Gardom Lake near Salmon Arm and Swan Lake near Vernon

In late June, we visited Gardom Lake, just south of Salmon Arm. We looked at two access points: Gardom Lake Community Park and the Musgrave Road boat launch. The community park has pit toilets, a swing set, picnic tables, a nice beach, and swim platforms.

The carry from the parking lot was about 80m down a steep trail to a nice beach. 

My wife was nursing a lightly sprained knee so we opted for the hand launch down at the end of the lake. The hand launch has lots of parking, a pit toilet, and about a 10m carry down a good slope.

My wife made it down with a cane and a knee brace and the launch was sand-gravel and the water was clear.

The lake itself runs about 1.5km SW-NE and is maybe 600m wide. I recollect this being an electric-only lake so there were no power boats roaring around. There are also two islands. There may be some small inflows but I would guess this is spring fed from the formations on the bottom.

The shoreline is rocky or reedy with a mostly fir forest behind.

The coolest part were the turtles. There were hundreds of painted turtles sunning themselves on every log.

They were also hanging out on the bottom or swimming around.

Anyhow, we lost probably two hours checking out the turtles. There were also the usual birds and such.

The two islands are worth a paddle around. Main island has a picnic shelter and pit toilets! Turtle Island is a bit more rustic and slightly harder to get ashore.

Overall, this was a great paddle and we really enjoyed ourselves. There are turtles in Alberta but the sheer number here was staggering here.

Swan Lake
On our way through Vernon, we stopped to scout access to Swan Lake, which is just north of town. We looked at two access points off Highway 97.

The Vernon Rowinga nd Dragon Boat Club (blue arrow) has public access and good parking. The launch is off a dock or from the shore at the end of the dock.

A second option is off the public boat launch off Meadowlark Road (red arrow). TIhere is lots of parking and it is a gentle sand-gravel launch. For my money, this is the easier option with a shorter carry and easier entry.

If we pass through here again, we'll definitely give Swan Lake a go.

White Lake by Salmon Arm

In late June, we put in White Lake, just north of Salmon Arm. We checked out two launch sites: White Lake Community Park and White Lake Provincial Park. The community park has a small parking area, a life jacket loaner station, and a boat launch with a dock. I don't recall if it has an outhouse (I want to say yes but I just don't remember).

This launch allows access to the SW end of the lake, which is nice enough but also reasonably built up. 

We decided to continue onto the provincial park, which is about halfway down the north shore of the lake. As is often the case in BC, the pavement ended at the park boundary and the gravel road could have used some grading. Access to the launch was not well marked. You turn down the steep, single track at the fork pictured below. It was a fairly bumpy trip down. People had big trailers down there so it is super bad, but it was rough.

The launch has good parking, pit toilets, some camping spots, a dock, and a sand launch. There is also a picnic shelter but it is leaning pretty radically, so I'd give it a pass. The water was beautiful and clear the day we got there.

It was also very windy with white caps on the lake. The launch is sheltered by a spit of land so was calm and we decided to head northeast towards the end of the lake down the sheltered shore.

We went most of the way to the end without so much as a single paddle stroke.

There looked to be another takeout spot near the end.

We also saw a few painted turtles sunning themselves on a log.

The trip back was a real grind into the wind. 

Overall, this was a lovely lake and I would definitely go back (hopefully on a calmer day) and do a full circuit.

Waterfowl Lake, Icefields Parkway

In late June, we stopped at Waterfowl Lake along the Icefield Parkway in the hope of paddling Upper Waterfowl Lake. The road and trails leading to it were closed so we ended up paddling Lower Waterfowl instead.

There was no access to the lake through the campsite so we ended up launching from the viewpoint on the highway. There also seeme dot be access on the north end of the lake but I haven't stopped there yet. This is a moderately difficult entry that requires carrying the boats down one of several steep paths to the lake. Below is a reverse shot. It is steeper than it looks.

We likely could have paddled to the creek on the south end of the lake and carried or lined our boats upstream into Upper Waterfowl but we didn't have the time or energy to do that on this trip (at leasy 1km of rocky walking). Instead, we just toured around Lower Waterfowl for an hour.

There were a few paddleboards on the lake and a few kayaks. 

The weather was a mixed bag but pretty decent.

We thought about stopping at this spit on the far side and have a swim but we had a reservation and a long drive ahead of us yet so we skipped the swim. 

All told a nice paddle. Maybe next time we'll come prepared to make our way to Upper Waterfowl.

Clear Lake and Romeo Lake, west of Barrhead

Back in mid-June, I visited Clear Lake, located about 20 minutes NW of Barrhead. Access is through Clear Lake Park. The park has a beach, boat launch, swimming area and dock, playground, pit toilets, fire pits, and picnic tables. You can camp there and you can park within 20m of the water (slight downhill slope). You can see my truck in the photo below to get an idea of entry.

The water was, as advertised, clear and the bottom was a silty sand. I had to wade out a few feet to get enough depth to float.

The other entry is the boat launch (on your left as you drive in).

Clear Lake has a very alpine vibe, like Obed or McLeod lakes with a periodically reedy or bullrush edge giving way to muskeg or mixed forest behind. It was cloudy the day I was there and the photos don't really do the lake justice. 

There were lots of beaver lodges.

This one was huge!

Below is a pretty typical shot of wbat you get in the edge. The lake is about 1.8km long (running east-west) and maybe 400m wide. I'd say the perimeter is maybe 5km and it took me about 80 minutes to do the edge. I would have paddled it a second time in the other direction if the weather had been better.

There were some nice water flowers.

The birdwatching was very good. Below, an osprey getting chased by a red-winged black bird.

There were two loons, pelicans, and lots of ducks.

Over in the east end (which is swampier) was this dock that appears to have drifted off on someone.

Beside it was this bent paddle and the bow of a sunken kayak. Maybe they got caught over winter?

Overall, a nice lake. The drive was longish from Edmonton (about an hour and 40 minutes). If you wanted a twofer, Thunder Lake is immediately south.

Romeo Lake

On the way back, I stopped in to scout access to Romeo Lake. There is a public boat launch at the Peavine Romeo Lake Hall on the north end of the lake. It is the usual gravel/grass road, down a hill.

Eventually you get out onto the flats. There is room to drop your boat and turn around. Parking is back up at the hall.

There is a cement ramp but you could also get in on the gravel on either side. The water looks good in mid-June but there were already extensive lily beds growing near the shore.

The lake itself is very much a prairie lake, with few trees on the edge and cultivated fields or ranch land all the way around it. It is about 3km long (north-south) and 1 km wide. 

The lake didn't look super interesting to me but there might be good bird watching along the reedy shoreline.