Kamloops Lake in the Fall
Even in November, we can paddle on Kamloops Lake. It remains a wild spot, with rocky shorelines and steep slopes, hard to access. A lone paddler will see no one. Trains and airplanes infrequently pass by, but the lake is the domain of the gulls, loons, and eagles. Fall colors ornament the hills. As the river drops, sand bars rise along the shores down to the mouth. The river is too shallow for boats where it empties into the lake at Cooney Bay, except for canoes and kayaks.
The paddle will be stored for the winter, awaiting the arrival of spring, with migrations of ducks, geese, cranes, and shoreline birds. The song of the lake will remain in our heart even while snow lies on the hills.
Doug,
Did you put in at Cooney Bay? I tried putting in there in October, but there was a jumble of big logs that was challenging to climb over, much less carry my kayak over. (I usually pull my kayak on wheels to the launching site.) I decided I was probably tough enough to portage down to launch, but I was quite dubious about my physical ability to carry my boat back up to the parking lot over that log-jam after paddling for several hours. Did you lift your kayaks over all those logs, or is there a better spot from which to launch? MEK
Yes, the logs and the mud flats make this a challenge. The kayak slides across the logs nicely, then I pick a sandy path to drag the kayak, pickcing it up for rocky areas. We definitely need a better launching facility out there, but not so good that power boats can also get down to the water. The difficult laumch means that very few boats make it out there. The only other places to launch on teh lake are at Tobiano and Savona/