On a late August day I drove through Logan Lake, then down to Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park. at a road junction i turned down the Leighton Lake Road and parked at the boat launch area. I launched the kayak and paddled around the lake.
This is a scenic paddle with forest and some cabins on the east side and grasslands on the west. Tunkwa Lake is directly south, on the other side of the dam. There were lots of ducks on the lake, some flowering aquatic plants, lots of dragonflies, and birds. After paddling the lake (3.4 km), I secured the boat and hiked the Leighton Lake Trail. A few images are shared here. Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption:
On a sunny September day I arrived early at Leighton Lake. I launched the kayak from the campground boat launch in calm conditions.
There were lots of ducks on the lake and a few fishermen, but it was quiet, peaceful, and scenic.
Once around the lake was 3.4 km. On this day I secured the boat, then also hiked the Leighton Lake Trail, a 7 km signed route through the Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park grasslands, a recommended route.
This is a great choice for a late summer or early fall paddle.
We drove to Logan Lake and turned northwest to Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park. We turned over to the Leighton Lake Campground to launch our kayaks into the lake. We paddled Leighton Lake on a warm summer weekday. This popular fishing lake has a good boat launch for easy access. In spring, summer and early fall, there are usually lots of ducks and geese on the lake, especially in shallow bays.
Grasslands and high country forests surround Leighton and Tunkwa Lakes.
A rock bluff covered in orange crustose lichen can be found at the southwest corner of the lake. The waterway from Tunkwa Lake was full of water.
The loop around the shoreline of Leighton Lake is about 3.3 km, winding through each little bay.
Since Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes are popular fishing destinations, paddlers should pick non-prime times to avoid running into boats, lines, and concerned fishermen. Tunkwa was one of the lakes used for the World Fly Fishing Championship in 1993 and remains a productive and popular fishing lake.
“Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes lay approximately twenty minutes drive from either Savona or Logan Lake along a good gravel and dirt road. Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park s comprised of 5,100 hectares of grassland, forests, creeks, wetlands and lakes on the Thompson Plateau.
The area was used for hunting and fishing by First Nations peoples, but its elevation and long winters
discouraged permanent residence. A transportation corridor was likely used from Kamloops Lake up Durand Creek and down Guichon Creek towards the Nicola River for trade. The first mining claims were established in nearby Logan Lake as early as 1871, but little development occurred for the next ninety years. Full scale development of the mines nearby started up in the 1960s. There were some claims in the Tunkwa Lake area also, and there is a story that a trapper was paid to over-winter in a cabin near the lakes just to protect the claim. Winters are long in this high country!
The area was used by ranchers and homesteaders early in the twentieth century in the Meadow Creek area, the Guichon Creek Valley and in some of the grassland areas toward Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes. Ranching continues to be active in these highland plateaus.
Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes were made larger by damming the outlets. Downstream grazing lands benefit from a summer supply of water from these reservoirs. This occurred as early as 1909 when James Leighton funded a project to use the headwaters of Guichon Creek. By putting a ditch into Tunkwa Lake and another at Leighton Lake, with dams on both to feed Durand Creek as needed, he was able to provide irrigation and domestic water for the ranches on the southern hills
above Savona. James Leighton came from Scotland to California in the 1850s and then moved to Vancouver Island. He went on to Barkerville, then Lytton with his uncle while still a teenager. He became an agent for Barnard’s Express, and then moved to Cache Creek where he and his new
wife took care of the telegraph. In 1881 he received the contract to carry the weekly mail from Cache Creek to Kamloops and on to Spallumcheen. They movedo Savona and over time Leighton took up ranching, acquiring 1,800 acres, with another 2,400 acres leased. He took on the task of running the ferry at Savona, was District cattle overseer, Fisheries Officer and superintendent of the B.C. Express. In James’ retirement he published some of his reminiscences in The Sentinel newspaper in Kamloops. He passed away in 1945 at the age of 94.
Tunkwa Lake was named after the Indian word “Toonkwa” which means Goose Lake. It was established as a Provincial Park in 1996 out of recommendations from a Provincial Management Plan process for the area. The lake features one of the top ten fisheries in the province, specializing in the famous Kamloops fighting trout. The two lakes also provide stock for other lakes in British Columbia. There are extensive grasslands surrounding the lake, with bluegrass, rough fescue, needle-and-thread and blue bunch wheatgrass. Grassland birds like meadowlarks, curlews, killdeer and vesper sparrows nest in the spring. Riparian zones, swamps and ponds are home to waterfowl such as ducks, geese, loons, grebes and sandpipers. The surrounding forests are habitat for moose, deer, bears, coyotes, lynx, bobcat, cougars, rabbits, marmots, eagles, kestrels and grouse. Campers can stay at either Tunkwa or Leighton Lake and a total of 275 sites are available for fishermen, hunters, ATVers, hikers and geocachers, and anyone who loves the outdoors. Recreationalists can visit nearby Logan Lake for supplies and services.
