Postill Lake, east of Kelowna

In late June, we spent a few days at a lodge on a lake in the hills up above Kelowna. Postill Lake offers a nice, isolated boreal paddling experience.

We launched from the sand-gravel beach of the lodge. 

You  can also access the lake from the Postill Lake Recreation Area (which is a few hundred meters away).

The lake is about 2km long and, at its widest, is about 800m across. It winds with lots of bays and inlets and took us about 2.5 hours to paddle the perimeter (so 8km of shoreline, I'd guess).

Basically, these shots are representative of a reedy shore with a coniferous forest behind.

 

In other places, the shore line is stonier.

The water is clear but has a reddy-yellow tinge (the picture below gives you an idea but the red is mostly sediment on the bottom). 

There were lots of fish jumping and the boats seems to have only electric motors on them (no idea if that is a rule or just a convention).

We paddled for three days here and saw deer, eagles, and osprey.

At one point, we had four eagles circling above us and we watched the eagles chase the osprey around a small bay each day.

There were also waterfowl, including nesting loons, and a huge number of robins.

On the northwest corner, there is a dam.

Several of the online reviews comment on the road, which is gravel and steep and probably not for you if you'd describe yourself as a nervous driver. I'm in no way an off-road guy and I didn't find it too bad (it likely varies over time). We averaged about 40kph. There is a significant elevation gain (I think the lake elevation is 4500 feet while Kelowna is about 1200 feet above sea level) and there are some places where the drop off the side of the road is a couple of hundred feet. Meh, no big deal.

Overall, a nice paddle away from the crowds down in the valley. It was markedly cooler this high (like 5-10 degrees less than the valley) and the lake did get a bit windy at times. Overall, a very nice paddle with basically no one around.