Kilpoola Lake

Kilpoola Lake

&

Blue Lake

I had a few hours in the evening after work, so it seemed like a good idea to check out Kilpoola Lake west of Osoyoos. Thirty nine years ago I did some claim work up behind the lake, so I wondered if the old windmill was still standing and if there was still and aeration project there to protect the fish from winter kill. In any event, my discussions with the people at the last National Park for the South Okanagan Study, indicated that if the National Park is established no attempt would be made to aerate or stock lakes in the park. I do have mixed feelings about that, where do we draw the line in our influence on nature. At the moment this area is part of the Okanagan Grasslands Protected Areas, which means it still can be stocked..

Heading west from Osoyoos, I turned left on Richter Pass Road. At 1.6 kilometres I turned left and shortly the pavement ended and I was on the old dirt road I remembered. There were still a couple of ponds at the 3.9 kilometre and 4.3 kilometre marks which often hold a few ducks. Finally at 5.2 kilometres I came to Blue Lake, or rather part of Blue Lake as the low water had split it in two.

This is a pretty little lake and the mineral content makes it unsuitable for fish. I remember having to walk out from behind Kilpoola Lake twice in one day with vehicle problems and believe me the water doesn’t taste as good as it looks, in fact it is terrible.

At 6.8 kilometres, I turned left and very soon saw Kilpoola Lake. The windmill was gone and so was the small dock I seemed to recall. I did spot a couple of vehicles parked near a small channel in the weeds to the centre of the lake. The lake was much lower than it was those decades ago, not too surprising as this is desert country. The shoreline was not steep, but rather gentle and soon gave way to grassland and sagebrush. Further away the green and white poplar trees look cool in the warm afternoon sun.

Launching the canoe was a bit tricky with the breeze coming through the saddle from south of the border. I really had to struggle to keep from hanging up in the weeds as the sides of the canoe caught the wind like sails. The people in the float tubes and pontoon boats were having much less trouble maneuvering than I was having.

The canoe scudded before the wind and I kept on ending up on the weed beds. Casting from here was tricky, but I dug out my spinning outfit and my trusty old thread bare fly. Alas, I guess its time to retire it as it let me down again.

Talking with a few of the regulars, who thankfully for my ego were not having any luck at the moment, I learned a bit more about the lake. Since the lake is regularly stocked and also fairly often winter killed, all the fish at the moment are supposed to be around one and a half kilograms. Not a bad fish in anyone’s book. Two flies were recommended, the green shrimp and the dragonfly nymph.

After an hour and a half I reluctantly left the peace and quiet and headed back to town. Landing the canoe again was tricky, but I managed to get to dry land without having to step into the rather smelly sludge along the shore. Driving out I notices a couple of outdoor toilets well back from the lake. I can only hope they are in good condition.

Canyon Lake

CANYON LAKE

Canyon Lake is a little lake nestled in behind Little White Mountain. I had been there years go, but never to fish. It could be reached from the Myra Forest Service Road or via the Weyerhaeuser Road 201. This was the route today, up from Okanagan Falls until nearly the 57 kilometre mark there I turned left on the Greyback Forest Service Road. After the 59 kilometre sign Canyon Lake Forest Service Road branched to the right. I would not recommend taking a tent trailer or motor home down this decommissioned road. The 7.7 kilometres is fairly rough and I angled across the ditches to prevent dragging the bottom or trailer hitch. The trip was made interesting by sighting deer and rabbits along the road. At the lake there is a short and reasonably steep access road to the lake. It was fairly rough and wet, so I parked well back and went investigate further.

A brief walk to the outlet creek of Canyon Lake quickly confirmed my belief that this little out of the way lake should produce some fast fishing action. I could see many small fish darting about in the deep channel. A quick trip to the jeep for the fly rod and I soon knew they were hungry. The fly dropped into the water brought a flurry of strikes. Now to try the lake itself to see what kind of fish it held.

Dropping the canoe into the water I carefully manoeuvred it through the narrow cannel to open water. An osprey flying overhead and a loon on the water were an indication of a healthy fish population. Heading into a slight breeze, I paddled to the other end of the lake checking it out and planning of fishing while drifting back to the creek. As I approached the swampy head of the lake a mule deer doe was up to its chest in water browsing and cooling down. Finally it sensed me and bound away.

The solar tables in the GPS now predicted two hours of good fishing activity, this was one time they seemed to be right on. Several times I drifted the length of this 18 hectare lake getting strike after strike on the tiny fly with a peacock feather body. In two hours I actually landed and released about 50 fish and kept 5 about 25 cm. long. Some fish will go considerably bigger, but most I caught were between 15 to 20 cm. in length.
It is a fairly shallow lake on the whole and this combined with the elevation likely keep the fish fairly small. If this trip was any indication it’s a great lake to introduce your youngster to the sport of fishing. I’d recommend a canoe of boat though, as there are not a great many of spots where it can be easily fished from shore.

There is a bit of change in the water level but does not appear to have the drastic draw down of many of the high mountain lakes that are dammed for domestic water or irrigation. The shore line is not cluttered with fallen trees, but one side has a lot of overhanging brush where the activity seemed particularly good.

Anchoring just casting distance from the bushy shore is a good idea. When fishing with more than one person in a boat or canoe, I recommend using two anchors to keep the craft from spinning and making it difficult to cast without getting in another persons way.

During the fall, leave the kids fishing while you seek out the wily bucks nearby. This is definitely one lake to keep in mind.

