It just amazes me just how beautiful British Columbia is. Last week we bought some new kayaks, and on Sunday we went kayaking on Alouette Lake, here in British Columbia. We arrived at the boat launch around 9 am, and at that time there was not too many people about, and the wind was a dead calm on the lake.

I took the GPS with me to see what kind of speed and distance we could achieve, and off we went. I found out from the GPS that in calm water, we could paddle at about 5 km/h. Later the wind was blowing against us at about 2 km/h so our actual speed was more like 3 km/h against the wind. I had read about how the wind can make it difficult, so we did not go much further than Gold creek, so that we were sure of being able to make the return journey.

At that time in the morning it was quiet and calm, and the water had a smooth sheen to it. With the morning sun, you could see down through the clear water of the lake. At the south end is a dam, and when it was built they flooded the valley to make the lake. There are still lots of tree trunks and some huge stumps, which come up to just below the surface and in some places near the shore, above the surface. It was rather eerie to be silently floating over the water in the quiet of the morning, just a few feet above the stump of what was once a huge tree that was wider than a truck!

Gold creek is a river that leads into the lake part way up the west side of the lake. It took about 2 hours to paddle there from the boat launch where we started. For most of the journey, there was little or no wind on the lake, and only a few powerboats going up and down. It appeared to me that they were mostly on the east side of the lake and we were on the west side, so I was quite happy with that arrangement. When there was any large wave from a powerboat, we would point our kayaks into the wave and there was no problem. When we got to the creek, we went in a little ways to the first falls, and got out there for bit. From the map it looks like we could have portaged our kayaks past the falls and gone for some ways further. Perhaps next time we will.

The sun was quite hot, and we touched up our sunscreen before continuing. We went north just a little more before we decided to return, the wind and the powerboats were stirring up the waters and it was quite choppy.

I didn't take too many more photos on the return journey. We had over two hours paddling against the wind to make it back, and whenever we stopped to rest, the wind would blow us in the opposite direction. There were more waves to deal with, and we were glad when we made it back to the boat ramp. I have more photos here. This weekend we plan to go to Buntzen Lake. I look forward to reading your comments below.

Duncan

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