Its hard to find a good place to paddle on a windy day. I find that a smaller lake down in a bowl is a good choice and McConnell Lake fit that description. The Park can be a busy place but if I arrive early enough, I may find that I am the only one on the lake. The winds …Continue reading…
Heffley Lake is one of our best paddling lakes, but with some limits. It is a popular spot and on weekends the motorized “fleet” arrives on the lake late morning with their noise, wakes, and disturbance, so its best to just avoid those times. The boat launch area can also be full at prime times. We paddled the lake on …Continue reading…
I paddled out of Cooney Bay in April and instead of heading out into the bay and then farther out to Kamloops Lake, I chose to paddle upstream into the shallow river channels and explore the delta sand islands. At low water, the river divides into 3 channels near the mouth before entering Kamloops Lake. The main channel is about …Continue reading…
In April most of the lakes in the hills are still covered in ice so we do a rotation of the valley-bottom lakes first (Kamloops Lake, Little Shuswap Lake, Nicola Lake, Stump Lake, Trapp Lake, Shumway Lake, then move to the lower lakes in the hills. When we paddle the larger lakes, we watch for a day with no wind. …Continue reading…
Trapp Lake is a long narrow lake in the bottom of the gully south of Shumway Lake. There is a good launch spot halfway down the lake. It is one of the lakes in which the ice clears off early, so I usually pick it for a spring paddle. I paddled down the west shore and then back on the …Continue reading…
We launched our kayaks in April from a boat launch on the east side of Nicola Lake close to the southwest end. The lake was low and almost all of the water was quite shallow, but there was a channel of deeper water heading west toward Upper Nicola. On a sandbar across the lake were 3 American white pelicans (only …Continue reading…
On a calm early April day we launched our kayaks from Cooney Bay and paddled into the rivers flow, down to the lake. We rounded the corner and followed the shoreline of Cooney Bay. Our route continued past a few fishermen, rocky bluffs, gravely and shingled shoreline beaches, and railway fixtures toward Battle Bluff. We passed the tunnel under the …Continue reading…
The water is cold in March , but with the right gear we can paddle on the rivers as soon as the ice melts. We need to avoid windy days because the cold winds make progress difficult and uncomfortable, but when the conditions are right, paddling is a perfect late winter – early spring activity. We launch from the beach …Continue reading…
In the right conditions paddling on the Thompson Rivers is great in March. On this mid-March day, there was no wind and blue skies. I paddled west from Pioneer Park, going under the Red Bridge, then the Black (CN) Bridge before passing through the Confluence. The river is quite low at this time of year and there are gravel bars …Continue reading…
As the air temperatures drop so does the water temperature in the rivers, but more slowly. The water in the river is still okay for paddling in November, but we wait for a mild day with no wind. I paddled upstream for a couple of kilometers getting a good workout, then turned around an enjoy a more leisurely paddle downstream. …Continue reading…
One of the lakes we return to paddle each year is Badger Lake. Access to the lake is either past Knouff Lake (7 km) on a bumpy back road, or up the Orchard Lake Road (13 km) from Highway 5 North. The road goes up the east side of Badger Lake to a B.C. Rec Site. There is now a …Continue reading…
In October Jacko Lake was a busy spot. We counted 20 vehicles in teh parking lot/boat launch. We paddled around the lake staying close to the shoreline to stay out of the way of anglers. After paddling we climbed over some of the hills to enjoy the sunshine and check out the views. We were mindful of the mine property …Continue reading…
As fall approached, there were still a few more paddling outings to be done on the high country lakes. McConnell Lake is a good choice on a windy day because the smaller lake sits in a bowl surrounded by trees, Stake Lake is also okay in the wind, but will require more diligent paddling. By this time of the yar, …Continue reading…
Painted Bluffs Provincial Park lies on the north side of Kamloops Lake east of Copper Creek. Access by land is difficult, but it can be done from the Copper Creek Road just below the Sabiston Creek Road junction (link). We have been in to Painted Bluffs five times in the last 2 years, with the last time by kayak from …Continue reading…
Palmer Meadows Lake lies in the hills east of Stump Lake, not far from Dardanelles Lake. It is a dammed lake with the reservoir benefiting waterfowl and ranchers that need summer irrigation. The dam has created a larger lake, flooding copses, meadows, marshes, and low areas. Access is by backroads (Old Kamloops Road > Fraser Road > …Continue reading…
Bleeker Lake is a long narrow lake located just north of Roche Lake. To get to the lakeshore, drive up the Roche Lake Road and then turn left onto the Bleeker Lake FSR (3 km before Roche). Follow the bumpy 2WD road to the west end of the lake. There is access to the lake off a side road, close …Continue reading…