Golden Mile Hiking

Golden Mile Hiking Trail

The Golden Mile Hiking Trail should be exceptionally colourful in April and May. Head south of Oliver on Highway 97 and turn right at the Tinhorn Creek Winery sign. The Tinhorn Creek Winery is the Trailhead for this hike. It would be a courtesy for you to check in with the wine shop before you head out. Then on the return it’s always a good idea to slake your thirst a bit by doing a wee bit of tasting. I ended up bringing home a nice pinot noir. (Note there is now a restaurant for further relaxation.)

Head up the parking lot, hang a right and then a left to the top of the vineyards. Trail signs mark the way. At the top of the vineyard head left again and soon you will see the directions signs to head up hill through the gates. The first low gate is a snake gate and can easily be stepped over. Distance covered to this stage 774 metres.

Soon you go through a deer fence; make sure to latch it once you are through. Once through the fence the trail goes across the side hill at an easy grade. Bunch grass and ponderosa pine and some sumac bushes are the prime vegetation. As you climb you get increasingly good views of the Valley south to Osoyoos Lake and to the north of Oliver and east to Mount Baldy.

There were several trails branching off along the side hill, but I kept to the upper one, passing several “Golden Mile 10k Trail” signs. Now on the bench I arrived at another marker on an old road (1.1 km from the start according to my GPS). A short 140 metre jaunt to the south brought me to the old Golden Mile Stamp Mill site in the Tinhorn Creek draw. There is a lot of history represented by these rockwork foundations.

There were several trails I could have explored, but I back tracked to the bench land and headed north, enjoying the easy going and open scenery. It was just about 2 km before I spotted a trail sign on this old road. From the valley floor one would not realize there is such open and level land up here. Once in a while it passed through trees, but mostly wide-open grass and sage benches and hillsides. Down below the Fairview Golf Course can be seen.

At this point the road began to climb a bit with a few small side roads: keep to the main track. 960 metres from that point I came to a range fence. I’m not sure if it is private land or grazing lease. In any case, make sure leave the gate as you find it. In the future, I would turn back here as I found this the most enjoyable part of the hike.

Once through the gate it was 580 metres straight ahead ignoring side roads until I reached the Fairview draw and the Fairview Road. From this point it was about 1 km to the junction of the Fairview Road and the Old Golf Course Road. This skirts the original town site as it heads south toward the golf course and down to road 7. Follow road 7 south until you reach the Tinhorn Winery Road and then back up to the parking lot. Following this route the last section is uphill when you may be a little weary, which is why my next time I would stick to the upper section.

Still, whichever way you do this hike take a few moments to sample some of the fare at the Tinhorn Winery Tasting Room. Happy hiking and sipping! For British Columbia residents don't forget to renew your fishing and hunting licences.

Derenz Lake

Derenzy Lake

Today was the day I determined to make it into Derenzy Lake. After morning chores, I headed up the Carmi-Beaverdell Road past the Ellis Reservoir and onto the Weyerhaeuser 201 Forest Service Road. Turning south (left) I went past the 29 kilometre sign and before reaching the 28 kilometre sign ,turned west onto the Derenzy Forest Service road.

The first branch to the left at 0.7 km leads to the South Ellis Reservoir and is gated well back from the dam and lake. The Fish Wizard site shows rainbow trout present, but no stocking records. One day I will check out this body of water to see if I can reel in a rainbow trout. Soon after this junction the road is closed to hunting with a vehicle. There are a lot of nice deer in here, but you have to walk in and quarter the animal to bring it out. I saw ten large deer this day
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Keeping to the right for another 4.6 kilometres I came to the Derenzy 200 Road. This only brought me to a little over 3 kilometres from the lake. I knew the other road got me closer, so headed back to the right on the main Derenzy Forest Service Road and after another 0.9 km I took the left hand fork for 4 more kilometres, and then parked and headed off up the hill with the Lake co-ordinates on my GPS. (N49-24.635’ W119-29.032’)

Working my way through the brush, I was happy to be wearing jeans instead of my customary shorts. It would have been a good idea to wear a jeans shirt as well for by the time I got back to the vehicle, my arms were fairly well scratch up. Finally, after an hour of fighting bush and windfalls, I came across a trail that showed recent clearing with a chain saw.

Not all the windfalls were cleared, however, and part of the trail is a small creek in the spring. Several times I temporarily lost the trail but finally from a ridge I could see the lake. I worked my way down the broken rocks to the shore, rewarded myself with a good long drink of water and set up the rod.

My float and fly no sooner hit the water when I could see a lunker rise from the depths and smash into the float, then again rising to take the fly. Unfortunately, I could not set the hook. Half an hour later I had hooked onto six more decent sized fish and landed one that measured 13 inches nose to tail.

The lake is regularly stocked with 500 rainbow trout fry and it appears they survive very well and grow to a good size. The lake itself is quite deep and quite expansive, well worth an early start and a full days’ fishing. The shoreline of the section I fished was broken rock and at the end there was some brush and a lot of floating logs. I understand there is also a small cabin/shelter somewhere along the shore. I’m thinking this would be an excellent lake to fish from a belly boat.

I managed to find a trail at the end of the lake and followed it back down, at times making detours as windfalls still lay across the trail. Eventually I joined the trail I went up noticing that it split. Perhaps the other one might have led to near the cabin. The tail down pwas 1.7 kilometres and came out on the road about 50 metres further along from where I had parked. Not easy to see if you do not know it is there.

My ideal career for when I eventually retire will be to upgrade trails into lakes like this. The trail here would also include a scenic route past my first view of the lake.