Tag Archives: Chase

Harper Lake Kayaking

Kamloops Kayak Posted on by

When the weather turned hot, all kayaking was planned for early mornings.    In addition, higher lakes were a little cooler.   Lastly, the goal was to paddle for 60 – 75 minutes,   With this in mind, I drove east toward Chase, then turned off the Trans Canada Highway just past the Niskonlith Reserve onto the Harper Lake Forest Service Road.     This is a narrow road that climbs through the hills.    It is gravelled and graded for the first part, but it is bumpy and a bit rough(high clearance) for most of the way to the lake.   The Harper Lake Rec Site is 5.5 km from the Highway.    There is a small dock there and a launch spot.

This is a quiet spot in the hills.    It takes about an hour to paddle the shoreline.    There were loons, blackbirds, killdeer, a muskrat, and a beaver lodge on the lake.    Yellow water lilies, marsh cinquefoil, and smartweed were in flower along the shallows

A few moments from a previous paddle on the lake are shared here.    We will be back to paddle the lake again next summer.

 

 

 

Paddling Little Shuswap Lake in April

Kamloops Kayak Posted on by

On a mild but breezy April morning I paddled out into Little Shuswap Lake.

The lake was very low so I used the boat launch on the river just below the bridge.    Shallow water meant following the channel markers out into the middle of the lake, but I was able to paddle over on the north side of the lake after a while.   I returned the same way I paddled out.    In the previous year I could paddle closer to the shoreline.

Some moments from the paddle are found in this YouTube video:

More information on paddling this lake can be found at the On the Lakes page.

 

 

 

 

On Little Shuswap Lake

Kamloops Kayak Posted on by

Little Shuswap Lake clears of ice early and has good launches and parking spots so it makes a nice spring paddle.   I launched from the boat launch ramp by the Chase Bridge where the lake empties into the South Thompson River.   I was surprised to find a number of kayakers there, but I spoke to one of the instructors and found out that it was part of TRU’s Adventure Tourism program.    I launched and paddled northeast to the north side of the lake.

The north side of the lake has steep rocky bluffs for much of the length of the route, though a dead-end road comes from either end to support vacation homes.  I paddled up the lake for an hour and then turned back.

There were a few ducks and geese on the lake, like this common merganser.

There is quite a lot of shallow water on the west side of the lake so I steered down the navigation tunnel to the Chase Bridge to finish an 8 km paddle on a sunny morning.

On Little Shuswap Lake

Kamloops Kayak Posted on by

In April most of the lakes in the hills are still covered in ice so we do a rotation of the valley-bottom lakes first (Kamloops Lake, Little Shuswap Lake, Nicola Lake, Stump Lake, Trapp Lake, Shumway Lake, then move to the lower lakes in the hills.   When we paddle the larger lakes, we watch for a day with no wind.   Capsizing in cold water is dangerous so we try to follow the shoreline.   On this April day there was no wind I launched from Memorial Park in Chase in shallow water and angled across the lake, bearing northeast.

With no wind, the rocky hills above the north shore of the lake were reflected in the calm waters.

The long diagonal route took me to the north side where the rocky hills come right down to the lake.

I paddled about 3/4 of the way up the lake, then turned back to follow the shoreline all the way back to the start.   Reflections in the water create a type of optical illusion, affecting our innate sense of balance in the boat, especially when taking photos.

Along the lakeshore a few mergansers and other ducks scuttled away from the kayak.

The north side was in the sun and was from highway traffic so it is my usual route on Little Shuswap Lake.  I may return to paddle the other shore when fall colors border the lake.