Lake Newell

In early July, we were headed to the Cypress Hills. We stopped at Brooks for gas and detoured about 12km south of town to Kinbrook Island Provincial Park on Lake Newell for lunch. The park is lovely, with lots of camping, a beach, food stand, toilets, etc. Friends who have worked here describe this as a bit of a party campground on the long weekends.

Lake Newell is pretty big and was really rolling the day we were there (pictures don't really do it justice) so we had lunch on the beach and walked around. You could either get in off the beach (maybe a 150-foot carry from the parking lot). Or you could use the boat launch at the sailing club.

On the east side of the island is a sheltered part of the lake (there is a berm enclosing it) that we were told was full of birds. Access is from a small three-car parking spot (just follow the only road north from the beach and, if you hit the sailing club, you went too far) with a short walk through the trees to a dock.

The dock floats (sort of) and was pretty tippy. We got out boats in on the side, using the submerged part of the dock as a launching platform. This was a moderately challenging launch that was not for the faint of heart. It would have been easier to get a SUP or a canoe in off the dock itself.

We paddled the very calm waters north, basically doing a clockwise loop in about 75 minutes. There were lots of birds here, even though we were entering the quiet period of the summer.

The reedy islands at the south end of this area were a bit confusing and we ended up pushing through some reeds at the end to get headed back in the right direction.

There were no big waves to speak of in here but there was some stiff wind and it was a real grind to get back across the pond to the dock. My wife ended up drafting me. This would have sucked on a SUP.

Overall, a nice enough lake. I would have liked to have paddled the main lake but that is totally wind dependent. Crawling Valley Reservoir just north of Bassano (maybe a 40-minute drive west) is nicer and would be my choice if I was in the area again.