Skeleton Lake

Skeleton Lake is a lake in the municipalities of Huntsville and Muskoka Lakes in the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, about 17km west of the town centre of Huntsville. Up until 1991, the Ministry of Natural Resources operated a fish hatchery on the lake.GeographyThe lake is about 8.3km long and 4.8km wide, lies at an elevation of 280m and is in the Lake Huron drainage basin. The sole outflow is the Skeleton River at the west of the lake. It is controlled by the Skeleton Lake Dam and flows through the community of Bent River to Skeleton Bay on Lake Rosseau.There are two public use islands in the area. The Hog's Back is a small rock island which used to exhibit lots of religious oriented graffiti, but has since been eco-scrubbed and now is a bare rock with a fire pit, near Greer Bay. Anderson's island has a population of silver birches, along with a cliff-jumping area on the south-east side of the island, and also has religious oriented graffiti carved into the trees and painted onto rocks. Other public access areas exist including a government dock in Wilson's Bay.GeologyThe lake is thought to have been formed as a result of a meteorite impact. About 800 million years ago, an asteroid impact is suspected to have created a crater much larger than the remnant lake. Periods of glaciation since then have removed the original crater, leaving a lake approximately 2.2 miles across and 100 meters deep at its center. Skeleton Lake is recognized as a suspected impact crater. Ironclad evidence of the impact hypothesis would have been removed during the ice ages, and unless more shock geomorphology is found the crater's origin cannot be certified beyond a reasonable doubt. Due to the spring fed nature of the lake, the water is exceptionally clear. According to residents of the lake, on calm days it is possible to see up to 30m underwater with the naked eye.