BC Wells Gray Canoe & Hike August 2022

We had an almost 500km drive ahead of us and we got off to an early start. The TransCanada Highway was quiet till about 9:00am. We made a stop at the Canadian Tire in Salmon Arm for Coleman propane tanks and to top up our insect repellent arsenal. We did a major shop at the Kamloops Superstore and then we headed north on the Yellowhead Highway. There were frequent construction (pipeline) interruptions along the way. We dropped into the Clearwater Info Centre for a map of Murtle lake and carried onto Blue River. We drove through the commercial campground (compact sites and close to the highway) and continued onto the Mud Lake rec site. There was one other party at the small rec site (Vancouverites, Holly & Jeff).

We had a foggy start to the day. Rather than the usual muesli breakfast, we indulged with an omlette. We walked the pleasant 2.7km lakeside trail to some interesting waterfalls. A small assortment of people (bear fearing Germans, a jet boat, and a Quad) arrived through the day. We needed a half-day to organize the food and our gear for the canoe trip. I had moved the car around a few times to keep it in the shade so our fresh food would keep cool, then in the evening, the car wouldn't start. Oops. We had a jump starter on-board and that worked like a charm. Then just before dark a group of older Israeli tourists arrived in a Pathfinder to camp there. They were incredibly quiet.

It was a good 25km gravel road to the Murtle lake parking lot, which was largely full when we arrived. There was a group of four from Oregon that were loading up their canoes on skookum carts (they have been going to Murtle for decades). We loaded up our gear into a trolley provided to those that are renting the on-site canoes and pushed it for 2.5km. There were a few small hills along the way that required two of us to push/pull. We were a little early for our designated collection time but the operators appeared shortly thereafter and organized our canoe quickly. We paddled through the "lagoon" against the flow of exiting canoeists (it was a Sunday).

We stopped at Sandy Point (nice little beach, but it was busy with tents) and carried onto the West Arm. We stopped at Leo island campground (occupied by a family group) and finished at Tropicana campsite (a 15km paddle). Two other parties arrived later in the day, but there was plenty of room to spread out. Tropicana featured a large beach; the lake is shallow there and it was a bit of a wade for deeper, swimming water. The charm of Murtle lake are the beautiful camps and Tropicana didn't disappoint and the bugs weren't bad either. We had ravioli & red pesto with salad for dinner on a warm evening.

Murtle lake is the largest "non-motorized lake" in North America. It has a West Arm and North Arm and the average visitors spends three days in one of the arms. The lake has many beautiful sandy campsites and the fishing is very good. It would be roughly 30km to paddle from one end to the other.

We day tripped from Tropicana to the western end of Murtle lake. We paddled into Diamond lagoon and started to walk the McDougall Falls trail. The trail could have used a brush cutting and after a little while on the trail, we wondered if it warranted the effort and we returned to our canoe. Two determined women who had camped at Tropicana pressed on. We checked out the old cabin on Diamond lagoon, talked to BC Parks staff who were conducting an annual inspection, then carried onto Kostal campsite. A thunderstorm had been developing and we took shelter under the trees while it hailed and then waited for the rain to pass.

After checking out File Creek campsite, we returned to Tropicana for the afternoon. Other campers drifted in, replacing the 2 other canoes that had left that day. We learned about how good the rainbow fishing is on the lake from an experienced guy who was once a parks ranger in the park.

We did a short 12km paddle along the north shore of the West Arm over to Strait creek camp. Along the way, we stopped in at a couple of campsites (Cottonwood and Birch Beach). Loons were congregating in large numbers. The water was calm and there seemed to be quite a bit of activity at Strait Creek. As it turned out, a group of 12-15 had arrived the evening before so they were excited about their new surroundings; some were swimming and one of them pulled in a large rainbow to add to the general enthusiasm.

We found a private tent site a ways down the beach from the group. Later we went for a shoreline paddle and organized ourselves for an overnight hike the following day. We had brought two tents, so we would leave one up at Strait Creek and carry the lighter Big Agnes tent up Wavey Ridge. There are large food lockers at Strait Creek, so we could also leave our food for the rest of the week behind. It got quite warm that afternoon and we jumped into the lake to cool off in between dinner servings. The stars and reflection on the lake were amazing that night.

We woke up at 5:30 am, had filtered coffee and muesli with apple and peaches. We left the REI Half-dome tent up and made the short paddle over to the trail-head. We were walking through old growth cedar and hemlock by 7:30. It was a steady 3 hour pull up 900m to the beginning of Wavey Ridge. We found a nice flat spot for our tent and ate lunch (avocado, tuna, cheese and spinach leaves with Trader Joe's Magnifisauce in tortillas) and a bottle of Coca-cola.

