Peanut Lake

At the end of June, I drove up towards Barrhead to try Peanut Lake. Peanut is a small lake (maybe 1.5km perimeter) and you could easily do two or three laps in an hour.

Access is at the municipal campground run by the County of Barrhead. There is a boat launch sign and space to turn around just outside the campground but the launch itself is no longer in service and basically unworkable.

There are camping and picnic sites with tables and fire pits, some pit toilets that really needed to be cleaned, and you can drop and park about 20 feet from the dock. I got in on the right side of the dock by setting my boat in the water/mud/slime, stepping in, and poling out.

 

The photo above is basically the entire paddle: some slime, reeds, and poplar forest. There is nothing of any real interest but a fair number of the usual water and shore birds.

Apparently the water the was nice on the May long weekend. It was extremely green and full of algae by June. No smell but lots of the slime that clings to your paddle like a wet towel. The picture below gives to a sense of how much slime there was--at least twenty feet to the shore.

I made two laps and actually quite enjoyed the paddle. There was no one on the lake and the only noise was the wind in the trees and a the few birds. The sun was hot, there was a slight breeze, and I had a great time.

As much as I enjoy the paddle, I won't be back. Lac La Nonne and Thunder Lake are both very close by and offer much better paddling.