RV Camping at Bowron Lake Provincial Park, BC

So now we're headed over to Bower and Lakes Provincial Park. We've got two nights there. It's a 28 kilometer dirt road so we're going to see how our van does. Hopefully not too badly. Hopefully not too bad. Or we go very slowly. Our spot here at Bower Lakes. Road in was actually an easy drive. Nice and smooth. A little damp so there wasn't even a lot of dust which was pleasant. Some good space between the spots. Looks really nice. So we just checked at the registration desk. If you're just a day tripper like ourselves we're allowed to paddle. I think it's Kilby Lake and Bower. Those are the two lakes you're allowed to spend some time on. Right now we're just walking down on the lake trail. So we're a little disappointed. I guess you are allowed power craft at least on this lake. And these folks are just now heading out on part of the circuit. Beautiful though. Okay we're off for a more campsite. Probably a 3k walk to Kilby Lake which we'll paddle and then come back. Otherwise you're considered to be on the circuit. And as I think we've mentioned earlier the circuit's actually not open right now. There's only like two-thirds of it. So I think it's an out and back because of a forest fire. So short little trip should be fun. Channel marker, wood lots, parties of 7 to 14. Parties for 6 or less. None of them apply today because we're just day trippers but good to know. We forgot the canoe. Hi guys. Hi. Oh there's so many fish. Wow look at all that fish. That's amazing. We were just on Kibbe Creek and now we're at the lake. We're on an unknown lake. Well I'm sure it's known it just doesn't have a name on the map. And there's another one we could do as well but maybe another time. Yeah there's a nice couple that we ran into just at the start of Kibbe Marsh and they said that there was a lake back here and I can't remember the name. It was something I don't know if it's caribou or kootenai or something like that. In my view if it's not named it's Gordon Lake. I think it is named. Oh where'd we come from? This is the group campground and the potage point and I see the trail going up that way. If we use the pack raft as a shelter and I put some fir branches in our rain jackets we can spend the night. Gordon insisted we have to come to the end of the lake. Absolutely. Up until the point we were allowed to go. All right. Came along the shore and now we're just gonna head sort of straight back down the middle of the lake. Just getting back to the start of the creek and we're back. So that took us 32 minutes to cross the lake just going straight across with only a very light breeze and fairly calm. And then another like five minutes to get up this inlet. So good time for a pack raft. Back to camp. Half an hour hike. Here's to a good paddle. Cheers. Unfortunately we don't have a local beer. Our Whistler Brewing grapefruit ale is very refreshing though. So a great trip. We just stopped on the way and chatted the park operator in the little sort of lodge building they have here and she was very helpful. Told us a few tips and tricks for the area. It is really pretty much just a paddling area. Not a lot of hiking close by. And yeah she's been here for a long time. It's a obviously very passionate about the area and I must admit we love it. And what's also kind of exciting is I think there's what 25 or 26 campsites. I think there's only two or three other people here. Yeah so far on our trip this time it's just been like us and nobody around us. Yeah Lacklahash, Barkerville here. Very few like maybe 10% of the campsites are full. So it's kind of the way I like it. Not a good start. The water is so shallow I'm stuck. Water here is still only like maybe six or seven inches deep. So somewhat of a late start for me. It's about nine o'clock actually. Mickey and I got up. Had sort of a lazy morning. She's gonna actually stay back at camp and work on the next video. And I decided to come out for a paddle. This is Bower Lake. It looks like there's a little bit of smoke ahead of me just above the lake. It could be mist but I think it's smoke. There are a couple small wildfires around the far end of the lake. Not Bower but a little past. Nothing threatening the park but they do have part of the chain closed because of concerns. Pack rafts aren't the fastest boats. What they offer is convenience, the ability to take a boat pretty well anywhere you want, even whitewater if you have the right model. And you can do it very easily. One of the trade-offs of course is speed. So yesterday when we paddled across, I think it's Killie Lake, I went what I think would be a moderately fast paddle but not a hard paddle. I could keep that paddle up for quite a while. And I was averaging probably somewhere around 3.8 kilometers an hour. So not that fast, not much faster than a slow walk actually. So if you're a pack raft Bower Lake that would take you a little bit of time. I think it's about 116 kilometers. Not all of that is water. You'd be a little faster when you're portaging with a pack raft. This is such a beautiful area. Remote. There are some houses here on this end of the lake. And they were here before the area became park. So I guess they're grandfathered. Otherwise pretty much unspoiled wilderness. The only sound this morning that sort of disturbed us when we got up was a loon. And that's a welcome sound. So that little mountain right ahead of me, or hill, I think is