Premier Lake, BC

In early July, we paddled Premier Lake, just south of Canal Flats in southeastern BC. Access is a short and easy drive off the highway, mostly on paved roads, to the provincial park on the south end of the lake.

There is a nice boat launch, with pit toilets, picnic tables, lots of parking, and a small enclosed swim area. You can beach launch but the easiest access was off the boat launch. There is also a large floating dock that encloses a protected swim area. 

The lake runs north-south and we went left (clockwise). There is some kind of fish ladder (?) that accesses a creek. We immediately ran into an osprey harassing an immature eagle.

The shoreline on the west side of the lake varies from very steep to cliffs. The water is clear and a lovely green.

There are interesting underwater cliff faces to watch and lots of fish jumping. There are power boats on the lake but there is a speed restriction in the southern third.

The lake was dead calm the day we were there. I imagine in a blow it would be much dicier.

The only real place to get out on the west side of the lake is this boat launch. The road in is listed as 4x4s only (which is why we went to the provincial park). It didn't look that bad but we didn't go down it.

There are some neat things in the water, like this deadhead that is almost entirely submerged. There is also a sunken boat on the west side.

The water was so still, I could do reflections of the clouds.

At the northern end, there are number of private homes and no public access that I could see. Plus a cool island!

We caome back on the east side, which has a gentler slope (so you can get out a bit), more private cabins, and lots of fish.

There's another sunken boat on the east side and we saw a mature eagle fishing.

Premier Lake was very pretty and well worth the trip. The only real hazard on the road in was free-range cattle. A herd had seized one of the bridges and we had to wait for then to move.