LETTER: 'Lake jumper' stops to reflect on her summer

Well, my streak is over. I jumped in the lake 88 days in a row ... anyone else do that? I surpassed last year by 40 jumps and surpassed my goal of 60.

I wanted to share a few things I learned.

First and foremost we are incredibly lucky to have Flathead Lake in our back yard. To not utilize our beautiful lake is a shame.

The public access on Flathead is not fabulous but the public beach areas at Somers and Lakeside (the ones I used) are very nice. Clean, friendly and safe. I found the parking better at Somers (closer to the water) but there is more goose poop. The water is warmer in Somers, but the docks in Lakeside are really nice.

I mostly would jump sometime between 2:30/3:30am after work. I did some afternoon jumps and early evening jumps, and I can tell you the public beaches are definitely used! I learned I don’t like jumping between screaming kids. Late nights I found out that truckers can travel in packs of four and that nobody cares if their brights are on! The signage at the Somers access (heading north from Lakeside) needs to have more reflector tape or paint or whatever “they” use!

The night sky is amazing! One weekend in late June the Milky Way was so clear I stayed until the sun started to come up. I saw crescent moons that were right out of fairy-tale stories, full moons that lit up the sky, and I swear I saw the Northern Lights one night/morning.

All in all, I so thoroughly enjoyed my lake jumping and I encourage everyone who lives in this valley to go jump in a lake! There are many around ... just walk out your door! Just do it! —Gerianne Eckelberry, Kalispell