called Devil's Club Hill. And there are no hiking trails here. But I said to Mickey we could probably, you know, route find our way up there fairly easily. But given the fact that it's actually called Devil's Club Mountain, I don't think it's something we'd want to go. If any of you ever hiked where there's a lot of Devil's Club, it's not pleasant at all. Definitely much more smoky ahead. I think we were lucky yesterday. I had just such clear skies, a little bit of clouds, but not much. But yeah, definitely a lot more smoke at least at the end of this valley. I think there's four or maybe five mountain ranges that this canoe circuit encompasses. So obviously every valley could be quite a bit different with regard to weather and smoke. When we were talking to the park operator, she mentioned that people ask what's the weather like. She just laughed because she said it depends on each valley. So sometimes people ask us, what the heck do you do if you're out in the middle of a lake? In your pack raft, and you have to pee. I think there's three answers to that. Two of which I've tried personally. One is simply hold it. Wait until you can get somewhere where it's just more convenient and appropriate. Two, paddle ashore. Climb up a little on the banks and pee in the soil there somewhere away from the water if you can. Three, well go anyway and then talk to your friends about how there was more water in your boat than you expected when you got back. Maybe there's a leak. Don't, by the way, ever try and stand up or kneel. That's just a recipe likely for disaster. Best piece of advice, go before you get in the boat. That's kind of where I come from. Shallow waters, maybe a foot deep here. A sign I just passed that kayaks and canoes only passed here. The sign stated they forgot about pack rafts. Point is, no powered craft up here. I've seen very little in the lake regardless, which is nice. So I'm actually at the end of the phone on the GPS in the marsh area between the end of Bowron and the start of Swan. Not sure how much farther I'll go in the marsh. I've been out about an hour and a half so I've actually gone a lot faster than I expected. I think it is actually quite a bit faster paddled when there's only one person in the boat. I'll stop up here for lunch maybe in 30 minutes and that's probably going to be my turnaround point. Well I'm about as far as I'm going to be going today. I'm just past the end of the lake in the marshes. I could go a little farther. I've got the time but I think I would be breaking the guidelines or the rules for the park. There was a beautiful eagle just behind me. I think it's an eagle. It's hard to see and then I'll paddle back. One of my challenges or maybe one of the challenges for Mickey is that I suffer from what's around the corner syndrome and you know that means when I'm out particularly on a solo trip, I always want to keep going. I want to see what's around the corner. I don't want to miss something. So my solo trips can often vary in terms of length though I usually stay very close to my regular trip plan. So Mickey knows if I'm out by myself roughly the time I'll get back. So today I told her I'd be back probably around lunch but possibly as late as dinner. I do have a satellite beacon with me so that if there was an emergency I could activate that and be rescued if necessary. If there was something serious was to happen. I know that's challenging for her but I really enjoy trips like that. What's just around the corner? What's on the next peak? It's fun. I really enjoy exploring that way. Mickey on the other hand if we're out together she prefers staying on a strict route. Staying on trails that are well known and not exploring too much. So just different pace for different folks. Anyway I'm going to paddle back. Probably try and set my GPS so I can get an accurate measure of the distance I paddled this morning. And enjoy some lunch. I've got a tuna sandwich made with the wonderful cranberry bread. Cranberry and tuna I'm not sure. But that we got yesterday at Parkerville. Just beautiful here. All right lunch. Paddle back. Try and avoid getting tuna in my packraft if I can. Or just worry about attracting bears at a later time. Though I usually every time I use the packraft I rinse it out. Clean it out. It's not likely an issue. As he then spills tuna on his lap. Weather started turning rough. A tiny ship was tossed. Not for the courage of the fearless crew the packraft would be lost. The packraft would be lost. Just making some vegetarian sushi for dinner tonight. And some yakisoba as well. So Japanese themed dinner. Sushi. Edamame. Red peppers. Oh I put some sesame seeds on it. Yeah. That's Gordon's. That's mine. Soy sauce and wasabi. Typical Bowron Lake dinner fair. So hope you enjoyed our visit to Bowron Lake Provincial Park. We had a great time here on paddling the lakes that we did. And you know the people of the caribou are known for being very resilient. And just after having been here for what two or three days I'm already starting to feel a lot more tough. Me not so much. It's a great area. Yeah and the Bowron Lake campground is really nice. We really enjoyed it. Yeah Gordon gave it a 10 out of 10 I think. So if you enjoyed this video please be sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel if you haven't done so already. And we will see you as we travel up north. See you next time. Amazing views. Oh my gosh this is so incredible.