Badger Lake is a fine paddling destination, one of the forty lakes of our area within an hour’s drive.    To get to Badger Lake, turn off the Sun Peaks Road onto the Knouff Lake Road and continue past Sullivan Lake without turning off, until you reach the BC Forest Service Site on the northeastern side of the lake.   Some fishermen also take the Orchard Lake Road up from Highway 5.   Both are good roads once the road surface dries out.

The Badger Lake Recreation Site has 18 campsites and a primitive boat launch.   The lake has clear water and some marl shoals.   I watched a loon swimming under my boat in a back channel, its black and white speckled back clear under the water.   The narrow channel to the west is called Spooney Lake and this quiet marsh-lined channel offers some additional paddling.   On a spring day, small rainbow trout were jumping with a recent mayfly hatch.   Eagles seemed to be everywhere.   I spoke to a fisherman who said he had spotted 18 on the previous day.   I couldn’t spot their nests, but they flew along the lakeshore and perched in the large trees overhead.   A large wooded island (800m x 200 m) separates Badger Lake from the Spooney Lake Channel.   The whole lake is surrounded by trees but at one point, snow-capped Mount Baldy filled the north horizon, 43 km away.   Much of the area to the north and west has been logged, but little of this can be seen from the water.

There are numerous backroads to explore on mountain bike and the Orchard Lake Trails are only 4.5 km down the backroad to the southwest (link to Orchard Lake Trails).  I have hiked the Orchard Lake Trails, but almost all of the trails can also be biked (deferring to any horseback riders since the trails are primarily a horse-hiker system.   The area is a bit remote so come prepared for wildlife, backroad conditions, unmarked routes, and few people.

Nearby Knouff Lake and Community Lake (link) are also good for paddling.    2013 is a good year to bring your boat onto all 3 lakes.