Spring Lake in Prior Lake, MN

Hi Guys -

I'm looking at property on Spring Lake in Prior Lake, MN. It looks like they have a slolam course and ski jump, so I'm assuming it's going to have what I need for wakeoboarding.

Is anyone familiar with the lake? When I read that it gets green by August, how bad is it?

Thanks!

I live in Shakopee, but I have never ridden on Spring Lake, I have always heard it's pretty shallow. I know it's a big fishing lake. I am guessing you could board on it, its big enough for sure. I would check out the overall depth of the lake, I usually ride on O'Dowd's, a few miles from there.

Wife and I looked at a few properties the last 2 moves we've made. Wanted to pull the trigger - but the commute to downtown is BRUTAL (no direct routes) and the lake is shallow, weedy, lots of lilly pads and turns green early.. I've only rode it twice - it's certainly not shaped ideal for a wakeboarding lake. It's a bit like Marion - a large bowl shape and unfortunately it's not sunk down too far so when it's windy, you'll know it.

It's less busy than most of the south metro lakes though and still close enough to commute - especially if you work south of 494... If you work downtown - enjoy!

It's definitely better than not having lakeshore at all - but it's less than ideal as a riding lake.. Wife and I decided to build new rather than buy older on the lake.

Good luck - whatever weekend you're moving in - I'm busy or out of town or something. But when you get settled, I'll be glad to come over and ride ;-) I'm just in Lakeville off 60 so I'm less than 10 mins away. Hope it works out!

Oh and whatever you read about it greening - it's probably that bad.. I rode it once in the spring and once in late August and I was definitely feeling it in my sinuses in the late season ride..

But **** - lakeshore is lakeshore. The taxes are a BIT more reasonable than most metro lakes and having a "green" lake in August is better than no lake at all..

Enjoy and shoot me a message when you're settled and some guys from our crew will roll over. There are 4 guys from my crew in the south metro.

Interesting. It's small but not that shallow. Link to lake map below:

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefin...s/b0531010.pdf

Originally Posted by tuneman

Interesting. It's small but not that shallow. Link to lake map below:

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefin...s/b0531010.pdf

Right. As a whole, it's not shallow. it's very deep out in the center. But it's shallow along the north shoreline where you end up riding most of the time with the wind. It varied between 8-10' most of the places I ended up riding.

The centers is very deep - which is one of the reasons it has great fishing. They all have a place to live in the winter down there. ;-)

Good luck Jeff - look forward to riding with you out there!

It is pretty green - we rode it in June once and the spray off the board was green.

It definitely turns early but it is a pretty good lake overall, not much traffic and a relatively nice long run.

Thanks guys. This is good feedback. My wife and I are still going back and forth. Part of me wants to wait until the ice is off before pulling the trigger. I do work downtown, so the commute will be there. It seems like I will need to endure a commute

if I want lake living as Sweeney and Medicine get out of my price range quickly. I'm starting to consider the idea of a house with deeded access, maybe on Lotus.

Any other recommendations are welcome! The search continues....

Does anyone know someone who rides spring lake all year? I would love to have a quick email Q&A....

We slip our boat on a lift on Prior. We live and work in the south metro so it works out nicely. We'd love to live on a lake, but the taxes are crazy high. It's nice to be able to just grab a cooler and some towels and head out whenever you want. IMO, deeded access would be a real nice "in between" option for a lot less money. It's just finding a place that has it.

Go a tich further west than Medicine. We're out on lake sarah, if you can find a place on the south shore, it's a great lake. It's good in all winds but a w/nw wind. I think there were only 7-8 days last year that i didn't go out.

OH, wife works Downtown, we're it's a 38 minute commute for her if she drives, 48 if she takes the bus.

The age old battle.. We went through this same song and dance with out last two homes.. Lakeshore, deeded access, commute, old house that needs repair on a lake vs. new build.

We ended up with a new build (and a newborn) and sold the boat - we'll wait til he's 3 or 4 and just trailer. We live a 1/4 mile from Marion and can hit Prior if we want to cruise or party.

Good luck to all. The commute from spring to downtown is brutal.

Have you considered some more metro lakes? I know the NW suburbs have Bass, Eagle, Fish and Rice. The commute downtown from eagle is not terrible.

Thanks guys.

Jeff W. - What is your idea of brutal? I'm estimating it about 45 each way to/from downtown.

I've heard great things about Sarah. I'll keep an eye on that one.

No way during normal work hours is Spring Lake to DT going to take 45mins. Up 35 or the round about way up 169 are some of the worst drives in the city.

Def doable, best bet would be to try to work some off hours. Gotta make some sacrifices for that lake living but sooooo worth it.

I did a trial run after work down 35 to 13, and I made it door to door in under 45. I assume the mornings will be worse, I'd be using the MinnPass on 35.

At this point, I don't know enough about the lake with regard to wind protection and how green it really gets. Unless I can find someone who rides it all year, I'll probably have to hold off until I can get a boat on it.

Thanks for all the input, and please send anyone who is more familiar with the lake itself my way.

Originally Posted by 99xstar

Thanks guys.

Jeff W. - What is your idea of brutal? I'm estimating it about 45 each way to/from downtown.

I've heard great things about Sarah. I'll keep an eye on that one.

I live in Lakeville less than 1 mile from 35w. My house is off of highway 60. I work downtown as well.


My commute from my house to my office is averages 45 minutes. It is *rarely* less than 45 minutes - but I would say 1 time per week it is 1 hour. If there is weather - 90 minutes is not out of the ordinary at all. Please keep in mind that I do *not* have a MN Pass. I would estimate this would knock 10 minutes off my current commute (which is essentially ALL 35w).

To get to Spring Lake - you are going as far south as I am going - but you are also going quite a bit further west. I would imagine that Spring is maybe 5-7 miles west of where I live. The other X-factor is that you will most likely take highway 13 from 35 down to the lake. 13 is hit or miss during rush hour. This part of your commute may take an extra 20 minutes depending on traffic and how you hit the stoplights.

Even with MN Pass - I don't think the commute will be any less than 1 hour on a regular day unless you work atypical hours (6am-3pm)..

With that being said - living on a lake is probably worth the extra 15-20 minutes tacked onto my commute.

Good luck. I wouldn't let the "Green" part of the lake sway you from moving. It is still rideable - it's just green. There is a plenty long pass along the west side of the lake that is protected most times from wind. The east side doesn't have quite the protection - but our wind is rarely coming out of the east.

The thing about living in the south metro is you have to be on the road by like 6:15 in order to avoid the traffic. It seems like once you hit that hill just north of 42, brakes. I leave early so I miss it. If I had to go later I'd move. Then you get mornings like today...awesome (sarcasm, dripping).

Originally Posted by EnderWiggin

The thing about living in the south metro is you have to be on the road by like 6:15 in order to avoid the traffic. It seems like once you hit that hill just north of 42, brakes. I leave early so I miss it. If I had to go later I'd move. Then you get mornings like today...awesome (sarcasm, dripping).

70 minutes today.

Took me 35 minutes to get from 60 to 13. I think that's like 5 miles at most. Actually. It probably took me 30 minutes to get from 46 to 13. Which is about 3.5 miles.

6:15 is accurate to "avoid" traffic. Anything in the 6-7 range is pretty safe - if you leave after 7, you might as well wait til 8 cause you'll get there the same time.

Leave at 7:15, get downtown at 8:30. Leave at 8 - get downtonwn at 8:30.