Wagner Lake in Marion

Wagner Lake just outside Marion, Indiana, was the host for a week long camping experience for the Marion Boys Club each summer.  Being used to being able to see the bottom at Big Bass Lake in Michigan at even ten feet or more, it was hard to get used to one’s foot disappearing in Wagner Lake at the depth of two feet! 

Yet the camp had some marvelous hiking trails and even a dam that faced Indiana 9.  The lake also had a channel at the north end that was similar to what one might find in the Florida Everglades.  While at camp the kids had many contests including scavenger hunts, jump the pit contest (filled with mud), and rowing races.  The jump the pit contest was on the shoreline of Wagner Lake and I never was sure as to which was the dirtiest, the pit or the lake itself?

Often times we would take boat excursions into the channel at Wagner Lake after dark which the boys thought was real spooky.  That channel was almost impossible to enter after a hard rain as those waters emptied into the lake and the current into the channel was near impossible to try and get into it. 

I don’t think that I ever saw clear water at Wagner Lake on any of our visits there as the water was always murky brown.  Still the boys enjoyed their time there and that was the bottom line.