Log packed with a Painted Turtles
Edwards Lake was my next destination, at a campsite that I would say is in my top ten favorite spots. I was here early enough that I thought there was a good chance the spot would be available, which it was. I was seeing nice warm spring weather finally, with little wind. It was going to be perfect to get the kayak out on the lake for some extended paddling.
Rest stop along Kootenay Lake
My journey back took me south down the east side of Kootenay Lake. It’s a nice drive, if you like windy roads. The lake view is spectacular at times, I always enjoy the drive, even if my RV is driven very gently through the corners. The weather was very overcast, with a bit of drizzle now and then. Really a perfect day to travel as I’d have been stuck with no more than some walks had I stayed at my campsite.
I made one “tourist stop” along the way, the Glass House. Of course, I’m there too early in the season and it’s not open. I’d never stop there in the middle of the summer when it is over-run with tourists, so who knows if I’ll ever see the inside of this thing? I’m just not into fighting crowds to see anything, it would have to really be worth it to deal with crowds. I contented myself with a few exterior shots. Perhaps someday I’ll pass by during that sweet spot shoulder season time when it is open, but not too crowded.
I had to dump my tanks and get water along the way. My stop in Creston had a free dump station, but a person was using it with one more waiting. This is late April, WTF with the lineup? I decided to move on – Cranbrook was going to be my Walmart shopping stop, there was a free dump station there too. I drove into much warmer weather than I had on Kootenay Lake. By the time I hit Cranbrook, it was a sunny pleasant t-shirt day, so glad to not be freezing anymore!
Glass house window
I’m glad I waited to dump, Cranbrook sani-dump has one of the nicest setups I’ve seen. You would not believe how poorly some places are built to serve the basic principle that all the sewage should flow downhill to the lowest point which is the hole the sewage goes into. Not that you want to know this, but you sometimes get a little surprise sewage coming out when you first open your cap, before you open the valve. No stopping some going on the ground, so that ground had better slope down to the sewer hole. But most dumps can’t get that basic design right. At least if it’s gravel there is the excuse of not wanting gravel to wash into the hole, but the cement pads, come on people, this is shit, not rocket science!
A water refill later, I was on my way to Edwards Lake. I was happy to see my usual spot was available, with good weather in the forecast to boot! I was looking forward to getting out with the motorcycle, and the kayak.
The water indeed was lovely and I spent many an hour paddling around the lake. With my spot being right on the water, it was easy to just get up and go once I had my kayak unfolded. The lake is just the perfect size to explore completely in a kayak, at least one that isn’t so fast on the water.
Painted Turtles are supposed to be endangered around here according to the signs.
There was some fishing done too. The good weather had brought out other people too, one pair of which had a boat they were fishing with. It was a bit annoying that they were fishing where I thought the fishing might be good, and indeed, I watched them pull in a couple of fish. But there was no initial luck for me. The wind was especially annoying, keeping me from being able to sit on a spot and cast. I really needed to get a small anchor.
There were other things on the water to keep me entertained. I noticed a lot of turtles sitting on top of a few logs extended out from the shore. Some signage I found told me these were Painted Turtles, endangered in the area. Further research casts doubt on that – it is just not studied enough to know if the population is threatened or not. But they made for some interesting photography, even if I drifted too close once getting distracted by my picture taking. The turtles all made for the water as I came up to their log. Don’t do what I did and disturb the wildlife, it can disrupt rearing of young and causes them to waste energy fleeing a perceived enemy.
Deer in the window
Besides the Canada Geese, who never fear anyone, the Mule Deer here have no fear either, coming right through my camp browsing away on the new greenery. That reminds me of the days I worked with deer. I actually chased them as part of a research project once – we were studying how they ran. I really should do a blog post about that at some point to record that for posterity, I certainly have most people beat when it comes to unique summer jobs.
Too cold still for the slide
Paddling all around the lake meant I could check out some of the lake properties on the west side of the lake, opposite the east side where I was camped. In my previous visits, I had thought there was only a small number of cabins, but being able to paddle all the way to the west side of the lake now I saw that there were many cabins on the west arm of the lake. It’s fully developed there, with docks, and large houses on some lots.
STFO!
Exploring with the motorcycle I found out that there is a paved road that accesses the west side of the lake and all the shore properties there. But there is a fence that keeps people from crossing the middle part of the development to the smaller set of houses on the north side of the lake I could visit walking down the road from the east. The access from the paved road has a bunch of signs that amount to “keep out” so I kept out. Private bit of paradise and all, I get why the locals want to keep it all to themselves.
Nice lakefront lots
Speaking of locals I found myself most annoyed one day of paddling by a fellow pair of paddlers on the lake, who just happen to be following along the same path I am. They could have gone elsewhere, but no, they had to come paddling over to me. The couple had a man that was particularly “know it all” telling his girl friend how exactly to paddle for maximum speed, among many other things I could hear over the water. To add to my annoyance, I find out as I’m heading back to my camp that they have parked in my camp, launching from my spot. There is a spot to launch just down from my camp, where another kayaker had launched earlier. The boaters had launched up at the next campsite. But this guy seems to think he owns this spot, which he proceeded to imply when we had a friendly chat as I came up behind them before they could scurry away in their truck. Oh yeah, this guy normally camps on this spot during the summer, would not surprise me if they park a trailer there long term and just visit “their” spot on the weekends. This is why I’m not here in the summer. There will be assholes nearby.
Little dinner addon Rainbow Trout
I did finally have a round of luck with the fishing here. A late afternoon of fishing near the slide, I noticed that the fish were jumping all of a sudden. Now I know there are fish around, and sure enough I start getting bites. I hook a few small ones letting them go. But I kept the last one as an add on to my pork steak. It was going to be surf and oink for dinner tonight. The lake definitely has on and off times for fishing. I went hours without a bite, but now I could have kept five fish in the last hour had I been so inclined. One was fine, I just wanted to see what they taste like, which turned out to be quite tasty. Little Panther Martins work here good too for catching these guys!
My week here ended too soon. The weather had been gorgeous, I would have come back for another week but no, I had commitments back in Alberta that required my travel there sooner rather than later. Edwards had been great, plus my rides with the motorcycle had netted me some new spots that should work good in the busier summer. Just not on the water, all of that is popular then, with assholes sprinkled in among the many people.
The sign had a garbage can, thanks Alberta!
I returned to Alberta for a session of visiting friends and helping out with some larger projects. There was to be a long period coming up with little camping and much building. So, you’ll find in my next post I’ll actually be catching up months rather than the week or three that I usually do per post. I’ll get back closer to the current December ’23 that I’m writing this on now, you’ll see!
