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.

Soo River Paddle

When Peter proposed we take my kayak down Soo River I was shocked. Isn't that class 4/5 whitewater? He explained that we would be heading down the calmer section above the dam.

We dropped off the kayak at the put-in spot about 13kms down the road on the north side of Soo River. Then we parked the car near the dam and walked back up the road to the put-in spot.

Peter at the put-in spot. We wore wetsuits because this water is glacier cold.

The paddling was fun. Beautiful views of the mountains. A few quicker spots, but nothing too bad, One large logjam we had to cross.

At the logjam just before we carried the boat over.

There is a large rock next to the road around km 4. This would probably have been the better pull out location. We kept going until we got to a point we could go no further, We took the boat out and bushwacked about 20m up to the road, then caried the boat back to the car.

I'm sure glad we wore wetsuits!

A great way to spend an afternoon!

Bella Coola to Tallheo Hot Springs by Kayak

I bought myself a birthday present this year. A round-trip flight Vancouver to Bella Coola with 4 days in between.

About 3km each way,

I flew with Pacific Coastal to Bella Coola from YVR South terminal. I was lucky to buy a sale-price ticket. Views from the flight were phenomenal.

I met up with Matt Bruce, he's living in Nimpo Lake and drove over to meet me. For two days we waited out heavy wind. We did some hiking instead.

Great mountain views in all directions.

Finally on day 3 we had our weather window. We woke up at 3 am and headed onto the water right away.

Great views on the water once the sun came up.

Tallheo hot spring felt like paradise.

We woke again at 3am the next day to beat the wind on our paddle back. We got back early and did a small hike called "Medby Rock".

All together a great trip!

Fort Langley to Vancouver via the Fraser River

Yesterday I finished the final leg of the Fraser River from Hope to home. Ivan came along for the ride.

We took out at River District Park in Vancouver

We skytrained out to Lougheed Station and transferred buses twice to get to Fort Langley.

We put in at Fort Langley boat launch around 2pm.

We stopped for lunch on an island along the way

Just after the Port Mann Bridge

Then we continued home

Heading towards the Pattullo Bridge

We passed lots of tugboats, barges, and various other signs of industry.

A load of demolished cars.

All together an mellow and very enjoyable day!

Alouette Lake Overnight

On Sunday Ivan, Michal and I rented a Modo car, drove to Golden Ears Provincial Park, and paddle Alouette Lake.

We parked at the boat launch. Ivan and Michal brought a canoe, I brought my Innova Safari.

Only a few Modo cars have roof racks

We made a short detour up Gold Creek.

We turned around where the creek becomes whitewater.

Some nice views as we passed through the narrows.

Is Ivan taking a nap here?

Someone had built a weird shelter out of tarps near the North East side of the lake. We camped next to it.

Weird tarp structure on the right, tarp covered bbq on the left. Good camping about 50 meters North.

In the morning the weather was sunny. We gather our gear and finished a circle around the lake and back to the car.

A few notes:

-Wind can be a big factor in this lake, especially in the afternoon.

-Nice views of Robie Reid and Golden Ears peaks.

-The camping on the east side of the lake was nice. There are other camping spots closer to boat launch near the narrows and also on the south side of the lake.

Hope to Fort Langly via the Fraser River

This week I kayaked a portion of the Fraser River. On Monday I left from Hope, on Wednesday I arrived at Fort Langley.

Matty Gray offered me a ride to hope! I used the boat launch off Wardle Street,

Thanks for the ride Matty!

I loaded up my Innova Safari and off I went!

Low river levels meant large gravel banks on each side of the river.

The first 10kms had fast flowing water with standing waves and whirlpools and lots of wind. After that the river widened out and calmed down.

I camped my first night on an island about 2kms downriver from the Rosedale Bridge.

Can you spot the photographer's shadow?

Next day was mellowing paddling on nice, wide river. I made sure to stay to the left where the Harrison River enters.

Around here is where the air started to get a "farm" smell.

I was near Mission as the sun set. A fisherman by the side of the river stopped me to ask about the kayak. He pointed out a nice place to camp.

At this point the lens of my waterproof camera had too much water on it... this photo was taken with my phone.

The sunset was AMAZING! I really wish I could have captured it better.

Pink sky by night, kayaker's delight? I don't think so.... rain forecast the next day.

On Wednesday I set out early for Fort Langley. This portion is tidal. A few curious seals came to say hi. I pulled out at the boat launch in Fort Langley, packed my gear and walked over to the bus stop.

Waiting for the bus to take me to the Skytrain so I can go home!

All together a nice three days. Here's a few notes:

-The water is cold, you may want a wetsuit or drysuit

-It's amazing how much industry is along the river banks. At times there is definite funky smells in the air. Many people and animals eat fish from this river, we should show more respect.

-Here's someone else's recent trip report from the Fraser http://damgoodtrips.com/fraserriver/
-And another trip report http://bcwetcoast.blogspot.ca/2014/09/hope-to-home-in-15-days-august-3031.html

-Here's a frundraiser trip that runs this same route! http://www.squeah.com/Paddle-A-Thon.html
-This group provides lots of info about Lower Mainland waterways and what you can do to take action http://www.fraserriverkeeper.ca/

Sentinel Bay Hut via Garibaldi Lake

Check out Matt's version of the trip here. Matt had paddled Garibaldi Lake a few weeks earlier and saw snow above Sentinel Bay. He brought up the idea of skiing in July, so what the heck we went for it! On Wednesday night we hiked the Garibaldi Lake Trail with a kayak, skis, and tons other gear. We kayaked across the lake towards Sentinel Bay where we explored the area until Friday.

Damn our packs were heavy as we hit the trail around 9:30pm.

We arrived at Garibaldi Lake around 12:30am, loaded up the kayak (well past it's 400 lb suggested maximum) and paddled out. Fog was rolling off the lake giving the water a very eerie feeling. I was actually quite freaked out, luckily Matt's good humor calmed me down.

We reached the shore of sentinel bay around 3am, unloaded the kayak and passed out shoreside for a couple of hours.

We made our way 1.5km to the glaciology hut that would be our home for the next two days.

We hauled our gear up from the shore.

Ah home sweet home

We rested a bit then made our way Southwest exploring the area.

Not quite enough snow for skiing unfortunately. 

We had some amazing views of the Table

Soon clouds took over the sky

It looked like storms coming in from the Southeast so we made our way back to the hut.

We made it back just as clouds were overtaking the hut. We spent the night waiting out rain and strong wind.

In the morning rain and winds persisted.

At the calmest moment we loaded the kayak and set out back across the lake. Luckily the winds were in our favor. The paddle was nerve-wracking and we were both grateful to arrive at the other side.

A quick lunch in the warming hut and we made our way down the trail. Ah two happy campers!

A few notes:

-There's actually two huts at Sentinel Bay. Both are in good shape. The one we stayed in was the nicer of the two. Good water and wind-proofing and foam on the sleeping areas so you don't need to bring a mat. Instructions we had said the huts are 500m from shore, we found them to be well over 1 km.

-Paddling with all of that gear was very difficult. The extra weight made the kayak top-heavy and very tippy.

-If you do paddle Garibaldi Lake keep an eye on the weather, the wind can really whip through.