Gardom Lake near Salmon Arm and Swan Lake near Vernon

In late June, we visited Gardom Lake, just south of Salmon Arm. We looked at two access points: Gardom Lake Community Park and the Musgrave Road boat launch. The community park has pit toilets, a swing set, picnic tables, a nice beach, and swim platforms.

The carry from the parking lot was about 80m down a steep trail to a nice beach. 

My wife was nursing a lightly sprained knee so we opted for the hand launch down at the end of the lake. The hand launch has lots of parking, a pit toilet, and about a 10m carry down a good slope.

My wife made it down with a cane and a knee brace and the launch was sand-gravel and the water was clear.

The lake itself runs about 1.5km SW-NE and is maybe 600m wide. I recollect this being an electric-only lake so there were no power boats roaring around. There are also two islands. There may be some small inflows but I would guess this is spring fed from the formations on the bottom.

The shoreline is rocky or reedy with a mostly fir forest behind.

The coolest part were the turtles. There were hundreds of painted turtles sunning themselves on every log.

They were also hanging out on the bottom or swimming around.

Anyhow, we lost probably two hours checking out the turtles. There were also the usual birds and such.

The two islands are worth a paddle around. Main island has a picnic shelter and pit toilets! Turtle Island is a bit more rustic and slightly harder to get ashore.

Overall, this was a great paddle and we really enjoyed ourselves. There are turtles in Alberta but the sheer number here was staggering here.

Swan Lake
On our way through Vernon, we stopped to scout access to Swan Lake, which is just north of town. We looked at two access points off Highway 97.

The Vernon Rowinga nd Dragon Boat Club (blue arrow) has public access and good parking. The launch is off a dock or from the shore at the end of the dock.

A second option is off the public boat launch off Meadowlark Road (red arrow). TIhere is lots of parking and it is a gentle sand-gravel launch. For my money, this is the easier option with a shorter carry and easier entry.

If we pass through here again, we'll definitely give Swan Lake a go.