At a Tim Hortons in downtown Hamilton, drivers intent on getting their morning double doubles brave the murky waters of the parking lot, as sloshing waves reach as high as their car bumpers. 

Welcome to “Lake Timmicaca” — perhaps Hamilton’s most iconic, and persistent, puddle.

At John Street S. and Jackson Street E., the body of water has for years formed with the spring thaw and during downpours in the summer months. The impressive pool that sits over a sewer grate has inspired photographers, printmakers and Reddit users. Some others, including Tim Hortons customers who CBC Hamilton spoke to this week, call it “atrocious.”

“It feels very Hamilton,” said Max Rose Begg Goodis. “It’s definitely an iconic visual, a noteworthy landmark.” 

Goodis believes she’s the first to come up with the name Lake Timmicaca. 

As a theatre kid, Goodis used to do a vocal warm up that included the word “Titicaca” — the catchy name of a real lake in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia.

She thinks that’s why “Timmicaca” popped into her head as she passed by the eye-catching basin on her usual walk to work around 2017. 

She told her friends and coworkers about Lake Timmicaca, and eventually it spread to Reddit, the popular online discussion board, as the puddle’s infamy grew. 

“As a city, we are very proficient with… spinning stories that may not be entirely positive into something that’s wholesome, or with a comedic takeaway, or as a Hamilton legend,” she said. 

‘Brutal and pretty caca’

Lake Timmicaca goes by different spellings — Lake Timicaca and Lake Timmycaca — but CBC Hamilton has stuck with the double “m” and the “i” as Goodis envisioned.

It’s also been described on Hamilon’s sub Reddit as a sixth Great Lake.

After driving through it to park his car on Wednesday, Tim’s regular Dwayne Waldron called it “brutal and pretty caca.”

Caca happens to be derived from the Latin word “cacare” meaning “to defecate.” 

Local photographer David Fillion captured Lake Timmicaca during a sunset in 2023. The resulting print has been “very popular” at Art Crawl, the monthly street festival in the city. “It stands out to people,” he said. 

Hamilton residents Matt and Dan Jelly, of art and photo print company Jelly Bros, made an illustration of “Beautiful Lake Timmycaca, Hamilton’s largest inland sea” just over a year ago. 

“I’ve been aware of people calling it that for years and always got a chuckle when I’d walk by and see the massive puddle that never seems to go away,” Matt told CBC Hamilton. “We are still unclear on why it exists, or why it continues to exist, but it’s pretty fun the way the community has turned it into a local inside joke.” 

Harrison Wheeler, who frequents the Tim Hortons daily, described Lake Timmicaca as “absolutely atrocious.” At the same time, he’d like to see Tim Hortons commission a mural on the side of the adjacent building commemorating the puddle, he said.

“Welcome to Lake Horton,” he suggested the mural say. 

Fellow Tim Hortons customer Michelle Korzak agreed. 

“They should draw attention to it,” she said. “If they fix it, it would be shocking.” 

Private property issue, city says

The City of Hamilton said in a statement that municipal water and wastewater infrastructure in the area is working well, and the issue is on private property. 

After receiving complaints, the bylaw department said it is actively investigating and working with the property management group to address the puddle “as quickly as possible.” It did not say when the complaints began.

The city’s property standards bylaw requires walkways, driveways and yards are maintained and can be passed through safely, said the city statement. There’s also a bylaw that requires property owners to ensure standing water does not accumulate between April 1 and Oct. 31 to prevent the spread of West Nile virus.

As to why the waters of Lake Timmicaca have been permitted to ebb and flow for years, the city did not provide a response before publication. 

The land the parking lot sits on was purchased in 1988 by “Tim Donut Limited” for $500,000, according to a property record search. That corporation was eventually transferred to The TDL Group Ltd., the licensing company for Tim Hortons. 

Tim Hortons did not respond to requests for comment. 

Goodis said over the years she’s seen repairs being done at the sewer grate underneath Lake Timmicaca. 

“But nothing ever seems to really send it away forever,” she said. “It wishes to persist.”