Paddling Echo Lake in B.C.

On Monday, June 26, 2017, we found Echo Lake to take a day's paddle.  It is a small mountain lake in Echo Lake Provincial Park, about an hour's drive east of Vernon, B.C., where our rig was camped with Tony and Dee Dee.  It came highly recommended by the young woman who staffed the Vernon tourist information center. The lakeshore is not developed except for a small campground, Echo Lake Resort, and one or two grandfathered private properties.  Otherwise, it is pristine.

In the words of a sign posted at the lake:

As you stand here at theedge of the shoreline, listen closely for a melancholy sound echoing across the water - look out on the lake, and you might see the Common Loon to whom these haunting calls belong.  In addition to its unique song, the Common Loon is easily identified by its distinctive black head, red eyes, white neckban, and the checkered white plumage on its back.  Each spring and autumn, Common Loons migrate to and from this region, remaining throughout the summer months to nest and breed.  Soon after the chicks are hatched, a parent will carry multiple young on its back at once.  If you look away for a moment, don't be surprised if the loon disappears from view for minutes at a time and resurfaces many meters away.

The lake was still enough to mirror the surrounding hills as we paddled:

The far shoreline of the lake was near enough for us to see clearly as we started to explore it:

It wasn't long before we found one of those loons whose echoing calls inspired the lake's name:

One of the lakeshore owners had built a raft to resemble a boat.  Kathy gave it the once-over:

Occasionally, we encountered fallen trees that were completely submerged; their underwater branches, decked in moss, lichen and algae, appeared to be fully dressed in their original needles:

Some willows bent entirely to the lake surface:

Loons weren't the only inhabitants of the lake; two or three families of ducks made their home here:

We stopped for our lunch at the far end of the lake, and found these words carved into the picnic table.  We thought they were pretty appropriate:

Turning back toward where we started, we saw the shoreline silhouetted in the afternoon sun:

Someone rigged a rope to a tree to jump into the water, and Kathy was tempted to try it out:

Suddenly, we heard a familiar cry, looked up, and saw an eagle swooping across the lake to land on a perch in a dead tree.  He seemed to be interested in the duck families - or, at any rate, the duck families raised the alarm about him and continued to harass him vocally until he finally left his perch.

Satisfied with a bucolic paddle, on our way back to the Vernon area, we stopped by Shuswap Falls, a spot on the Shuswap River, which empties local Mabel Lake, to experience the immense roar of the water spilling over the hydroelectric dam built there for local power:

Canadians in British Columbia depend heavily on their rivers for electric power, and it is clear that great effort is expended to balance these needs with preserving the environment, providing recreation opportunities, preserving sites and lands sacred to First Nations peoples.  It seems to us that Canadians in British Columbia are, by and large, finding relatively practical and justifiable balances.  We admire their practical efforts at fighting common-sense solutions to these issues.