Mabel Lake Provincial Park, near Vernon

In mid-September, we had the chance to paddle Mabel Lake, about an hour north-east of Vernon. The road in is paved and lovely until the last five kms, when it becomes gravel. The lake itself is huge, running about 35km SW to NE. The width varies between 1 and 2km.

The day-use area include pit toilets, picnic tables, and playground and a lovely beach.

The beach is about a 60m carry from the parking lot (photo below looks back to the parking lot).

We chose to use the boat launch to save our shoulders. It has a dock, a shallow cement ramp, and a sandy launch right beside. There is also a marina and general store.

Since the lake was calm and our plan was to paddle about 10km around the southern basin, we crossed to the western shore and then turned south.

The western shore was very rocky. There are placed to get out but the first 2km were pretty sheer. 

The water is crystal clear.

Eventually, the shoreline starts to become shallower with more places to get out.

We stopped on the southern shore on a gravel beach for lunch and then turned east towards the inflow of the Shuswap River.

The bird watching was pretty incredible the whole time.

We saw two turkey vultures just hanging out.

Along the south shore there were herons (pictured) and white sandhill cranes as well as all manner of ducks.

There were also two swans that were unhappy to see us.

At the mouth of the river, we watched a bald eagle buzz and bunch of ducks, trying to find a lame one for lunch. We paddled about 500m upstream to continue watching this.

Eventually, we floated back to the lake and headed north up the eastern shoreline.

This was fairy built up with cabins and that brought us back the marina.

Objectively, the nicest paddle of the trip, I think. We did, however get lucky with the weather (+26C and no wind). A big blow would have made this paddle much less pleasant.

Kalamalka Lake, Kaloya Regional Park

We took the chase in mid-September, to visit the cave on the southeastern shore of Kalamalka Lake, just south of Vernon. The easiest way to get there is to launch from Kaloya Regional Park on the south end of the lake. You can launch off the west or east side of the peninsula that houses the park. We chose the eastern, sandier beach to avoid the wind. This entailed a 30m carry past the pit toilets and down to the water.

The bottom is sandy but soft. It is firmer over to the left side of the photo below. The water is crystal clear and a lovely emerald green. Lots of folks were SUPping in the sheltered bay when we got back from our paddle.

We paddled north out of the bay and up the eastern shore, to the second point of land.

The entrance to the cave is below the tree hanging over the water (far left) in the picture below. You can't really miss it due to the graffiti on the rocks around it.

The cave itself isn't very deep. You can get one boat inside.

Inside there was a nest (maybe a loon? or a goose? something big anyhow).

Looking back out to the lake is interesting.

There is also a chimney above.

We then paddle back as the wind was starting to come up from the north. 

It is hard to overstate how beautiful this lake is.

Round trip was about 7km and took under two hours. We then had a walk around the peninsular on the trail (which was lousy with Oregon grape) and sat on the western beach to have lunch.

Overall, this is a nice park with a playground, change rooms, pit toilets, and picnic tables. The lake is also lovely, if maybe a bit prone to wind in the afternoon.

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.