Obed Lake

In late May, we headed to the mountains and stopped at Obed Lake Provincial Park, about 50km west of Edson. It has been awhile (12 years?) since we've stopped here and I don't recall liking it then. Happily, we had a great paddle.

Access is through the campground and you can see the launch as soon as you turn off the highway. There are maybe 10 campsites, pit toilets, garbage, fire pits and some picnic tables and days parking down by the water. The launch is gentle gravel and you can drop your boat right beside the water (parking is on the left in the photo above). 

Obed is a big lake (maybe 15-18km of shoreline). We went right (east) off the launch, thinking that the inflowing and outflowing creeks would likely be the most interesting part of the shoreline. Both creeks and then cutting back across the lake was about 5km (so an hour and change).

The water was amazingly clear and clean and there was no wind until the very end. Obed is big enough that a stiff breeze means waves and splashing and a generally hard paddle.

The shoreline is mostly fir trees and scrub and the water seemed high (into the grass in places).

The inflowing creek was a fun little exploration. In the picture below, the bird is fleeing a coyote (in the bush centered in the shot but almost impossible to see) that was stalking it.

The calm water made for great reflections!

We paddled past some kind of camp towards the outflow. On google maps, this looked like a beaver dam.

It is actually a stone dike with a bit of debris on the top. There is a good drop over the other side.

At this point, we were ready to head back and get on to Jasper. The weather was also turning and the wind picked up as we were halfway across the southeastern bay. The waves weren't too but there was a lot of spray and I got a bit damp.

Overall, a very nice paddle in great weather and I'm happy to see my recollection of the lake was incorrect. There are two other lakes in the park, but both look like they'd entail more of a hike than I'm up for!