Reading through this I immediately thought, ok, a pool that huge would never warm up.
Does Anyone Remember the Largest Pool in Iowa?
- Thread starter BeastCY
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I went to Camp Dodge monthly for six years (National Guard 1966 - 1973). I remember the Country Club next door but don’t remember seeing a pool let alone a huge pool. Seeing a current map, I now see that I didn’t know that Camp Dodge was that large and I was only in a small corner of the property for the full six years. Thinking back, there were some times where the heat was so bad we could have used that pool.
When it was 1966, your house had no air conditioning, and it was 98 degrees outside, you didn't give a rip. That pool was sweet relief.
Yes, as a youth went to some summer camps at Camp Dodge and hit the pool.
Boys State ‘94. Exact same experience. Coincidentally the best looking girls at the pool were friends of mine from school, which resulted in instant street cred for me. Haven’t thought about those days in >3 decades. Cold water felt great, though.I attended American Legion Boy's State program in '95 at Camp Dodge, and while there, found out they had a massive pool, so I ended up going to it once. It was extremely impressive.
Years down the road, I thought about taking my kid there, but by the time I had looked into it, the pool has already been decommissioned for ~15 years. When there, you are aware that it is indeed very large, but comparatively?
It looks to have been around 10X larger than any pool I'd ever been to at the time. Dang.
And while it was likely due to the timing/event I was attending, it always gives me a chuckle thinking about the 100/1 ratio of boys to girls that were there, or whatever it was. There were a few huge swarms of teenage boys all congregating around female lifeguards.
The Boy's State week must have been either the most annoying, or the most self-confidence boosting, week for those girls.
Maybe both.
Fun place!
Now...if anyone has ever heard of the recreation area in SW IA way back 90-100 years ago called Gobbler's Knob (no remarks from you @GMackey32 @FancyRex @simply1) I'd love to hear it. I have a PDF of the history of it...it was pretty cool back in the day.
That's what it was. I went to Boy's State and some other statewide camp there around 1980 time frame.
That's crazy. I wish I had. I was on the swim team in high school and prefer a colder pool now because of it. I would have loved that place.
you can't leave me a comment like this and not expect me to comment on it. Thats just deeply unfair.
Grew up down the road from there. Spent many days and many summers swimming there. Learned to swim there. Took swimming lessons there in the early morning hours. Man, that water was especially cold when you didn't have the heat of the day to warm you up. There was a concrete wall that was built at an angle, and I remember the sun would hit that, and we would lay against it to warm up. Huge concession stand and you had to rinse off in the showers in the barracks on site. Lot's of good memories.
We used to head out to Camp Dodge with a group of buddies from the neighborhood (NW side of Des Moines) back in the late 60's when we were young teenagers. Always went in the evenings and was never very crowded (given it's size, I question if it was ever crowded). But there was always of 20-30' circle of scum floating in the center of pool, Always questioned how well the water was actually being filtered after seeing the circle of scum. Something we always avoided. But plenty of clean space to have a great time.
I looked up the measurements. It was 150' x 350'. Deep end (which I think was like 1/2 or 2/3 of the pool) was 9ft deep.
For comparison, and Olympic pool is 164' long.
What a beast.
For comparison, and Olympic pool is 164' long.
What a beast.
