Round Lake, near Evansburg plus Lake Isle northwest launches

In late May, I finally managed to get out to Round Lake, which is located about an hour west of Edmonton on Highway 16, just north of Magnolia. Access is from the north, down Range Road 70 

You can park about 10m from the edge of the lake and unload. Access to the lake requires navigating some bullrushes. I was able to get in and out dry. The challenge for my visit was the channel was blocked at the end by some kind of home-made raft.

I was able to bull past this with some work.

Reverse shot of the launch and parking.

The shoreline is basically reeds with a mixed forest behind it. There is no easy place to get out around the perimeter of the lake. 

There were a tonne of birds on the lake and on the shoreline.

The sunshine was also amazing the day I was there.

In the west end, there is a small creek you can paddle up. This actually looks more like a canal (when you look at the satellite photo).

The navigable part seems to end at a small bridge in the middle of this person's farm.

Beyond the birds and fresh air, Round Lake is pretty unremarkable. I suspect it would be buggy in the summer and the water likely gets a bit green (it was dark, iced tea coloured the day I was there).

Overall, an interesting enough early season paddle with good birding. It took me just over an hour to go around the perimeter (so maybe 5km with the side trip up the creek) Probably not suitable for SUP and not interesting enough that I would go back.

Lake Isle, Northern Shore
Since I had some time, I decided to come back to Edmonton along the north shore of Lake Isle and check out some of the launches I have not yet been to.

There is a small boat launch by the Lutheran summer camp (orange arrow). It offers a cement ramp, a floating dock, a picnic tables, and garbage cans. There is parking just at the top of the ramp in the photo below).

A little further east, there is a launch at Jones Beach (green arrow). This offers similar amenities as well as a pit toilet. The parking situation was a little less clear here.

I haven't explored the far west west end of Isle Lake so I will try to get back here this summer.

Kin/Canoe Beach, Lake Okanagan

In mid-September, we spent a week in Vernon. We'd planned to paddle a portion of Okanagan Lake out of Ellison Provincial Park but the water was too rough when we arrived. Instead, we backtracked towards town and put in off Kin/Canoe Beach.

We parked along Lakeshore Road and carried about 30m across the sand to the water. Only 5km south, the lake was really rolling, but here it was dead calm and there was hardly anyone on the water and no one on the beach.

 

We went counter clockwise around the bay about 7km. 

There were a surprising number of birds, including this western grebe and a blue heron (that I was not fast enough to get a picture of).

We also saw two osprey diving and catching fish.

While paddling through a built up area wasn't my first choice, there were certain benefits.

Overall, a nice bailout plan when the weather didn't cooperate. After we loaded up, we spent a few hours on the beach eating lunch and reading a book.

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.

Twin Lakes, Crimson Lake Provincial Park

In mid-September, we overnighted in Rocky Mountain House. With a free evening on our hands, we headed to Crimson Lake Provincial Park (about 10km NW of town) to try out Twin Lakes. Twin Lakes is small lake (maybe 800m by 400m), really more of a fishing pond, but quite lovely.

There are a couple of access options. Almost as soon as you turn into the lake, there is a small parking area on the west end with a path that leads down to a dock. There is an easy shore launch here but the stairs down were uneven.

We opted to drive around to the east side of the lake (3 minutes?) and use the hand launch, which I think is the nicer option.

You can drop beside the lake and then go park about 20m away. You can launch off the sandy/gravel shore or you can use the proper kayak launch on the dock. There are pit toilets here as well as picnic tables and fire rings.

We did two leisurely laps over the course of an hour.

The water was very clear and clean.

There are a couple of places you can get out on the south and west shores.

There were lots of fish jumping and a loon was fishing.

The water was very calm and the reflections as the sun started to set were great.

There is a second smaller lake to the southeast. There is a narrow channel that appears to connect to it on the air photos. The channel was only slightly wider than my boat and, after about 20m, it started to twist such that I couldn't get my 10-foot boat through it. A shorter boat or higher water might be required.

Overall, this was one of the nicest paddles of the summer and you could easily do Twin Lakes and nearby Crimson Lake in a single day.