Chilcotin Lakes August 2012

[lrp374]

After completing the Delica meet in Williams Lake I ventured west for the rest of my 7 days in the Chilcotin. I took Hwy 20 west to Lee's Corner ( Hanceville ) and left the pavement for the next 400 km on forestry roads, dirt roads and various cow paths. Most of the 'roads' were considered forestry roads and were therefore a 'classified' road as far as my Backroads GPS routing was concerned. The term 'classified' road has no relation to standard or possible upkeep. Luckily for me the roads were all dry as you could tell several dips would be quit deep if full of water and the creeks you cross could be a few feet deep instead of a few inches.

I have attached a pdf of the interesting portion as well as some of the scenery one could expect. I was very fortunate that all days were sunny and warm and I had only light winds when out fishing. These are very big lakes and very dangerous in a small boat like mine if the wind gets up. I ended up crossing Tsuniah late in the afternoon with small whitecaps and that was plenty of adventure for me.

Chilcotin trip.pdf

Route in Pink,purple,bluegreen etc.

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The first 2 nights were spent @ Chaunigan lake. Chaunigan is almost 5000 feet high so the days are warm but the mornings were only 5 degrees. The calm water, cool nights and Mt. Tatlo made for great scenery. The fishing was okay but no big ones anymore.

Arrival on the only cloudy day

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Early morning fog

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Lodge float plane

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Departure morning

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The next travel day went to Tsyl?os Park ( Nu Chugh Beniz Campground ) on Chilko lake then on a 'classified ' road to Tsuniah Lake. I was glad to GPS showed the route as the road looked like an overgrown cow path @ the beginning and only the routing and other tracks on the road encouraged us to continue. This was a great drive through various types of forests, some open areas, along a runway near the Tsuniah Lake Lodge and even crossed a couple streams.

Entrance to the Park

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Chilko Lake

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[lrp374]

Continuing on------

Tsuniah Lake Rec site is one of many in the interior that have been decimated by the pine beetle. The only other camper @ this site had been coming for years and was devastated with what was left of the once beautiful site. ( He however had the 1 wooded site that only lost a couple of trees.) Tsuniah did have fish to catch, a nice island and great views and the lower elevation provided warmer mornings.

Tsuniah Lake boat launch

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Nicely forested campsite after the Pine beetle

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My only fish in Tsuniah

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More great scenery

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The next travel day went north to Henry's crossing over the Chilko river on to Choelquoit Lake, south from Cochin Lake to Tatlayoko Lake then back up the hill ( 8-14 % grade) to Horn for the last couple days. These were pretty good roads and speeds in excess of 80 km were possible several times. I did note on one corner near Tatlayoko black skid makes on the dirt from someone who failed to notice the slow to 60 km sign. Choelquoit Lake was a very pretty lake that was supposed to have a Rec site. It has nice signs but after a few kms of roads that appeared to go nowhere I quit looking.

Pretty lake weird access

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[lrp374]

The last installment. There must be a better way.

The Tatlayoko site however, was very nice and had good access from the boat launch to a pebble beach. The entire lake was very calm when I was there but I was told by several people that by 4:00 you can expect lots of wind, waves and wind surfers. I decided not to stay.

Boat launch and pebble beach

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North end of the lake

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Typical camp site

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View to the South

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I continued to Horn lake which was smaller and also had a very nice Rec site where each of the 14 sites had direct access to the lake. Another crystal clear lake with large mountains to the south and small hills to the north. Fishing left a little to be desired but with the lake @ 68 F I guess it was about what I expected.

Lakeside camp @ Horn

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South end of Horn Lake

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20 km of gravel and I was back on Hwy 20 heading back to Williams Lake. What a great place to spend a few summer days! I'm already starting to plan a week for next year.

[jessef]

brings back some good memories

I was 9 when I first went up there with my dad on a staff trip down the chilcotin through lava canyon.

It took another 4 seasons before we ventured out and above the rivers into the mountains.

Thanks for the pics and memories it brought back.

[konadog]

Nice - I love that country. Back in my archaeology days I did a number of projects around there. Chilco Lake is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.