Peter Lynn Crookston is the second documented swimmer to cross the width of Bear Lake. Here is a Deseret News article on his swim.
Peter recounts:
It took me about 7 hours and 15 minutes from 9:45 am to 5:00pm. I tried to swim the Utah/Idaho State line from the West side to the East side. I thought that was about the longest width (a little less than 8 miles). With a map and a compass I found a prominent feature on the horizon to aim at. I started on the West side of Bear Lake heading straight East but the wind blew me south much of the afternoon. I saw that I was being pushed to the south so I abandoned my bearing straight East and headed for the shore. I ended up about a mile South of the state line.
The article says I beat my Dad's time but he really beat me by over an hour. I tell my dad that he beat me because he was 26 and I was 37 at the time and he was really a swimmer and I'm not.
Growing up I had a goal to swim across the lake because my father did it and we think he was the first to do it. I didn't really decide to do it until we meet at Bear Lake for a family reunion on his 49th anniversary. I decided then that I would do it on his 50th anniversary.
I worked for the BLM in Las Vegas at the time so I was worried about how I would train for it. I bought a mountain bike and rode it every day and I got a membership to a gym and swam laps several times a week. A couple of times I swam 8 miles in the pool. I knew I could go the distance but I was not sure how the cold water and wind would effect me. I thought there was a good chance the cold water would get to me.
On the 17th of August (my birthday) the lake was calm as glass so I almost did it. My dad kept telling me I should do it then because of the good conditions and the forecast didn't look good. I wanted to do it on the same day he did so I waited until the 19th and it was a little windy in the afternoon.
It was cool because as I was getting ready to leave the shore a man and his wife (Richard and Maria Chambers) came to see me off. They saw my Dad off 50 years earlier when he swam the lake.
