Our Lakes

KOOTENAY RIVER SYSTEM	MACKENZIE RIVER SYSTEM
Kootenay Lake	Great Slave Lake
OUR LAKES in the SUMMER
In the summertime, we can swim in the lake. The cool refreshing water simulates your body when you dive into the gleaming night-blue water. There are a number of beaches where you can relax and suntan, or you can follow mysterious trails that lead you to the lake, for days filled with exciting events. It's a great place to take a vacation with your family and friends.	Great Slave Lake is like paradise for boaters. Thousands of people from the eight communities on its shores use the lake for fishing, boating, camping, hunting, birding, and picnicking. Both people and birds have only a few months to use the open water.
	Great Slave Lake is important to birds. Thousands of gulls, terns, ducks, shorebirds and songbirds of over 30 species nest on its islands, in its marshes and along its shorelines. Many more species stop here during migration.
Seeing Kootenay Lake from the view of a boats is a breathtaking experience. There are a variety of boats on our lake, including jet boats, sailboats, motorboats, canoes and kayaks. Several ferries cross the lake about halfway, so that people can travel to Nelson and beyond.	The great 18th century adventurer, Samuel Hearne, explored and wrote about this area. You can read his journals by visiting this website: Arctic Dawn: The Journeys of Samuel Hearne.
	We have many houseboats, using oil drums as floats, on the lake. To get to the houseboats, we use snowmobiles in the winter and dinghies in the summer.
OUR LAKES in the WINTER
Kootenay Lake only freezes in the most shallow, protected areas, like close to shore or within harbours.	In the winter, the ice can get to be about 5 -6 feet thick on the lake. The ice needs to be at least 3 feet thick before the ice roads can be built.
The lake roads can be very dangerous in the winter because of all the curves and because black ice can form quickly. You can find out about road and weather reports at these websites: BC ROAD REPORTS THE WEATHER OFFICE	Recently a warning was issued that the shut down of the Mackenzie ice road is going to happen soon so unless you travel by plane we are now going to be isolated for awhile, until they get the ferry up and running. All the stores stock up as much as they can; you see big trailer trucks along the side of the shopping malls! If you want to check it's at http://www.gov.nt.ca/ and go to roads and ferry and they can also check for all the other ferry crossings and iceroads throughout the territories
FERRIES

We can use a ferry to cross from one side to the other, in an area where the lake is quite narrow. The drive up the east side lake is very beautiful and crossing to the west side and then driving to Nelson or farther north up the lake is wonderful. Our ferry does not have to close in the winter, but fewer ferries run because there are less tourists.	To get to Yellowknife you need to cross the Mackenzie River twice. During the winter months, once ice becomes too thick for the ferry to operate, it doesn't run any more, and you would need to cross the river on an ice bridge. When spring break-up occurs, there may be several weeks when crossing the river is not possible because the ice bridge is melting and unsafe , but the ice is still too thick for the ferry to run.

Our newest ferry was built in 2000 and is called the Osprey because we have so many ospreys in this area. The osprey even built nests on the ferry dock pilings and sometimes we can look right into the nests when we go past them.	View from the Mackenzie River ferry
Remember to double-click on the photographs to see a larger image.
HOT SPRINGS
The only hot spring inn our area is Ainsworth Hot Springs, about 90 minutes drive and a ferry ride from where I live. I like to sit in the hot water and let all my thoughts escape, while enjoying the beautiful Kootenay scenery. Ainsworth has a horseshoe shaped care, where I can relax and let the hot steam press against my face, while talking with family and friends. Also, when I need to cool off, there is a very cold, miniature pool, which is filled by a glistening, glacial waterfall.

10/05/03

Comparing Our Lakes