In early August, we took a quick trip that included a night in Grande Cache. We ran into some bad weather which turned a hoped-for paddle on Victor Lake into a quick scouting report.
Victor Lake
Victor Lake is located about 2km southeast of Grande Cache on Highway 40. The lake serves as the town's reservoir and there are no gasoline-powered engines allowed on the lake. There are a couple of access points.
There is a day-use area (blue arrow) that I took a snap of below. This has a fire pit, some parking, and a fairly easy grass and gravel entry once you lift down a few feet to the lake. The water was clear and clean and there were lots of fish jumping.
Maybe 10 meters further west (green arrow) was a boat launch (looked like gravel). Further down the road, you could get access to what appeared to be an old air strip and has other access points (orange arrow).
Allen Creek flows into Victor Lake by the day-use area and is apparently navigable except there is one point you have to portage around (according to the fellow we spoke with). The west end of the lake looks super interesting. This lake is definitely on my list of places to go back to.
Grande Cache Lake
Just a few kilometres further east on Highway 40 is Grande Cache Lake. It had about twice the foot print of Victor Lake and is prone to getting rough if the wind comes up. The easiest access point is the municipal park just off Highway 40 about half way down the lake.
The park has pit toilets, picnic tables, a playground, a boat launch, floating dock, and a gravel-dirt beach with clean water. The dock was crowded with people fishing the morning we were there.
Access to Allen Creek is about 1km west from the beach. This would probably be my second choice for paddling because of how open it is to the wind.
