Kayaking Alouette Lake

May 25, 2025May 9, 2025 / Maria / 1 Comment

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.

Desolation Sound Kayak Trip Part II

June 14, 2023August 13, 2024 / Maria / 6 Comments

Despite the name change in the blog title, this post is a continuation of my last post about Copeland Islands Marine Park, as I visited both parks in the same trip. Read Part 1 here.

I will admit that the wind gave me a lot of anxiety on this trip. I’m definitely a fair weather paddler, and while I’ve been out in less-than-favourable conditions, I’ve never paddled in outright dangerous conditions. It was surprisingly windy overnight, which made me a bit nervous for our second day of paddling, but the wind forecast wasn’t that high and it did calm down throughout the day. I’m used to the wind being calm in the morning and coming up in the afternoon, so that was an interesting change to have it reversed.

We still got up reasonably early (7am) because we wanted to launch the boats while the tide was still high. Once the tide starts to go down, you lose the channel exit from our campsite and it adds a bit of extra paddling, plus you have to load the boats and gear further down the beach.

Fortunately, our timing was right on and we paddled out through the channel around 9am with just enough clearance to get over the newly forming beach. We crossed back over to the Malaspina Peninsula and said good-bye to the Copeland Islands as we made our way to Desolation Sound. There were some cool cliff features along the way, just past Bliss Landing, and we quickly arrived at Sarah Point, which marks the beginning of both Desolation Sound Marine Park and the Sunshine Coast Trail. It was a bit of a bittersweet moment for me as I have very fond memories of hiking the SCT last year and I loved seeing the Sarah Point hut again.

We had a quick break further along the beach at Sarah Point before continuing around the headland to Feather Cove, which is also on the SCT. It got a little windier as we rounded Sarah Point, but nothing to be concerned about. We spotted our second sea lion and then took in our first glimpse of the jaw-dropping beauty of Desolation Sound. I wasn’t able to successfully identify the mountains, but there are some gorgeous snow capped peaks in the distance as you first enter the Sound.

We took another short break at Feather Cove before crossing Okeover Inlet to Zephine Head. The Inlet crossing was fine and the tide was rapidly dropping, so we were able to pull out at a beach just around the Head. At high tide, you might have to continue into Galley Bay for a pull-out though. We had our lunch there and since the conditions were favourable, we decided to do a direct crossing to Mink Island.

It’s about a 3km paddle from Zephine Head to Mink Island in open water. We tried to stay close to one another on the crossing, but the wind definitely picks up the further out you get, so I finally dropped my rudder and that helped me maintain my course a lot easier. Seth is pretty opposed to his rudder and never uses it, so he had some trouble staying on track. We managed to correct this the following day (which was windier), by both dropping our rudders and having Seth paddle directly behind me (since I’m the slower paddler) instead of trying to paddle side by side. Whenever we go side by side we tend to get separated, so this system worked better for us.

That said, it was still a pretty good crossing. The wind was low and we didn’t have any trouble making it over to Mink Island. Once we got to Mink Island, we had the wind working with us, so that was nice. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of good looking places to stop along the island, so we powered around the corner of the little arm on Mink Island (sorry I don’t know the name) and had a nice rest in the sheltered bay.

From there it’s not much further to the Curme Islands, which are the most popular attraction in the park, at least as far as I can tell. At the end of Mink Island, there are 3 small islands: South Curme, East Curme, and West Curme. The water was super calm at the end of Mink and around the Curme Islands, so we did a little paddle around each island. It was Seth’s turn to pick our site and he opted for East Curme Island, which I think was an excellent choice!

West Curme Island was really busy when we arrived, so I think that one might be the most popular. There was just one group on both East and South Curme, though a lot of people showed up to South Curme by motor boat later in the evening. But no one else joined us on East Curme, so it was just us and the other group (which is surprising considering it is the biggest of the 3 islands). We had a lovely site looking out to South Curme and Bold Head, and climbing up to the top of the island, another nice view looking down at West Curme.

