On a mid-June day I drove west toward Savona, then turned up the Six Mile Lake (Pat Lake) Road to go to the lakeshore.    This route was the old road from Kamloops to Savona going around the southern end of Six Mile Hill and down to the Tunkwa Lake Road.    When the Trans Canada Highway was improved, a route was cut through the Six Mile Bluffs and the old road was left for fishermen and ranchers.    There is still some broken pavement up to the lake.    The road ran along the north side of Pat Lake but it was later flooded because a dam was added to the lake.   In this photo, the kayak is on the old gravel road bed.

I paddled around the lake twice, once in each direction.   This is a popular lake in early spring, one of the first to become ice-free.    On this day, there were two fishermen on the quiet lake.   The west end was marshy and there were lots of blackbirds, ducks, and marsh wrens in the cattails and bullrushes.   I spotted two muskrats and an eagle.   Dragonflies were hunting and loons were fishing.

After kayaking the lake, I secured the boat and hiked around the lake.   Rocky grassland hills rise above the lake on the north side.   At the top of Six Mile Hill, we can go to a viewpoint over Kamloops Lake.

This is a favorite hike.    There is a faint trail around the shoreline, used by cows and wildlife mostly, but hikers can also go across the open hillsides. making their own route.

I have been doing this paddle and hike for many years and I hope to continue to make this an annual outing.

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