For fishermen or paddlers, Jacko Lake is one of the first lakes to be ice-free in spring and one of the last lakes to freeze over in late fall.   It is surrounded by grasslands at 917m elevation (3000 feet).   A paddle around the shoreline is about 4.4 km, an hour of paddling.  Lakes above this are all surrounded by high country montane forest so its nice to paddle out in the open among the rolling hills.   In summer the lake is prone to an algae bloom and a number of lakes like this encourage looking for clearer lakes that have better intakes of fresh water.   On this outing, the lake was clear and had a few fishermen scattered across the lake’s surface.   It was a clouds-and-sunny fall day with silver light cast across the sky.

Two longer bays have marshy areas where we can spot ducks and the occasional muskrat.

This snag stands over the western shoreline, twisted like a corkscrew.

Swans were feeding in a shallow bay in the southwest corner, but took to flight at my approach in the kayak.

A bit of blue sky fringed the view to the east, the start of a few days of nice weather.

Jacko is one of our favorite lakes to paddle so we will return in March to greet the coming of spring.