D'Arcy to Lillooet via Anderson and Seton Lakes

In September Kat and I paddled from D'Arcy to Lillooet. We travelled across Anderson and Seton Lakes with a nice portage in the middle.

First we drove two cars to Lillooet and parked one at the end of Seton Lake

Kat taking in the view from Lillooet end of Seton Lake. Observing what we were about to paddle.

Then we drove the second car to D'Arcy. There is a nice dock in D'Arcy to launch from.

The docks in D'Arcy.

We enjoyed calm water as we started our journey. We generally stayed near the right (South) side of the lake. A few hours in, whitecapped waves came out of nowhere, so we pulled over and relaxed for 3 hours until they subsided.

The spot we pulled over is really nice, someone had set up a picnic table and there's a clearing for camping.

Once the weather calmed we continued towards Seton Portage, the town between the lakes. We unloaded on a dock and carried our gear up a road and through town. There was a gate on the road, it was easy to walk around the gate.

Kat packing up our gear. The portage wasn't too long. We were probably about 1 hour all together.

We did not see anywhere to set up the tent in Seton Portage, so we launched from a beach on Seton Lake and paddled until we found a nice spot to camp on the lakeside.

View from camp looking towards Seton Portage. I saw two otters here, couldn't get the camera out in time.

Seton Lake has a nice glacial blue color. There are some narrow portions of the lake with large cliffs rising on either side. Railroad tracks follow the North side of the lake, so we stayed closer to that side, in case we would need to pull out and wait out wind. We were lucky for conditions and only encountered some minor headwind.

A journey's end.

This was extremely enjoyable trip! A few notes:

-A few people warned me about wind before setting out on this trip. While this could be an issue (as we saw on Anderson Lake), there are good places to pull out all along both lakes.

-Lake water was pleasantly warm, surprisingly warm for September.

-There are signs of "civilization" all along the trip; power lines, railroad tracks, cabins along the shore.

-We saw one power boat on Anderson Lake and nobody else on the water.

-There are lots of nice places to set up camp along the South side of Anderson Lake, fewer spots along Seton Lake.

-The gate on the road from Anderson Lake to Seton Portage could be tricky to navigate around with a hardshell boat.

-Birkenhead Lake was a nice place to sleep the night before the journey so we could have an early start.

-There is a motel in Seton Portage, staying there would allow one to avoid carrying overnight gear. There is also a restaurant/pub.