PROBUS Paddlers' Expotition to McIvor Lake October 1st

Excitement was in the air on October 1st as a group of PROBUS Paddlers set out on an 'expotition', in the spirit of a jocular Winnie-the-Pooh-style adventure, to McIvor Lake. A couple of weeks ago Rosemary, Brenda, and I scouted out this lake which is about ten minutes out of Campbell River, just off the road to Gold River. Twelve kayakers (which is our Covid maximum) signed up for this trip. It really felt like a true 'expotition', as due to our Covid practices it took a convoy of nine cars to get all twelve of us to the lake. Most of us stopped at “Daves' Bakery” - not a typo; two Daves started the bakery, hence Daves’ - at Willow Point to pick up yummy sandwiches for our lake-side picnic.


When we were all off-loaded and ready to set out, I split the large group into two Covid-sized groups. We had the more aggressive 'Sharks' led by Brian and including Teresa, Bruce, Jim, and Ross....They set off first in a froth of churning paddles. My group, which I thought of as the ‘Turtles', included Rosemary, Diane, Brenda, and the Ratel family (Justine, Nick, and Tricia) and followed along at a more leisurely pace.


We managed to meet up part way around the lake for a photo session. Although this was the usual exercise of 'cat-herding', Teresa managed to get some very nice photos before the 'Sharks' took off for an extra bit of exploring. The rest of us continued on with our circumnavigation of the lake. After about 1.5 hours we pulled our boats out back at the launch site and made short work of our lunches. All agreed that McIvor Lake was a very pretty place to spend a nice Autumn day.


Cheers, Craig