Very few people come to Cradle Mountain to swim — in fact, the weather conditions here are usually so wintry that you wouldn’t even consider it for a second. And the water temperature at any time of year is breathtakingly chilly. But if you get the right summer’s day, and you’re hot from your hike, you just might be tempted to try your luck. Cradle Mountain swimming is a delicious kind of crazy.

One of the things that makes Cradle Mountain so picturesque is that there are so many lakes around! I chose three swimming holes over the course of my two-day trip (and considered a third).

Dove Lake

My first plunge was at Dove Lake.

This is the most obvious place to swim at Cradle Mountain because it’s the most accessible (the shuttle bus has a stop named “Dove Lake”). If you wanted to, you could be off the shuttle and into the lake in under three minutes. But most people with swimming in mind make the ten-minute walk around the lake’s northwestern edge to the boat shed, where there’s a wide pebbly beach and plenty of space to wade in.

The entrance is uncomfortably rocky, but that didn’t stop a group of about twelve eager hikers — or me — from inching their way into the water. As the day went on, the water (and the beach) got crowded!

There are also smaller, less obvious swimming entrance points at the south end of Dove Lake. These require about an hour’s walk, but if you’re doing the Dove Lake Circuit trail and fancy a cold plunge midway through, don’t hesitate!

Wombat Pool

My next swimming adventure was at Wombat Pool…

… which has been given an alternative name on every single sign.

The signage aside, Wombat Pool is a lovely place to swim. You’ll have to do some work to get there; it’s about forty-five minutes to an hour from the Dove Lake shuttle bus stop, and a bit longer if you start at Ronny Creek. There’s also some elevation gain involved — get ready for steps and rocks. But once you make it, there’s a bench, a clear (if also rocky) way in, and lovely water.

It’s worth coming up with your suit on!

Wombat Pool is a popular hiking spot, so you’re likely to find yourself sharing the space by the trail with other people. But you’ll probably have the pool itself all to yourself; I did not see any other swimmers.

Crater Lake

If you really want privacy, head up to the nearly deserted Crater Lake.

This one requires even more walking if you start at Dove Lake; from Wombat Pool, walking slowly (#COVID), it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get down to the water at the northern edge of the lake. If your goal is to swim at Crater Lake specifically, you’d have a shorter walk if you came up from Ronny Creek — the water access is closer to that side of the trail.

There’s a tiny boat shed at Crater Lake where you can change. Should you choose to enter, watch out for the giant mosquitoes!

The entry at Crater Lake is tricky because it’s both rocky and shallow for a long way out. While I did manage to submerge myself, what I did here ended up looking a lot more like floating than swimming.

Lake Lilla

I’m writing about Lake Lilla last because it’s the one place I chose not to swim, mostly because the entry areas looked more mucky than the other lakes.

But Lake Lilla is a beautiful spot, and it requires less hiking than Wombat Pool or Crater Lake. I would absolutely swim here in a pinch.

If you swim at any of these lakes, know that you’ll be cold — but what a delight!

Further Cradle Mountain Reading

• If you’d like a closer look at the animals and alpine blooms you might spot along the trails, check out my post, Furry Friends & Flowers of Cradle Mountain: A Nature Lover’s Paradise.
• For more ways to enjoy the region on foot, make sure to read my 5 Ways to Explore Cradle Mountain: 3 Hikes & 2 Walks post.