Canoeing at Greenbush Lake, BC

One of the amazing things about British Columbia is that you can head out to backcountry lakes on long weekends and have epic family adventures without seeing another soul. Our recent trip to Greenbush lake was an awesome example of this.

Greenbush Lake Protected Area lies east of Vernon and about an hour north of Cherryville. You have to pass by the very popular “Sugar Lake” for about an hour until you come to a road on the right noted by an overgrown, painted sign. The road is lined with Thimbleberry bushes and takes you to a couple forest service campsites and a boat launch.

When we arrived, we heard a pickup truck pulling away, which meant we would have the entire day to ourselves for fishing, paddling and exploring.

Greenbush lake itself was amazing. It’s a mix of azure blue and turquoise from the run-off of the nearby peaks that slope steeply down to the water. The are loons on the water and, as we would soon discover, a beaver dam and lodge near the inlet of the lake.

After loading up the four kids, we set across the lake paddling, dragging our lines behind us as we went. Our target was a small delta at the inlet of the lake that I had seen from satellite images.

It turned out to be an excellent spot for lunch and exploration. Mrs. Adventure cooked up some sausages and pulled out a fine spread fit for a king and we tucked in. Fortunately, there were no tyrants in attendance.

Having fed up, we started our adventure looking for footprints, stones, and wildlife.  We found evidence of a branch that a beaver had chewed, so headed up the creek looking for more signs.

After a short jaunt across a log-pile and through the ice-cold creek, we found a hidden dam that the beavers had been working on. We didn’t want to disturb them in their winter preparations, so we headed back to the canoe for some fishing.

We hadn’t had any success up until this point, so it was time for a quick lesson in “matching the hatch”. Matching the hatch is when you observe what’s currently hatching in the lake. It can be done by watching what’s flying around, checking the water, or opening a fish to find out what it has been eating.

My daughter looked through all the flies I had with me, and chose the one that looked like something she had seen flying around. The results were immediate. From the first cast, we had a fish. And that wasn’t the only one. As we paddled back across the lake, she hooked several more, of which we kept one.

After we unloaded the kids, they had a quick lesson in fish anatomy as we cleaned the fish. From there my daughter and I headed out into the lake to dispose of the entrails and practice our strokes on the water.

After packing up we drove the 2 and a half hours home, happy to add a new “secret spot” to our outdoor adventure list. Check out the video of our adventure below.