Spring is finally here in full and we’ve been taking full advantage of the weather to do lots of kayaking. Spring is usually my best season for paddling because I get distracted by the mountains once the snow melts in late June. We managed to get our kayaks out 4 times before May this year, which is a new record for us. Seth and I have a big kayak trip coming up in a few weeks (stay tuned), so we’ve been doing lots of training.
Generally, we prefer paddling in salt water, but in late April we decided to make a visit to Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park before the day pass system came into effect. We’ve paddled Alouette Lake once before, but I’ve never taken the time to write about it. There’s lots of great camping along the shoreline of Alouette, so I’m keen to return in the future for an overnight trip. But on this occasion, we arrived around 9am for a morning paddle.
Honestly, 9am was a bit of a late start time for Alouette. Almost all of the waterbodies in the area get windy starting in the early afternoon. We paddle Indian Arm all the time and it consistently gets choppy around 1pm. Alouette ended up getting windy earlier, around 11:30am, so we did have our work cut out for us on the way back. But I’m getting ahead of myself!
I’m not sure what the proper protocol is for launching kayaks at Alouette Lake. There is a formal boat launch, but it’s tailored to motorcraft that need to be backed down the ramp to the water’s edge. I think some people launch their kayaks from here, but we’ve always just done it from South Beach, around where the canoe rentals are. The beach isn’t too busy in April, so it’s a quieter time to paddle.
The first time we paddled here, we only made it as far as the public beach at Gold Creek Campsite. So our goal for this trip was to paddle all the way to North Beach in order to navigate the boats up Gold Creek. It was overcast in the morning, but the water was pretty calm and we had a nice paddle along the shore. Alouette Lake is dammed and used by BC Hydro, so there are a lot of tree stumps around the lake’s edge from when they impounded the reservoir. It makes for an interesting paddle because some of the stumps still poke out of the water and are absolutely giant! It’s a little sad to imagine the former giants. Make sure you exercise caution while paddling, because many of the stumps are just under the surface of the water and can be hard to see.
It’s ~4km to paddle to the beach at Gold Creek, which is a nice stopping point. If you want somewhere quieter, there are lots of little pocket beaches around the shoreline as well. I’ve only ever paddled up the northwest side of the lake, but I’d like to check out the southeast side some day as well. The water was calm and it didn’t take us too long to get to Gold Creek. We decided not to stop and instead, continued another 2km directly to North Beach. There are campgrounds located at both Gold Creek and North Beach, so those can be quite busy on a nice day.
We stopped at the beach for a snack. I had packed in a delicious donut from my favourite shop in Coquitlam, Doughnut Love, which I really enjoyed. Our main goal in paddling to North Beach was to continue up Gold Creek. There’s a public parking lot near the North Beach Campsite and we frequently visit in the summer. It’s a ~1km walk along Gold Creek to the beach and we’ll often stop and go swimming in the river, which has extremely clear water. Even though I’ve been there lots of times, I’d never paddled up the creek in my kayak and was keen to do so. You can’t go too far up the river before it gets too steep to continue, but it does make for a scenic little paddle and it gave us a nice end destination.
Unfortunately, by the time we left Gold Creek, the wind had picked up and we had to paddle into a pretty healthy headwind. It wasn’t too windy to be out, but it was a workout to paddle the 6km back to South Beach. The waves weren’t bad, but it’s tiring battling into the wind. It was the kind of weather where you just put your head down and paddle rather than getting to enjoy the views. We made a brief stop at a pocket beach on the way back, but were concerned the wind would only get stronger, and decided to hustle back.
The wind dropped a bit the closer we got to South Beach and I’m not sure if it was because the wind came down, or just that it’s less windy at the end of the lake. Either way, we made it back to the beach without incident around 1pm. Like I said, the wind came up earlier than I was expecting, and I’m not sure if that’s typical for Alouette, or just typical for April. The last time we paddled Alouette Lake was in mid summer and we arrived in the afternoon. It wasn’t as windy then, so it might have just be the early season conditions.
Either way, we had a great time exploring around the shoreline and Alouette remains one of my favourite lakes near Vancouver. From mid-May onwards, you do need a day pass to visit on the weekends. These can be obtained from BC Parks, 2 days before your trip, at no cost. But it is a popular park, so make sure you go on the website at 7am when the passes release or you’ll miss the opportunity to visit the park. I hope to return someday to paddle all the way to the end of the lake and take the opportunity to do some lakeside wilderness camping.
The Road Goes Ever On 