The tide was very low when we arrived again, but in contrast to North Copeland Island, it was a more challenging landing. It wasn’t hard at low tide, but it’s a bit of a climb up to the island and at high tide, there’s no beach at all. There was just enough room for 4 kayaks between us and the other group, so I’m not sure where everyone stores their boats when the campsite is full.

Instead of dragging the boats up the rocks, we opted to tie them on and let the tide slowly float them up to the landing. It worked really well and when the water reached high tide around sunset, we popped them up on the bank.

After unloading the boats, we were really warm, so we opted to go for a swim almost immediately. Like Copeland, the water was incredibly warm, though there was a lot of seaweed floating around with the low tide. Even Seth went for a swim and we were in the water for the better part of a half hour. We had landed on the island around 2:30pm, and after our swim, I spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. Seth had a nap and I just enjoyed drinking my ice tea and watching the seals play while the tide came up.

Seth wasn’t as excited about a sunset paddle on this day, but I convinced him to go out for a half hour since you can’t really see the sunset from East Curme. The water was calm again and it was approaching high tide, so we paddled in and around all the islands before calling it a night. We slept with the fly off again and set our alarms for 6am to get an earlier start on the following day.

This was on account of those winds I mentioned earlier that were making me anxious. The wind was supposed to come up a lot on our 3rd day and I was nervous about the big open water crossing. We discussed it in the evening and decided we would take the long route back to our next campsite. There’s two benefits to this. The first is that you get to explore new terrain by circling Desolation Sound from the other side instead of doing the same crossing back along Mink Island. The second is that you avoid the big 3km open crossing, instead doing a 0.5km crossing from East Curme to Otter Island, and then a second 1km crossing across Tenedos Bay. The other benefit is that these two crossings are done at the start of your paddle, which would be early morning for us, resulting in less wind.

Here’s a screenshot of our 2 paddling routes for some context. I’ll cover the rest of the trip in the Part III!

Kayaking Belcarra to Ferrar Cove

May 11, 2022April 25, 2022 / Maria / 5 Comments

Now that it’s finally starting to feel like Spring, me and Seth were stoked to get our kayaks out again! We bought them last year and did a lot of kayaking in the spring, but less than we would have liked in the summer. The backpacking season is so short, so it’s hard to fit in both backpacking and kayaking, so we decided to make Spring our prime kayaking season (since the alpine is still under snow until the end of June).

We went out once in early April to do our Level 1 Paddling Course (the second course after Sea Kayaking Basics), which was a great opportunity to refresh our rescue skills and work on our paddling strokes. We got wetsuits for Christmas this past year, so I’m feeling more confident about early season kayaking. It made me nervous before because I knew it would potentially be pretty dangerous if either of us accidentally went for a swim. But we tested wet exits in the kayaks in early April and the wetsuits helped a lot!

The training course wasn’t in our own kayaks though, so we were keen to get back to Belcarra, which is one of our favourite places to paddle near where we live in Coquitlam (Rocky Point and Barnet Marine are closer, but Belcarra is our preferred). I like to look at maps a lot and I noticed that there’s a tea house located in Belvedere (neighbourhood in Belcarra) and thought it might be fun to check out. It’s called 8 Corners Organic Tea Room and you can access it by road through Sasamat Lake, but since the road goes through the park, this can be tricky since Metro Vancouver often closes the gate once the parking lot is full during the busy season. So I scoped out the water access, which is available through Farrer Cove, and decided to make an attempt by boat.

We started by getting to Belcarra for 8am. In April you don’t have to go quite this early to get parking (there was lots available), but in the summer, I usually aim for no later than 9am if I want to be assured parking. In this case, we went for 8am anyways because the water is a lot flatter in the morning, which makes for great paddling. In the summer you can rent kayaks from Takaya Paddling Centre in Belcarra, but it’s not open year round, so an alternative in shoulder season is that you can instead rent kayaks from Deep Cove and paddle across Indian Arm. It’s about the same distance from either location (Deep Cove or Belcarra), but it’s a bit of an easier paddle from Belcarra since you don’t have to cross the Arm.

