Pat Lake is a small lake in the Six Mile Hills. It is reached from a bumpy road going off the uphill side of the TranCanada Highway just west of Tobiano. It is a popular fishing lake and it is a busy spot in spring, but by mid-summer it is quiet at the lake.
The road to and under the lake was once the Kamloops to Savona Road. We launch right into the submerged roadbed.
I paddled around the lake twice, once in each direction.
There were loons and ducks on the lake and raptors searching for a meal. This is a scenic and peaceful spot, one we return to paddle every year.
On a mild spring day I drove up to Pat Lake in the Six Mile Hills. It is a popular spot for fishing in the early season so I arrived early then paddled along the shoreline.
Two loops of the lake (one in each direction) is only 4 km so I hiked around the lake too.
The sounds of blackbirds, ducks, geese, loons, frogs, songbirds, and wind is best captured with video:
This is a favorite lake to paddle and a favorite area to hike, always worth the drive up into the hills.
On a smoky day I drove up into the hills to look for a smaller lake to paddle, then go for a short hike. I chose Pat (Six Mile) Lake. Access is on a rough road that turns off the Trans Canada Highway just west of Tobiano. the old double track was once the highway and a bit of the asphalt is still on the road, but the road is mostly potholes now. Both Pat Lake and Morgan Lake were dammed and the expanded lakes cover the old paved track. I parked at the east end of Pat Lake and paddled around the lake.
The shallow boat launch is actually the old road bed.
The west end of Pat Lake is marshy. Most of the ducks were in the shoreline reeds and rushes.
Although the sky was smoky, the hills reflected in the lake on a calm day.
I paddled the lakeshore and then turned the kayak and paddled back the other way for a 4 km workout.
Fishermen were on the lake. It is one of the first lakes to open in spring and it is stocked by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.
After paddling and reloading the boat I went for a short hike on backroads. The end of summer dry grasses and ponderosa pines dominated the landscape.
Pat Lake was one more lake in a season of paddling. This was day 55 of 66 days of paddling in 2020. Some lakes are paddled every year, some are every 2nd or 3rd year and a few are first time or last time paddles.
Pat Lake and Jacko Lake are usually the first two lakes to be ice-free in spring so they get a lot of fishermen early in the season, but once all lakes are open, Pat Lake can be a quiet spot in summer. We can access the lake from the Tunkwa Lake Road or from the Six Mile road above Tobiano. Six Mile Road was once the Trans Canada Highway so there are still some asphalt sections on the way through. When Pat Lake and Morgan Lake were dammed, dirt road bypasses were cut. They were once rough, but they are now reasonable roads for most cars. i parked and launched at the east end of the lake on this late summer day.
The launch is the old road bed which used to go along the north side of Pat Lake.
While I was paddling around the west end of the lake, an osprey dove and caught a fish. As it winged across the lake, a bald eagle attacked and the fish was dropped. The osprey turned to safety and the eagle continued to hunt and after a few circuits above, swooped to catch a fish.
The bald eagles showed little care of me in my kayak, but it kept its eyes on me as it soared above the lake.
On the northern side of the lake in the reeds were a number of logs, many of which had western painted turtles sunning on them. Turtles will plunge into the lake if we make noise so a quiet approach is needed to spot of photograph them. All three lakes in the Six Mile area have turtles.
The route around the shoreline is only 2 km so I paddled once counter-clockwise, then turned the kayak and paddled around the lake clockwise for a second loop. Both Jacko and Pat Lake have grassland hills rising above the lake, a more scenic setting than forested hills for most lakes.
We enjoy hiking this area too, but we also return to paddle it once a year to enjoy a quiet sojourn on the lake. Ospreys, eagles, loons, dragonflies, and turtles are a bonus
We have enjoyed the Six Mile area for quite a few years, orienteering, running, and hiking through the hills. In the middle of the area are 3 smaller lakes. The road starts just past the Tobiano turn-off. This gravel road is the old Trans Canada Highway which used to go up through the hills over to the Tunwka Road and down to Savona. When the Six Mile bypass was cut through the bluff, the old road was still there and today we can see paved sections, but most of the asphalt is breaking up. Then, Ducks Unlimited dammed and raised the level of Pat Lake and the Slough and sections of the road are now under water so rough side roads were created by users.
