I stepped out of my car and into the parking lot of a local store a few days ago. It was mid morning and the air was still cool with the mist of springtime. My nose was met with a familiar yet slightly forgotten smell.
Those of us who live near the shores of the Great Lakes immediately recognize it as the smell of the lake.
The odor isn’t exactly pleasant, but at the same time it is not offensive. It can change in intensity with changes in temperature and wind direction. I have heard many explanations for the smell of the lakes: alewives, algae churned up by the waves, bacteria, or the lack thereof, in the water, just to name a few.
I’m sure that it may be a combination of all of these things.
Each lake has its own, unique variation of Great Lake smell. I grew up on the shores of Lake Superior and now live near Lake Michigan. Lake Superior has a less intense smell, possibly due to its colder temperature, but it is still the same smell.
I remember waking up in the morning after sleeping on the beach all night. The smell of the lake would permeate the fabric of your clothing the way cigarette smoke does after a night at a bar. Your hair would retain the smell of the lake as well.
The smell is usually kept to within a mile of the shore, but occasionally it can be noticed further inland if the wind is strong enough coming off of the lake.
I wonder if tourists and transplants know that it is the smell of the lake the first time that they experience it? The ocean has its unmistakable odor. Are the Great Lakes unmistakable to the olfactory nerve of the newcomer? Do they ask locals what the smell is? It may seem like a silly question to those of us who have lived near the lakes all of our lives, but I have been asked stranger questions.
While hanging out at the shore of Lake Superior one day years ago, a lady came up to me and asked if the body of water she was looking at was the Atlantic Ocean. I told her that she really needed to take a better look at her road map. She couldn’t believe that she was looking at a mere lake.
I think that many people see the Great Lakes on a map and sort of equate them with a large version of the lake nearest their home, without really giving a lot of thought to just how large these bodies of water really are. I don’t think that they realize that these lakes don’t look much different than the ocean. Other than the salt, the only real difference would be the surf and the tide when it comes to the experience of being on the shore of one or the other.
At the same time, there are many of us who live near these giants of the fresh water world that think we have a lock on lakes that are really big. Russia has Lake Baikal and Lake Ladoga. These are really big lakes; Baikal has more water volume than Superior. These lakes go a bit unnoticed, though, because they are thousands of miles apart within the largest country on the planet, and that makes them a little less impressive.
The Great Lakes are in a nice, little, glacier carved geographical package.
They aren’t alone in North America, though.
To the northwest of the Great Lakes, in Canada, lie four other huge lakes that would certainly rival if not completely put to shame a few of the lakes that we call “great.” Two of them actually use the word “great” in their names.
Lake Winnipeg and Lake Athabasca give Lakes Erie and Ontario a real run for the money when it comes to size. The Great Slave Lake and the Great Bear Lake are very much on par with the three remaining Great Lakes.
Since these lakes are spaced a few hundred miles apart, it makes them a little tougher to brag about on a license plate. They are also landlocked, and that reduces their importance to the rest of the planet when it comes to commerce.
I’m getting off track.
The time of year that our sense of smell can tell us that we are near the lake has arrived. It takes me back to my childhood and many great memories. It won’t be long until the smell becomes just another part of the background and I won’t notice it anymore.
I need to take advantage of this moment while it is here.
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