Alouette Lake Narrows, Apr. 24 - 26, 2009

The weather forecast was looking good for the coming weekend so we decided to head up Alouette Lake, in Golden Ears Park, and camp at the narrows for a couple of nights. This is not a trip we would do in late spring or summer due to the amount of activity this lake sees when the warm weather arrives. Neither of us was really expecting much from this trip as we had been on the lake numerous times and been turned off by the sheer number of power boaters, which takes away from the wilderness experience. In the end we came away pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable this lake is to paddle, especially the north end where the scenery is spectacular.

We loaded our boats at the Alouette Lake boat launch and were on the water just past one pm.  We crossed the lake and paddled up the east shore. There was a light wind at our backs and a clear sky which made the northern view of snow capped mountains a treat to paddle towards. There are a number of small creeks feeding into the lake on the eastern shore and more snow capped mountains that show themselves between the western hills as you make your way up the lake. We were in no rush as we made our way to the narrows and just enjoyed a relaxing paddle this afternoon. There was very little boat traffic this Friday afternoon. There were mostly small fishing boats, anything from one inflatable carrying five people to aluminium boats with enclosed cockpits, but thankfully very few ski boats.

We arrived at the Narrows campsite shortly before three pm. There’s always the decision of where to set up the kitchen and tent. We ended up tarping in the kitchen at the top of the beach where some flat logs made for some improvised tables and set up the tent at the first site at the top of the trail. We looked directly out over the green waters of the narrows from our tent.

We slept with the front of the tent fly rolled up and the inner fabric of the tent unzipped so all that separated us from the elements was the thin fabric mesh of the tent. We woke up Saturday morning colder than expected. The temperature had dropped to about five degrees due to the clear skies through the night. By the morning a cloud cover had rolled in with a fairly strong wind.

We had our breakfast and by that time the wind had died down leaving a calm lake surface for our trip to the north end of the lake. Again we paddled up the eastern shoreline.

Looking towards the western shore there were a lot of small waterfalls making their way down steep rock faces from hundreds of feet up. The cloud cover unfortunately limited the views of the mountains to the north. Along the eastern shore we came across the access to a correctional camp and the BC Hydro Stave Lake outflow (inflow?). There were a few powerboats at the top of the lake and we found out that there had been a volunteer effort organized to clean up the beach areas that were only accessible by boat. After a short break and a quick look at the river that feeds into Alouette Lake we were back in the boats and paddled down the western shoreline. The rest of the afternoon was spent at camp just enjoying the mild weather.

We woke up Sunday morning to a perfectly calm lake. The reflections in the still water were picture perfect.

It really is a beautiful area when the boats aren’t running past constantly. We broke camp and started our trip back along the western shore this time. Lila had a couple of geocaches she wanted to find on the way down the lake. I put out a fishing line and we had a slow, easy paddle to start the day. Our first stop was at Moyer Creek for a geocache. There are a few really nice campsites there but they are not as accessible as the ones at the narrows. We found the geocache quite easily and continued on our way. The fishing wasn’t going so well (never does) and it was really slowing us down so I put the rod away and we headed for North Beach, to find the second geocache. Once there we found a movie was getting ready to be shot there. They had laid down a bunch of new turf in one area and were building a structure on the banks of Gold Creek. A woman working site security told us the film’s name was to be ‘Percy Jackson’. We found the geocache at North Beach, paddled up Gold Creek as far as possible and then continued on towards the boat launch. By this time the wind had started to pick up and we fought it for the remaining six kilometres.

I can see this trip on Alouette Lake becoming at least an annual event. Done in the off season, with reasonable weather, it makes for a great, quick getaway. The people fishing close by and the few ski boats that were there this time of year really did not detract from the wilderness experience much at all.

Total paddling distance - 35.9 km.

Related links:
Alouette Lake Picasa Web Album

Golden Ears Provincial Park