Hubbles Lake

In mid-August, we took a quick week-day trip out to Hubbles Lake for a paddle. We went in through the crown land on the north shore (directions here). This involves (according to Strava) about a 400m carry with a descent of 15m (there are actually two drops and one climb on the way in). Spirits were high in the picture below, despite finding bear scat in the parking area.

This is the long drop to the lake. The trail turns to the left as it enters the trees and keeps descending. The trail and the footing was better than when I was here last fall.

The entry is so-so. The dock is dilapidated but sturdy. We decided to go in to the left of it and bum scoot through the mud. There was some lake goo here (just late season slime, not blue-green algae).

There was a lot of bum scooting and the mud smelled bad but eventually we got out into the lovely clean lake.

A reverse shot of the entry.

We went left (east) off the launch and paddled towards the Allen Beach Resort. There was no one on the water at 10 am on a Tuesday and no one on the shore either. The water was like glass.

A bit of high cloud looking towards the resort. There is a fellow in a golf cart on the beach!.

The sun kind of came out as we went east. The lake is maybe 1.2km long and about 200m wide and you could do two laps in an hour or so.

The west end of the lake had a fair number of birds and we stopped to float and share a chocolate croissant, like I imagine the voyageurs would have done 150 years ago.

We finally saw some other paddlers.

I had a chance to rescue a bee!

Getting out was basically the reverse of getting in, with some bum scooting and light cursing. The picture below is the first half of the hill before it turns to the right and keeps climbing. It is fairly steep and would be better with a cart than carrying.

The hill finally conquered with only a small amount of gasping. Not sure this if this was easier to harder than doing it with one boat on my head last fall.

And back to the parking spot and loaded. All told, maybe a ten-minute carry from the water to the car? Room for two or maybe three vehicles here.

Overall, a fun paddle on an empty lake with clean water close to town. I see why this lake is so popular.