Stewart Park Mt. Horeb

Stewart Park in Mt. Horeb, Wi has a lovely newly created beach and swimming area. There is a natural spring in the sand, which creates a tiny, 2ft wide shallow pool which then drains down the beach into the water. It is like a natural sand and water table, and is really really fun to play in. As a bonus, the spring water is cold, so it can be used to ice sore muscles.

I once belonged to a gym that had a 'cold immersion pool' right next to the hot tub. Some older guys would "go to the gym" and sit in the cold immersion pool, then get in the hot tub, then back to the cold immersion pool again and call it a workout.....

well, here we have this little spring and it is fun.

Safety
There are no life guards, no swim lines, and no buoys. Motorized boats do not have access to this part of the lake, so they are not a danger, but the swim area does drop off sharply about 100ft from the beach. There is a sign warning of this, but no swim lines. All of the mothers at the beach agreed that the city should put up a swim line. It would probably not cost very much money and would make it much easier for us to tell if our kids were going out too far.
Sand
The sand is clean and new. It was only been on the beach for a year, so it is beautiful. The beach was fairly clean, a little bit of seaweed and some droppings, but it wasn't too bad. The water is pretty clear.
Amenities
The changing rooms and flushable toilets are near the parking lot which is very far from the beach. It is about 300yards from the water to the parking lot. There is a small playground near the parking lot and there are lovely hiking trails around the park and lake. There are lots of berries growing in the woods around the beach.

The beach is very wide and there were a lot of people there. This is a great beach for a cloudy day, as there is no shade. Even in the sun this is a pretty great place to swim.