Saturday, August 13, 2011

Obed Lake

Obed Lake is the western-most lake of three lakes located in Obed Lake Provincial Park, about half way between Edson and Hinton on Highway 16.

Access is clearly marked and entails a short gravel road off the north-side of the highway, which eventually becomes the boat launch. A fairly typical foothills lake--reeds, treed shoreline, sandy soil under some grass. Not a great campsite by any means (pit toilets, few sites crammed closely together, no hand sanitizer and a boil-water advisory on the hand pump).

There is a small campsite, washrooms, and picnic tables. There was a fair bit of water fowl and a collection of anglers. The lake was very warm the day we were there, maybe 15 C or so in the shallows at the boat launch. The bottom was sandy and I'd be worried about swimmer's itch.

Overall, much less nice than Jarvis Lake just 60km down the road. We stopped here for lunch on our way back from Jasper but I don’t think we’ll be back.

2 comments:

W.G. said...

I wouldn't hesitate to swim in Obed lake, by the way. The lake is cleaner than many others, since there is a lack of speed boats on the lake. As for the water pump, boiling water has always been a precaution from any pump in any campground I've been to.
I go back to Obed Lake every year and make reservations to do so.

Bob Barnetson said...

To each his own. It might well be a lovely spot to camp and fish, I just didn't find it that picturesque as a canoeing destination and wouldn't return.