The Kamloops area is blessed to have so many lakes and rivers.   Paddling the rivers is always great because they are close and there are a number of good access points, and 150 km of river paddling within an hour’s drive, but paddlers will always face going upstream for half the journey unless they can use some kind of a two-car system.

We also have hundreds of lakes to paddle, and if you are willing to drive up to an  hour, there are dozens of prime spots.   If the paddler has only 30 minutes of travel time,  three lakes stand – Heffley Lake, Paul Lake, and Lac le Jeune.

Launch from the Provincial Campsite boat launch/beach area for Lac le Jeune and you can paddle in either direction, paddle the whole lake, or even duck under the bridge and paddle the smaller lake to the west.   There is 1-2 hours of paddling and exploring on LLJ.

Launch from the Provincial Campsite boat launch/beach at Paul Lake and again you can paddle in either direction.   There is 1-1.5 hours of paddling on PL.

Heffley Lake is deceptive.   It is longer than it appears from the road.   There is a good boat launching spot at the east end of the lake adjacent to the BC Forest Service site.   You can paddle around the islands and plan for about 1- 1.5 hours of enjoyable time on the lake.