On this particular day, it was super calm on the water and we had a really enjoyable paddle out to Jug Island. I’ve written about Jug Island before, which makes a great paddling trip if you’re new to kayaking. It’s an easy paddle and not as long. I’d budget about 3 hours for Jug Island, whereas we needed a full 6 hours for Ferrar Cove. But Jug Island makes for a good break and we pulled into the beach for a snack and to use the outhouse. There were some hikers on the beach, but it was still pretty early and the tide was really high, so there wasn’t too many people.

From there we continued across Bedwell Bay to Ferrar Cove/Belvedere, which is where the tea room is located. The open water crossing is shorter than Deep Cove, but you want to make sure you check the weather and wind forecast before attempting either crossing. It was a low 6km/h the day we went and we won’t go out in winds higher than 20km/h, which requires a lot more effort. The wind usually comes up in the afternoon in Indian Arm, so earlier paddling will be easier. It was probably only 3-4km/h winds on the way to the tea room, and maybe more like 8km/h winds on the way back. So it was a very easy crossing, which is always nice.

In my advance research, I’d identified a small beach at the end of the cove where we could land, but upon arriving, it didn’t look like the beach connected through to the road. There was however a very large dock that was completely empty. We couldn’t see any signs indicating that it was a private dock, so we tied up our kayaks there and walked up the hill to the tea room, which has a beautiful view looking out over Ferrar Cove. I’m still not 100% sure what the deal is with the dock and whether it’s a proper public dock, but we asked the tea room and they said that it’s the correct place to land when you’re visiting the tea room. While there is a road, they are technically a water access property, so they can’t guarantee that customers will always be able to access the tea room via the road if the park gate is closed, but you should always be able to access the tea room via the dock! So definitely check it out!

The tea room is only open from 11-5 on Fridays and Saturdays. We got there shortly after 11, so we were the only customers when we arrived and had a great chat with some of the staff! The staff are lovely and they let us sample all of the cold brew teas they were just brewing (cold brew is my favourite) and told us a bit about some of the history of the teas, which they get from an organic tea farm on Jeju Island in Korea. You can make bookings for a proper 90 minute afternoon tea, but since we weren’t sure about our timing, we decided to order a la carte instead. So we each had an open-faced sandwich and a dessert with our cold brew. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, but we opted to sit outside to enjoy the view. It’s a really gorgeous location and we felt so content to relax on the patio. It gave our paddling trip a bit more structure to have such a nice destination and I guarantee we’ll be back again!

Around 1pm we returned to the dock to start the return trip. If you’re visiting by kayak, it is a little bit tricky to dock. It’s definitely tailored to sailboats and yachts, so it’s a bit high to board from a kayak. We were able to use the railings to get in and out of the boats and there is a ladder on the other side if you’re really struggling. The harder part though would be getting the kayaks up onto the dock as it is a bit of a drop. We opted to just leave them in the water and instead locked them to the rail. You could also tie them up using your tow line, just make sure you secure them well.

The wind did pick up in the afternoon, but it was considerably less than some of the other times I’ve paddled Indian Arm and we didn’t find it challenging. We paddled back to Jug Island for a quick pee break before heading back to Belcarra again. It was 9am when we started paddling and shortly after 2pm when we returned. So if you give yourself a full 6 hours of paddling time that should be more than sufficient, though if you do the full afternoon tea, you might want a bit more time.

All in all, it was one of the most fun days I’ve had on the water since we got our kayaks. At 10km round trip, it was the perfect length paddle for a day trip. We absolutely loved the tea room and would definitely recommend whether you’re paddling from Belcarra or Deep Cove. Can’t wait to go back again!