JOURNEY #18 - August 10, 2002

Silver Lake

This was not a kayaking destination. We were camping with friends Dale and Elaine, and since there was a lake, we brought along the yaks so we could get some exercise.

Silver Lake runs directly alongside Highway 7 in an east/west direction. It is about 4km long and 1km wide. There was always a strong breeze on the lake during the two days we were there, blowing out of the west. You can launch a boat in a variety of places, including a nice looking picnic site just off the highway about half way down the lake.

At the eastern tip just past the public beach you will find Silver Lake Creek, which features painted turtles and other interesting wildlife, but it was too low to explore at this time of year.

The northern shoreline features some raised cottages on a rocky slope. To the south along the highway there are some areas with vegetation including a small bay that connects to a tiny pond. This looked like an area where one might find one of the small number of indigenous northern pike that are said to inhabit the lake.

There is one island on the lake that is big enough to explore, and there is a small dock on the northwest corner if you wish to do so. Gulls inhabit the southeast corner, and we observed a pair of loons hanging out in this area as well. The waters surrounding the island might be good for smallmouth bass, and the deeper waters to the west would likely hold some of the 5000 lake trout that are stocked each year.

Due to the ease of access, there were a fair number of powerboats on Silver Lake, including a number of "seadoo" type crafts, mostly driven by idiots with a death wish. The park also rents out canoes, kayaks, and outboard motorboats, but the lake was not all that crowded the two times we paddled.

One of the nice outcomes from this trip was having a chance to introduce Dale to kayaking. He managed the 8km end to end trip despite a brisk wind and some decent waves and wakes. Another canoeist about to change teams? We shall see!