase win nipee, meaning "muddy water."
• Lake Ontario: From the Wyandot (Huron) word Ontarí'io, which translates to "great lake" or "sparkling/beautiful water."
• Lake Superior (Great Lakes): Known to the Ojibwe as Gichi-gami (Gitche Gumee), meaning "great sea." (Growing up in Michigan I knew about Lake Gichi-gami!)
• Kluane Lake (Yukon): From the Southern Tutchone word Łù'an, translating simply to "big fish."
• Lake Minnewanka (Alberta): Translated as "Water of the Spirits" in the Sioux (Nakoda/Stoney) language.

Well, since Canada has more than two million lakes, I suppose it is to be expected some of those lakes will have "interesting", creative, and even "quirky" names! Again, growing up in Michigan, I am used to living in a place with many lakes and am happy to learn of the creativity of Canadians when it comes to naming their many wonderful lakes!