In addition to swimming in 70 lakes, Gerald also rated them and his son shared facts about each on his website sasklakes.ca. (Submitted photo/Matthew Siemens)

By Teena Monteleone

70 lakes for 70 years

Man swims in 70 different Sask. lakes to mark milestone birthday

Sep 16, 2025 | 4:00 PM

Most people mark their 70th birthday with cake and candles — but one Saskatchewan man dove into celebration by swimming 70 lakes across the province.

Gerald Siemen’s quest started on May 15 at Top Lake – a small fishing and recreational lake located about 16 km northeast of Big River. His son Matthew runs a popular Facebook page about Saskatchewan lakes and that’s where the inspiration came from.

“He’s traveling around and doing research on all these lakes, and I’ve been fortunate enough that he’s allowed me to tag along. So, we’re visiting all these lakes anyway, and so I thought, boy, what a great way to push myself a little bit and go swimming in 70 of them.”

The first of 70 swims for Gerald Siemens took place at Top Lake. (Submitted photo/Matthew Siemens)

Gerald hasn’t always been a swimmer. In fact, he only started about 12 years ago as therapy for a back injury.

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“I found out the best hour of my day was when I was in the water, so I just acquired a love for swimming, and so I take every chance I get to hop in the water now.”

Gerald made an effort to spend more than just a few minutes in each lake. At one point, he and his son stopped at 20 different lakes over the course of just two days to try and fit them all in. His challenge wrapped up Sept. 4 at Pike Lake where a few of his grandkids joined him to celebrate the accomplishment.

Gerald Siemens with his son Matthew and some of his grandkids celebrated his 70th swim which took place Sept 4. in Pike Lake. (Submitted photo/Matthew Siemens)

So, which lake is the best? Gerald said it’s really hard to say but Lac Eauclaire near Chitek Lake was a favourite, along with Candle Lake. He said Diefenbaker was fun and Fife Lake in south central Saskatchewan was unique.

“There’s a lot of great lakes for different reasons. You know, some are prettier areas, the water is way better than other places, the bottom is really good. So, there’s a lot of different places, it’s tough to pick a favourite,” he said.

Matthew added they also swam in some lakes they wouldn’t recommend anyone else swimming in because they had ‘yucky bottoms’ or lots of mud, making them too murky to overly enjoy.

“There’s definitely some memories of Dad pitching over, losing his balance trying to get into these lakes that turned out to be shallower than we thought they were going to be or muddier. Even trying to get to some of these lakes, we ended up having a number of adventures.”

Saskatchewan has more than 94,000 lakes. Both Gerald and Matthew encouraged others to get out and explore them.

“There are so many cool things so close to us, and we have access to amazing resources that so many people would love to have. So, just get out there and enjoy it. Explore what Saskatchewan has to offer,” Matthew said.

Gerald is already thinking about what he can do next year to celebrate his 71^st birthday.

Whatever he decides, Gerald said it will be connected to Saskatchewan’s lakes.

Matthew documented his Dad’s accomplishment on his website including facts about each lake his Dad swam in. You can read more about his ‘70 lakes for 70 years’ quest here.

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teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com