Echo Lake Provincial Park, near Vernon

In mid-September, a holiday took us to the Okanagan and we spent a morning paddling Echo Lake, about an hour east of Vernon. The road in a pretty typical BC experience with pavement becoming gravel becoming dirt. 

The easiest access point is at the east end of the lake through the Echo Lake Lodge (red arrow above). They charged $12.50 plus tax per boat and had restricted hours. The other option is to DIY an entrance from one of the many lookouts along the road.

The green arrow is hard because of the slope down to the water (it is steeper than it looks in the photo, maybe a 35 degree slope). There was also a lot of oregon grape here and, naturally, some very large bear poops.

This is the entrance from the water. It is a doable entry but it would have sucked so we kept driving.

The second access point (orange arrow) was the one we chose. It had a steep slope but not too difficult in good shoes (flip-flops won't work). There is maybe a 6 meter drop over 30 meters of carry.

Once at the bottom, there was a nice little shelf. This is essentially the same arrangement as you find at the blue arrow.

The water was super clean and this would be a great lake for SUP.

We went left (east) off the launch and headed down the lake. The lake is 3km long by maybe 500m wide (at the widest point). It took us about two hours of leisurely paddling to complete a circuit, although we stopped for lunch and to enjoy the view.

Above you can see the launch at the yellow arrow. This has less of a slope but some tricky lifting. It was also quite busy with people fishing. The pull-outs are not large (maybe two or three cars, max).

As you get towards the eastern end of the lake, the various campsites at the resort become visible, some with water access.

Above is a fairly decent shot of the resort's launch, with a beach and a dock. And now to the scenics.

With the exception of a private cabin at the east end, the rest of the shoreline is basically wild. The north shore is drier while the south shore has more a rainforest vibe, with cedar, ferns and moss.

There were some loons on the lake and some fish jumping.

We also saw this eagle just hanging out.

There is a small beach on the south shore with a picnic table and a nice place to swim. It looks like you can hike in here.

There were also some cool mossy logs.

The water was almost unbelievable green in the sunlight.

The haul back to the truck was a tough one!

Overall, a great lake despite the trickier entry. The absence of any kind of facilities (except at the private resort) demonstrates that, absent public toilets, everything becomes a toilet. BC Parks could likely do better in this regard.