Near the end of summer, I drove north on Highway 5, then up the Orchard Lake Forest Service Road to the Badger Lake Forest Service Road.    The Badger Lake boat launch is a separate side road to the lakeside with lots of room for parking and launching.  I paddled around the lake in a counter-clockwise loop.

All of the lake is great for paddling, but the best part of the lake is the back channels on the west side.   A bay turns to a shallow channel, which leads to a small lake.

The narrow shallow channel is about 0.5 km long.    It was probably originally marsh, but when Badger Lake was dammed, the water rose sufficiently to create a passage that can be paddled.

Bulrushes and cattails flanked both the channel and the back lake.   I paddled the loop in and back.

A partly-hidden exit channel led out to the main part of the lake.

I finished the loop around the lake, taking about 1.5 hours.  Badger Lake is another favorite, one we will continue to paddle every year.