Dahl Lake October 2, 2010

It's been more than a month since I have been out on the water, and I was starting to panic, thinking that the snow would come before I could get one more trip in.  Autumn so far in PG has been a bit mixed, and it has been raining more than the sun has been shining.  Add to that some work I had to do on my house before winter comes, then being sick, and there just haven't been many opportunities for kayaking lately.  But now that October is here, the threat of winter looming made getting out today a huge priority.

We went to Dahl Lake, which is only accessible through a stream that starts on the east end of Norman Lake.  It is about a 45-60 minute drive west of Prince George.  It is a beautiful lake, and probably my favorite place to kayak in the Prince George area.  I've been there many times, but never this late in the season.  It feels very secluded, since there is no road access, no rec sites or picnic areas and there are no powerboats allowed. 

We started at the Norman Lake Day Use area, and paddled the 300m to the stream that leads to Dahl Lake.  The fall colours were beautiful.

Paddling through the stream.  The water was a bit low this year because the summer was so dry.

There is no shortage of jumbled stumps and trees in the water.  This whole area has been badly affected by the Mountain Pine Beetle. 

There was a bit of an obstacle to get past - one tree in the stream that blocked most of the passage.  (Just past the one that is sticking out above the water - hard to see in this picture.) I tried to take a run at it and go over it, but that didn't work.  Turned out the small opening that wasn't blocked was just wide enough to carefully paddle both kayaks through.

                            My favorite tree. 

More of the stream

And we are now entering Dahl Lake...

 

 The first part of the lake.  The colours were so pretty everywhere.

We finally found some blue sky around the corner.

We paddled along to the far end of the lake, and into the eastern arm.

My favorite patch of reeds.

Eventually the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and the hillside lit up.  So pretty!

Here's a rare site - green pine trees!  Right next to a bunch of dead ones.  This is just one of about 5 islands on the lake.

Looking down the arm at the reflections.

Paddling towards the end of the lake.

We often see wildlife while on the water.  Today was no different.  There was a huge flock of ducks that moved around the lake while we were there, but of course, they were never close enough to get a good picture.  My friend spotted an otter (or muskrat?) diving and waited to see it surface, but with no luck.  So no photos.  While she was watching for the little critter, I had my eye on an eagle that flew past us, and perched on a log near the end of the lake.  I think the wildlife just likes to tease us, lol.  This eagle stayed perfectly still, and let me get a bit closer, but not close enough.  So this is the best picture I could get of it.  If you look really close, you can see the white dot (head) and brown body perched on that log near the center of the picture.  (If you click on the photo, it will enlarge, but still not really large enough, lol.) 

But moving along....

This is closer to the end of the lake.  More rocks, and interesting dead trees in the water.

Cool reflections.

Here we are at the end of the lake.  It was a pretty place.  These grasses towered over our heads.

So much for exploring Dahl Creek, lol.  The water just seems to run under this log, and drain into a creek a bit lower down.  Sure looked pretty, though.

Or maybe it goes around this corner....  Guess I will have to wait until my next trip to find out.  We turned around at this point.

On our way back up the arm.  There was so much more blue sky than when we started.  It was great to see the sun.

Heading back towards the stream.

Back in the stream.  The last 300m from the stream to the day use area on Norman Lake were the toughest because of the wind and a few waves.  The journey back to that beach was a bit sad, knowing that the season is almost over, and that I won't be back here until at least next spring.  But it was a beautiful day on the water.

On the way home I just had to take some pictures of the tamarack trees changing colour.  There is a whole field of them just off the highway on the Norman Lake Road.

Banff Part 3 - Two-Jack Lake

This is the third and final chapter of my trip to Banff.  It was the day we had to return the rental kayak, so we decided to get one more trip in while we still could.  Two-Jack Lake was a good choice, since it was close by, and we could drive right up to the water.  That was a nice bonus after hauling the boats around so far at Lake Louise the day before.

Two-Jack Lake is found at the south end of Lake Minnewanka, right on the other side of the dam.  It is a much smaller lake, but still has a rich green color to it, and many mountains surrounding it.  There is also a large campground on one side.

When we got there, the water was mirror calm, and there were very few people around.  It was also a very smokey day, thanks to the fires burning in BC, so we didn't get a very good view of the surrounding scenery, but it did have a kind of misty/eerie feeling to it.

The view from shore where we started out.

The lake was very calm and peaceful.  We paddled towards the eastern end of the lake, along the shore near the campground.

The water was also very clear.  This is a little bay near the campground.

 

Pretty trees!

We turned around, and headed towards the west end of the lake, towards the dam.  There were so many pretty flowers and plants grwoing from the rocks.

And of course, there has to be a stump or 2...

....And a beauty floating in the lake!

The smoke eventually started to lift, and blue sky was almost visible.  The sun was shining up there somewhere!

Pretty views of the shoreline near the dam.

And the dam itself.  On the other side of this dam is Lake Minnewanka.

You can see the clouds in this one.  The smoke was deffinitely clearing up.

We spotted a young sheep on the dam, who seemed very interested in getting into that restricted area.  It did eventually wander back into the woods, but not before posing for a nice photo.  :)

It was time to head back to the picnic site.  The rental kayak was due back in Kananaskis in a few hours, and our arms were sore from all the paddling we had done in the last 3 days, but it was all well worth it.  Banff is a very beautiful place, and I hope to see more of it one day.