Vaseaux Lake Paddle June 19, 2010

Hello, my name is Al Hays and I am a very recent addition to the sport of kayaking. I have started this blog to document my kayaking adventures and I hope you can enjoy the blog and photos. Thanks for visiting.

Today, June 19, 2010 we had another great day on the water with the Hoodoo Adventure Kayaking Club. We met up about 9 AM just south of the Vaseaux Lake Provincial Park and found a large parking area where all members were able to unload and gear up. The wind was starting to pick up a little and everyone was hoping it wouldn't last long. Actually getting on the water was a little interesting and we managed to launch 19 kayaks from a 10 foot beach access. A great bunch of helpful people these kayakers are.

Today we had with us a very informative lady - Jacqui Likins - from the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance. She will be giving us a couple of talks on the flora, fauna and ecology of the area.

We headed out around 9:30 to the southwest, crossing the lake towards a sheltered bay. The wind was already letting up and it looked promising for a great day.

Once everyone had crossed the lake and met up again, Jacqui gave us a great little talk on some of the history and ecological concerns taking place in the area. A nice little rest from paddling, a sip of cool water, and an entertaining talk while enjoying the sun. What more could you ask for ?

After the talk we got back into the repetitive exercise we so much enjoy and headed north up the west side of the lake. We followed the shoreline pretty much and seen a few birds, ducks, a bald eagle winging right overhead and I heard a turtle was spotted as well as 3 buck deer at the waters edge.

My wife, Janet, even spotted a very interesting bird, which we later found out to be a white headed woodpecker. Apparently very rare in this area. Our Peterson bird book shows this bird located only in a small area in Washington state. Cool find.

We took our time and just enjoyed the paddle and the sun and the now calm winds. Half way back down the lake we stopped again for another little talk from Jacqui and enjoyed the float. 

See the nice calm water - Oh Yeah - I like it, I like it a lot !

More paddling and more talking and before we knew it we had reached the north end of the lake. It was nearly noon and we had stopped for another break and a few kayakers even got out of their boats in the shallow water to stretch their legs and cool off a bit in the water. I had my trusty old fly fishing water thermometer and took the surface water temperature at a fresh 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

After a good rest we paddled a little way up the channel to the north and found a rather large beaver lodge. I had some fresh mud plastered on it, so some busy beaver had been at work patching the roof.

We worked out way back to the vehicles first east then south on the east side of  lake past the lakeside homes and highway cliffs. On the way back I did manage to see 5 big fish I think are carp. A browny, reddish color with big scales. Four of them swimming lazily together were about 16 - 20 inches in length and one big guy later on about 30 inches long. Boy they sure got into high gear quickly when they noticed the kayak closing in ! I also seen a muskrat swimming quite a ways from shore. He dove under as I approached and when he came up he was a lot farther away.  I was paddling but he must have been paddling much faster.

Along the highway edge where the sharp corners are, I seen several schools of small fish, kind of aquarium sized with black tails. I'm guessing these are baby bass fish, swimming peacefully where the big broken rocks were tumbled into the lake from the highway construction.

Anyhow, we got back to the vehicles around 1:30 and my Garmin GPS told me I had travelled 11.1 kilometers in the kayak.

A great day for kayaking and a beautiful day overall.

Please leave a comment if wish.

Thanks and have a great day.