🏊 SwimSeeker

Finds candidate swimming holes by analyzing river geometry and terrain. Pan the map to your area, then scan.

Tip: zoom to a stretch of river or creek first. Smaller areas = faster, sharper results.
What are you looking for?
Pick what matters to you — the app already works out what makes a good hole here. Nothing selected = best all-round spots.
Straight-line distance to the nearest mapped road or trail — a rough effort proxy, not routed walking distance (routed distance is a planned upgrade).
Ownership & access from USGS PAD-US public-lands data. A guide, not a guarantee — verify locally, and note that public land ≠ swimming is allowed.
Fine-tune each signal directly. The choices above set these automatically; here you can override them.
Meanders can scour a pool — but real holes here are mostly straight, so this is downweighted.
Flat stream gradient = water slows and deepens. Steep = rapids.
Plunge pool below a steep drop, or a confined gorge — where water scours deep. A likelihood, not a depth reading.
Steep high banks / cliffs beside calm, likely-deep water. Finds cliffy banks, not single boulders — always check depth before jumping.
Springs (clear, cool) and lakes/ponds, not just creeks — the swim spots that dominate flat & karst country.
Steep terrain beside the water → cliffs, boulders, canyon.
Granite/basalt/gneiss → clean water, slabs. Shale/mud → silty.
Where two streams meet, water pools deeper.
Ranked spots
No scan yet. Hit the button above.
Prototype heuristics, not ground truth. Scoring is inferred from OpenStreetMap waterway geometry, USGS 3DEP 10 m elevation (gradient along the water and relief beside it), Macrostrat bedrock geology (rock type → how resistant/rocky the channel is), road/trail proximity for reachability, and USGS PAD-US for public-vs-private land. Land status is a guide, not legal advice — never trespass, and public land doesn't always permit swimming. Weights are calibrated against known-good holes (Bridgeport, Hwy 49, Hoyt's, Purdon), which share hard granodiorite, calm gradient and high valley relief. It can't see water depth/width yet — the last mile of certainty needs imagery or a visit, so always scout in person and never dive into unknown water.