Island Lake lies in the Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area and can be reached by hiking for about 800m on and off trail to the lakeshore.    Any effort to paddle the lake will require carrying a boat over the grassland hills.       It has probably never had a boat on it.   On an early May morning, I put my folding kayak on my back and hiked in to the lake.

I assembled the kayak on the grass, and launched it, paddling about 1.2 km around the shoreline.

There were a few ducks on the lake, likely surprised to encounter a boat on a grasslands pond.

After paddling I packed the boat into the bag/backpack and then hiked back out, happy to have had a new experience in the Lac du Bois Grasslands.

A few of the moments of the hike and the paddle are captured in this video:

More backpack-to-local-lakes are planned for this year.