Sorry.  No photos from this trip

Trip Coordinator: Donna M.

We met at 10 am at the SW end of Isle Lake, at Kokomoko Recreation Area, near Gainford. There were 5 of us, Donna M, Greg A, Sean M, Arleen D, and Susan O. None of us had paddled this end of the lake before, so we set off eastward along the south shore. We paddled by several cottages, some the original shacks and some larger mansions. Turning north at about Sunset Shores, we paddled to a large island that we were able to land at, where we stopped to stretch our legs and have a snack. We had paddled for about an hour at this point, going maybe 4 km.

The western skies were building up storm clouds, so we decided to paddle west again, and maybe explore to the west of our put in. We were heading for shore and a likely looking lunch spot (it wasn’t, turned out to be a swamp), when the wind picked up and we decided to head for our put in, which was pretty much due south of us at this point. Large waves began building down the lake, and the wind was from the NW, which made heading due south a bit of a challenge. We were up to it though! Sean and Greg were able to land just as the rain began, and Donna wasn’t too far behind them. It was a true prairie downpour!! Soaked right through we waited on shore while Arleen and Susan made their way to land, and just then it started to hail (1.0 cm hail). At least the thunder/lightning show appeared to be well south of us. We loaded our boats and headed for home, where it turned out it hadn’t rained at all!

In summary we paddled about 9 km, all but the last 1 km in beautiful sunshine on a hot summer day. That last 20 minutes though, wow. Lake Isle is relatively shallow and the weed growth was impressive. Signs were warning of blue-green algae in the lake in early July. The central parts of the lake were clearer and cooler, but the lake allows motor boats and they became more numerous as the day wore on. Landing spots along the lake were rare, as most clear areas are privately owned.