This summer my friends and I branched out of State College and took a day trip to Raystown Lake. It’s is about an hour away from campus and is open to the public for free. People drive their boats, ride jet skis, and relax at their man-made beach there. It’s a great spot to go on the weekends to relax and swim after a long week of classes. When we went, there seemed to be a lot of locals who live by the lake. I saw very few people that looked like they went to college there, I saw mostly family’s and younger kids. This could be due to the fact that it is summer session at Penn State and not many freshmen have their cars on campus. The environment seemed to provide a family friendly setting with activities for kids and safety precautions set to avoid any injuries or accidents. There were block-offs to separate the boat and jet ski sections from the swimming sections.

Unfortunately, none of have a boat at college so we had to resort to only being able to use the man-made beach. There are grass areas before the lake where people can lay their towels down at, and parts of the lake that contain sand at the bottom to feel like a beach. But other parts of the lake just have cement bottoms which makes the floor very slippery. While swimming in the lake you can see people riding on the backs of boats and having fun on jet skis. When we went it was a very hot day, and a swim in the lake was the perfect way to cool off.

The location of Raystown was perfect for clearing my head and making time for myself to relax and not stress. The lake is surrounded by the beautiful Pennsylvania mountains which looked like something that you would expect to see in a painting. Also, the environment helped me to feel like a young kid again. When I was younger, I would go to different lakes and pools with my family and I would swim and play for hours. That’s exactly what Raystown lake offered me, my friends and I swam for hours and the stress of college seemed to fade away like we were kids again. I’m really glad that I branched out and found Raystown Lake before school starts in the fall. Now I know of a place that’s only an hour away where I can go to and relax to reduce the stress that college can put on you.

Contact me at…

Twitter: @CalebHershey1

Email: cjh6118@psu.edu