Ucluelet July 22 and Grice Bay July 23 2025 - Harvey Pearson

Thank you to all who attended, for your help and cooperation.  In total 14 people attended Ucluelet and 12 people attended Grice bay.  The distances were 10.9 miles and 11.6 miles respectively.  For your reference, I have included the tracks from each trip shown below:

Regards, Harve

Grice Bay

Ucluelet
Harbour

Comox Lake July 15 2025

15 PGOSA paddlers in 15 boats met at the Comox Lake Boat Launch near Cumberland.

 

After the pre-trip meeting and warm up stretches we paddled in a counter clockwise direction and saw some cottages and homes along the shoreline. Just past the cottages we stopped at Perseverance Creek and a few paddlers went up the creek to have a look. The water was much higher this year, so they got quite a distance further up the creek than last year.

 

Continuing on, we navigated around the first of several deadhead logs found around the lake. Again, because the water was higher, the deadheads were less of an issue this year. At this point, two paddlers (rehabbing injuries) broke off and returned the way we came and the rest of the group carried on.

 

We paddled past the Fish and Game Club and thankfully there was very little rifle range action to disturb the quiet. Next, we passed the Comox Valley Water Treatment Plant at the start of the Puntledge River.  Comox Lake is the main source of the area's drinking water supply and on a calm morning like we had, the water was crystal clear.

 

From here, we had a good view of the Comox Glacier and then headed further along the shore past the Comox Lake Ecological Reserve.  Our lunch stop was on a small (much smaller than most years due to the high lake level) strip of sandy beach at Boston Bay. The trees further back from the beach offered some much-needed shade from the hot sun. The wind picked up after lunch as usual, and we headed across the lake into choppy waves and then along spectacular cliffs before returning to the boat launch.

 

After everyone loaded their kayaks, a few folks went into Cumberland to the brewery and some went for a dip in the lake.  The boat launch was very crowded on our return, so likely it would be better to paddle at Comox Lake in June or later in August in the future.
 

It was a beautiful day for a paddle, covering 13 kms in about 4 hours.

 

Trip Leaders Donna and Scott Roy