We continued the ridge walk unencumbered by our weighted packs. A couple of people, including the Park's manager, had asked us about water on an overnight trip on the ridge. So, we had some minor concerns about finding water (if we couldn't, we would have packed up and hiked out). We needn't have been concerned as there are some tarns below the ridge that can be accessed and later we came across a snow bank at the top of the ridge with a stream of water flowing from it. We came across another good camp spot up at the top near the water source. The ridge walk was spectacular and I made my way part way down to a lake below Wave Crest Peak before turning back. We returned to camp with 10 litres of water. Another night or two up there would allow one to wander some interesting territory.

It was quite warm in the sun and we sought shade to prepare dinner. I used a dehydrated coconut chicken curry meal for dinner fortified with fresh snap peas, cauliflower and egg noodles. It got a little buggy as the sun set and we could see distant lightning from our campsite.

The early morning bugs were a nuisance until we sprayed ourselves with insect repellent. We were walking by 7:00am and made a quick, smooth descent to Murtle lake. We paddled back to Strait Creek and decided to drop our tent that we had left up and continue up the North Arm in placid conditions. We reached Moonlite Bay after 7km in the warmth of the day. There were already three tents on the narrow beach. It was hot in the sun but the swimming was excellent. We had a pouch of Patak's Korma with fresh snap peas over rice for dinner. There was another couple (Dave & Heather, Vancouver) that were set up for the week on Moonlite Bay; we didn't think it was the best of Murtle lake, and I kept thinking that they were somehow vacation prisoners.

A canoeist that we had met on Tropicana Beach had asked to keep an eye out for a pair of hiking pants that she had left on Moonlite Bay. We recovered them and later mailed them onto her.

The North Arm of Murtle lake is considered to be scenic and we were looking forward to paddling up to the lake's end. We had checked the weather (via Garmin In-Reach) and rain was in the forecast. We paddled along the shoreline to Eagle Point camp where a group of four were packing up to leave. We didn't see anyone else that day. We set up our tent on the beach and continued to the north end of the lake at Murtle Beach. The camp there has a reputation of being buggy, and with a large marsh behind the beach, it was easy to see why.

We returned to Eagle Point for lunch and the clouds started to roll in. Sheila found and repaired a leak in her mattress. As dark clouds rolled in, we put the tarp up on the lee side of the beach. It was all looking good until the wind shifted and we had to take the tarp down and put it up in the more sheltered forest. It rained hard through the afternoon (about 25mm all told) and even with all our warm clothes, it felt cold. We had dry breaks in the evening.

We had drizzle to start the day and the hot coffee was much appreciated by all. We started to paddle into the wind and then it shifted again and our relatively short paddle (13km) was assisted by a strong tailwind. We both wished we were in kayaks as canoes don't handle rough water as well. We pulled into Strait Creek to a group lined up on the shoreline; they were impressed by our canoe handling skills. The group was to head for Vancouver that day, but they were pinned down by the strong winds. However, the winds dropped as quickly as they had come up, for an hour or so, long enough for the group to exit and get around a point that afforded them some wind protection.

The wind picked up again, and no other parties were able to reach our campsite, so it was a fairly quiet camp (two guys and us). We didn't take our long-johns off that day as the wind made the 15C temperature feel much colder. We still had some vegies left for our last dinner of dhal tarkha with sweet peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and salami over basmati rice. That was followed by Lindt orange chocolate with cognac. I had provisioned well for this trip.

The calm conditions contrasted with the waves and wind of the previous day. We stopped at the Henrieta lake trail and walked through old growth and swamps to a small lake. There was a plastic canoe filled with water from the recent rain. We emptied the canoe and went for a short paddle through lily pads. Back on Murtle lake, we reached the portage at rush hour with incoming and outgoing paddlers sorting out their canoes all at once. We loaded up a cart and pushed our way along the 2.5km trail back to the car.

On the way south, we stopped in at Clearwater for lunch and groceries. We proceeded west on Hwy 24 and we were seduced by a pretty rec site at Latremouille lake (too close to the highway, a few casual visitors at all hours). We made our way west, stopping for a swim at Green lake, then Lillooet for lunch, overnight at Seton lake BC Hydro campground and a nice drive out on Duffy lake road to Horseshoe Bay and the ferry back to the island.