Kootenay lake trip end to end. (Warning-Photo heavy)

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I've been wanting to paddle the main body of Kootenay lake for a long time and finally did it a couple of weeks ago. My last trip that I overnighted on the Kootenay was short and conditions were very favourable, but the "Dark Queen" as some like to call this lake, made me earn my stripes on this trip. I covered about 125 kilometres over 4 days and camped 3 nights. I hope this trip summary gives an idea of what the lake is like North to South.


I loaded my GPS data onto google earth for this shot. A bit of info. Kootenay Lake is the largest natural lake in southern BC at around 104 kilometres long on the main lake and 400km². The West arm and Crawford Bay are not included in the total published length.

Day 1 put in spot.



Eagle taking flight

West shore on the far north end

Checking out the wetlands on the north end. Worth a full day to explore the wetlands and tributaries here.

Looking south and headed to the southeast shoreline to explore.




Cliffs on the east shore.




Fisherman at Fry Creek

Fry Creek beach

Pictograph site. Apparently there are 24 documented Pictograph sites on Kootenay lake made by the Sinixt and Ktunaxa Nations. Some pictograph sites are said to be well over 200 years old. It was too rough later in my trip to get good pictures of other sites.

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Later in the afternoon the wind picked up and it got pretty festive going from a slight tailwind to pretty heavy gusts in the span of about 15 minutes.



East shore and in a bit of a trough.

Looking northeast and it was getting getting lumpy.



It was blowing good at this point.


I rode it out for about an hour and during a lull in the wind a friend who was camping nearby gave me a text, so I pulled in for a visit and set up camp at Garland Bay for the night.



My friend paddled with me for a bit the next day in her kayak and shot this pic in the morning.



Quite a few cool camping spots like this around Garland bay.

Rondel Beach

Headed south again towards the ferry terminal. Started to get a WSW headwind and ended up paddling on one side a lot.

Stopped at the Ferry landing for a much needed break.





Osprey 2000 crossing the lake.The longest free ferry ride in North America...

On the water again and starting a lake crossing to the west side.
Life is tough.

Halfway across

Campsite for the night.

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Campsite. Didn't bother setting up the tent. Had the bear spray and hatchet beside me just in case





Glassy again.



Random beach on the west shore. Past the halfway mark now.

Drewry point. Boat and paddle access at this park only. Went in for a closer look at the kayaks and sailboat.



This is the largest beach on Drewry point. The park consists of several inlets and sweet camping spots. Nice beaches here but can be tough to get a site to camp on a nice weekend.

I got a free beer and a smoky when I told this family I was paddling the lake end to end.

Off to Midge Creek Marine park.



Over a kilometre of beach at this park and I was the only one who stayed to camp. Pretty cool to have this to myself at night and in the morning.

South end of the beach.

My camp for the night.

Thats a wrap for day 3. Looking straight south from this spot, the end of the lake is in sight now.

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DAY FOUR. On to my final stop before the end of the lake at Next Creek Recreation site.

East shore sunrise.

The end is getting closer.

Fairly steady southeast wind but not too bad.

Next Creek beach. South end.

Was pretty calm when I got there.

Then the wind started picking up.

It got full on again blowing heavy out of the SE. A local boater told me the forecast changed to gusts over 50kmh/30knots+. I wasn't going anywhere and went for a swim and a nap. A paddler from Victoria came over and started chatting me up about boards and down winding. He has a SIC F-14 and was surprised how rough the lake gets. We were looking towards the middle of the lake and guessed the swells were pushing 6 feet easy. Too bad I was going the opposite way.
The wind finally died down after a couple hours and I started out again.

Cool cliff with a pictograph site.

Couldn't get a good pic with the backwash from the cliffs.

Looking North

Inlet with a small cave that goes about 30 to 40 feet inside the rock.

Now the end is getting close.

The far south end of the lake is part of the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area and is part of a 17,000 acre wetland and wildlife corridor.

End of the Lake.

There is a blue heron on the train bridge to the right.

Wetlands and East Shore. Starting the final lake crossing to the take out spot.

Kootenay River. The primary tributary to Kootenay Lake.

Made it across. Looking at the West Shore from the Kuskanook Marina.

Marina looking NW.

That's it folks.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Great expedition! I love seeing these things. I want to try one soon.

[zachhandler]

I really enjoyed the pics and captions. Im jealous!

[Night Wing]

That was one heck of an expedition. And you were right. Your topic was very picture heavy.....and I enjoyed seeing every picture.

Thanks for taking the time, effort to post all of your great pictures for us to see.

[hbsteve]

That was Fantastic.  Thank you.

[Quickbeam]

Hey Robon,

I mentioned in an different thread that I was up in your part of the province earlier this summer. We were staying in Nelson and got a chance to paddle a small part of the West Arm of Kootney Lake. Is a beautiful area you call home. Congratulations on your trip and seeing your goal through. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[robon]

Thanks. The hardest part of loading all of these pics was getting kicked off the Zone twice last night while doing this. Added a lot of time to the process because I lost what I was uploading both times I had to log back in. Many of the pics didn't turn out because I was using my phone and the lens would get cloudy sometimes. That's the way it goes. One thing I wanted to throw in for the back story is a couple of pics of mountain goats. This family of goats came down from the mountain to the side of lake road on a bit of a pull out, and it was the deciding factor in putting in where I did.

[comeu]

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures, I definitely have to do something like that one of these days.
What did you eat?

[Dusk Patrol]

Congrats on the awesome adventure!
(I confess I had to convert 104km - 65 miles.)
Thanks for sharing!

[switters]

well done, on my last camping trip I used a very large portage bag up front, which was a hassle changing paddle sides.

Will try your set up on the next camping trip. 

[robon]

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures, I definitely have to do something like that one of these days.
What did you eat?

Hey, For most of the trip I used the mre type meals that you add boiling water to, and they are actually pretty good. I packed trail mix, dried fruit, power bars and gel, granola, and powdered milk. On day one I had bananas and apples. I was a bit fortunate in meeting up with a friend at her campsite by chance and she cooked me a nice meal. One thing I should have took pics of was my stop at the ferry terminal because I had lunch there with a breakfast burrito, two large coffees, and ice cream. I was battling a side wind and needed to refuel:)

[robon]

well done, on my last camping trip I used a very large portage bag up front, which was a hassle changing paddle sides.

Will try your set up on the next camping trip.

I have done my bags both ways and prefer the big one at the back. Some feel the load is more balanced and the board is more stable with the larger bag up front. Problem is paddling in headwinds. I came to a near complete stop many times with the small bags upfront when crashing through swell, and the big bag up front makes it even harder. The load can also be balanced out by using more smaller bags.