Dairy Lake and Duffy Lake
Dairy Lake is found on the high shoulder of Greenstone Mountain at 1423m (4700 feet). The best road to get to the lake is the Dairy FSR from the Duffy Lake FSR. It is a high clearance road, but a reasonable drive in dry conditions, There is a Rec Site on the west shore of the lake. On a summer day I drove these backroads to paddle both lakes.
On a previous day of exploration I had driven from Dominic Lake down to Dairy Lake. That was a 4WD road and not recommended.
There is a good hand launch spot at the BC Recreation site to start a paddle around the forested lake. It is 2.8 km of quiet paddling in the high country. I thought about doing this loop twice, once in each direction, but I decided to load up the kayak instead and drive down to paddle Duffy Lake too.
There is a more developed (and busy) BC Recreation Site on Duffy Lake with a boat launch on the northeast corner of the lake.
I paddled around the shoreline in a 2.7 km loop.
This is a less peaceful spot than Dairy Lake, though. ATV’s/motorcycles were active all around the lake and nearby. The site is maintained by the Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association which has developed and maintained a well-organized trail system (link) and Rec Site (link). I have hiked some of these trails and they are fine for a forested walk in the hills on a weekday, but there are many quieter choices away from the motorized crowd.
Doug,
Great photos!! I will have to checkout Duffy Lake one of these trips back to BC.
Cheers,
Andrew.
Doug,
Do you ever get over to see Mount Robson?? Here is my latest post of my 2003 trip to Mount Robson:
http://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/mount-robson-neighbourhood-2003-part.html
It does take a short week to get the most value out of this hike. But there are many sights to see and photograph.
Cheers,
Andrew.