Much (most) of the land is owned by the Haywood Farmer families of Indian Gardens Ranch who have been generous in allowing anglers (and others) to continue to use the area for non-motorized recreation.
The Indian Gardens Ranch was one of the properties built up by Johnny Wilson, the “Cattle King” who also had properties near Walhachin, Six Mile Point, Westwold, Cache Creek, and Copper Creek. He married a Lillooet Indian girl who subsequently died and by about 1885 he married a girl from the Indian Gardens Ranch and had 3 children.
Wilson became a rich and influential man in his life and was well respected. He died in 1904 in a buggy accident and the Indian property was divided among his family. All the Savona properties were taken over by his wife Nancy and their children. According to Peggy Haywood Farmer, an Argentinean family named Hemstock bought the Indian Gardens Ranch from the Wilson’s daughter and George Haywood Farmer bought the land from the Hemstocks.
George Haywood Farmer was born in 1915 in New Westminster and moved with his family to the Interior of B.C. In 1932, they moved to the present location of the Indian Gardens Ranch, south of Savona. By 1935, he was a full time rancher and cowboy. Conditions were often hard in the early days. George and a partner at one time moved 50 head of cattle from Taylor Lake to Savona in -45 degree F temperatures. George married Peggy Higginson in 1942 and they raised six children together over the next 60 years. George was a leader in the ranching community, serving on the BC Cattlemen’s Association, 4H, and the Savona Community Association until his death in 2003 and has since been inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame. Peggy has been involved with the community in Savona, the Girl Guides (she has her 55 year pin and a lifetime membership), Sunday School, and the Savona Elementary School PTA.
Peggy recalled some of their years at Indian Gardens.
“We were snowed in every year by November. We had to get all of our supplies in by the fall. When I had my first baby, I had to travel by sledge down to Savona and take the train to Kamloops a month early just to make sure. George did manage to get the car through the snow the day was she was born and was there with me.
In the summer, we moved the whole family up to the summer range near Guichon Creek (3 miles west of Tunkwa Lake). We took the children, chickens, cows, ducks, horses, and cattle and whatever we needed to the high country. The travelling was hard, but our life was good. Later on, this did make it easier to backpack with the kids on camping trips.
We have been good caretakers of the land. We have preserved water. We reintroduced beavers back to the Tunkwa-Leighton Lakes area after trappers cleared them out. We planted clover in the high country for forage. We established water holes wherever we could. We have tried to get along with all the groups who have an interest in the area. We have set up and allowed access to Balancing Rock and Six Mile Lake and have worked with Ducks Unlimited. Our family continues to work the land and we have been good neighbors.” (written by the another for another publication)
We call the easternmost pond “Turtle Lake” because western painted turtles could be seen sunning themselves on logs on a sunny day. On this last visit to the pond, the pond levels had been increased and no logs were in sight, but a number of dabbling ducks were enjoying the still waters.
Pat Lake (Six Mile) is only a 2km paddle around the shoreline so I did it twice, changing direction after the first loop. The lake is surrounded by grasslands and has some marshy shallows. The water was clear and small fish could be seen in the pond weeds. This is a quiet spot for an afternoon paddling retreat.
“Launch quietly without a splash, turn the paddle and dip and cycle the stroke with rhythm, soundlessly cutting the rippled flatwater, close to the shoreline, observing, not intruding. Glide toward wildlife, camera ready, expectant, but never intrusive. See the pond reeds, aquatic plants, insects, and small fish, only known by silence and wonder. Allow yourself to become part of the marine ecology, just a small wave on the surface of the lake.” (das)
The road to and under the lake was once the Kamloops to Savona Road. We launch right into the submerged roadbed.
I paddled around the lake twice, once in each direction.
There were loons and ducks on the lake and raptors searching for a meal. This is a scenic and peaceful spot, one we return to paddle every year.
Pat Lake was one more lake in a season of paddling. This was day 55 of 66 days of paddling in 2020. Some lakes are paddled every year, some are every 2nd or 3rd year and a few are first time or last time paddles.
