Heffley Lake is one of our finest lakes to paddle and it can be a busy spot in summer so we usually paddle there in spring or fall.   There is a good boat lunch on the east end suitable to cartop boats or kayaks, but the parking area is limited so it can be full on a weekend in summer.   On this fall day in late October there were no other boats on the lake.   Paddling the whole shoreline is about 12 km, but on this day the lake was down so I avoided some of the shallower areas.

Sunny weather with no wind made this paddle route a next to last quiet paddle for 2017.

Reflections in the lake were an added bonus. The slopes of Mount Embleton stand above the north side of the lake.

The osprey’s nest on the small island was empty.   They migrate to Central America for the winter.   I paddled around the lake and headed back on the other shoreline,

After a dry summer the whole lake was down a meter and gravelly breaches flanked much of the lake.

Not long after this outing in first week of November the kayak was stored and secured for the winter.  In spite of some medical issues and a smoke-filled summer, I logged 60 days of paddling in 2017, slightly less than 2016.