Finger Lakes State Park is a Missouri State Parks property in Boone County, about 10 miles north of downtown Columbia. The land was the Mark Twain Mine, where Peabody Coal Co. strip-mined more than 1.2 million tons of coal between 1964 and 1967. Peabody donated the ground to the state in 1974, the same month Missouri landed one of a dozen federal grants to show how strip-mined land could be reused for recreation. Most of the park is open riding for ATVs and dirt bikes, but the eastern edge holds the water: about a dozen old mine pits that were joined with small dams and canals into one long, narrow lake running more than a mile and a half. The swim area is a sand beach on one of these eastern fingers.

The park entrance is on East Peabody Road off U.S. 63 north of Columbia (1505 E. Peabody Road). Follow the park road past the office to the beach parking lot, which is shared with the watercraft rental. Five accessible parking spaces sit at the lot, and a paved path about a tenth of a mile long, with a bench halfway, drops to a change house with changing rooms, vault toilets, a shower tower and a drinking fountain. A paved walk continues down to the waterline. The beach gets full sun, so the change house breezeway is the only real shade.

The swim area is a designated stretch of lake water off a sandy shore. The park does not publish depth, bottom or temperature figures, so wade in and check before you jump. There is no current to speak of. Missouri State Parks posts the beach as swim at your own risk, and no lifeguard service is listed. The beach runs on the state park summer season, roughly Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources samples the water for E. coli every week during that window and posts results and closures on its beach status page. As of early October 2026 the park lists the beach as closed for the season.

Swimming is free. Missouri does not charge entrance or day-use fees at its state parks. Park grounds are open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily from April through October and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. November through March. Paid extras are off-road vehicle permits, camping, and watercraft rentals: canoes run $30 for a full day or $20 for a half day, single kayaks and paddleboards $25 or $15, tandem kayaks $30 or $20, rented at the office from April 1 through Oct. 31.

The rules are specific. Swimming is allowed only at the swim beach, not from rented boats and not near the boat ramp, and the park says violators will be removed. Fishing is banned in the beach area. Alcohol, glass, pets and fires are not allowed in water access areas. Only electric motors are allowed on the lakes, so boat traffic is quiet, but the ATV and motocross areas next door get loud. Missouri State Parks also keeps a standing tick advisory, so check yourself after walking through grass to the shore.

Beyond the beach, a 4.5-mile buoy-marked water trail follows the chain of lakes and is easy paddling. Bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish come out of the fishing holes along the shore. The Kelley Branch Mountain Bike Trail (3.8 miles, open to hikers) and a pump track start near the center of the park, there is a shaded picnic area with grills, and the campground in the northwest corner has basic and electric sites with showers.