Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain (French: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States (states of Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the Canada-United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of Clinton County and Essex County. Most of this area is part of the Adirondack Park. There are recreational opportunities in the park and along the relatively undeveloped coastline of Lake Champlain. The cities of Plattsburgh, New York and Burlington, Vermont are to the north of the lake, and the village of Ticonderoga, New York is located in the southern part of the region. The Quebec portion is located in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi. It's also said to be home to a Loch Ness-type lake monster: In 1609 Samuel de Champlain wrote that he saw a lake monster five feet (1.5 m) long, as thick as a man's thigh, with silver-gray scales a dagger could not penetrate. The alleged monster had 2.5 feet (0.76 m) jaws with sharp and dangerous teeth. Indians claimed to have seen similar monsters 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m). This mysterious creature is likely the original Lake Champlain monster. The monster still receives considerable attention, as indicated by the name ( Vermont Lake Monsters) and mascot (Champ) of the state's minor league baseball team and a Vermont Historical Society publication, which also offers several mundane explanations for the so-called monster: "floating logs, schools of large sturgeons diving in a row, or flocks of black birds flying close to the water.