A day on Little Atlin Lake
On Sunday morning (July 10th), Cathy got a call from our friend Adam, asking if I would like to join him and his son Cecil, who just turned 3, on their boat for a day on Tagish Lake. Cathy replied that I wasn’t doing very well so no, but I was somehow able to intercede and the conversation soon turned to a more positive direction.
At 10:00 we launched the boat at a remote boat launch in Tagish that I didn’t know existed.
The weather forecast was good, but the wind was blowing much stronger than expected, and though the photos don’t look like it, the water was uncomfortably rough.
We had a brief discussion about it and agreed that this was not the day we had in mind. Adam suggested we go to sheltered Little Atlin Lake. I knew nothing about the lake so agreed. By 10:30 we were headed back to the boat launch.
It took an hour to get back out on the water, but Little Atlin was what we were looking for – a nice peaceful day of trolling and exploring.
This map shows both Little Atlin Lake and the part of Tagish Lake we were on, at the lower left. For an interactive version of the map, click here.
Looking back at the boat launch.
Getting out into the lake was a bit of a challenge, as it’s very shallow for a very long way.
The skies at Tagish Lake led me to believe the weather could turn, and though that was still the case at Little Atlin, the main body of the lake is only about 14 km long so we could quickly retreat, unlike at Tagish, which is a vast network with hundreds of miles of shore.
Within 20 minutes of dropping the fishing lines I heard “grab the net!” and Adam soon had a beautiful Northern pike landed. 🙂
It proved to be 74 cm long, and was soon in a bucket of water.
Back at it 🙂
White Mountain is a popular hiking location but for some reason I haven’t done it yet.
I used to fish for Arctic greyling when I lived in Carcross but other than that I’ve never been into it. Cecil, though, is a big fan of the sport! 🙂
An electronic look at the lake.
Cecil needed to have a nap and tried on the boat but it wasn’t working, so just after 1:00 we looked for a place to land. Almost all of the lake is marshy, but I spotted what appeared to be a rocky knoll (just to the left of the boat)…
…so we powered over towards it.
Rosie would probably like a romp on shore, too.
It turned out to be perfect, with a shallow bay for the boat…
…great limestone rocks to bask on and swim from, and a spot in the forest for Cecil’s napping-tent.
The rock dropped off to water about 5 feet deep. Though chilly, it was a good place to escape the abundant horse-flies.
I’m losing my tolerance for cold, but Adam spent a lot of time in the water.
A large area of the limestone is pocked with holes up to about an inch and a half wide and 3 inches deep. I don’t recall seeing such a thing before and have no explanation for them.
Granite (seen in this photo) and Rosie had a ball here, alternating between exploring and relaxing.
I did quite a bit of plant photography between dips in the water, newly energized by an app called Picture This so I know what the plants are. Or what they probably are, I suppose. It costs $40 a year, so I also spent some time with iNaturalist which is free, but I find Picture This easier to use.
This Fringed Willow-herb I spotted is about an inch high total, with a blossom less than 1/8 of an inch across. I only saw the one.
Goldenrod.
Red osier dogwood with a cool-looking bug on it.
A white spruce right on the edge of the rock had an abundant load of cones.
When Rosie had enough exploring, she went to the boat for a nap. Granite can’t get on it easily so stayed with us.
I walked by the boat on one of my wanders, and saw a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly near it, in distress 🙁
I lifted him out and put him on the deck of the boat to dry out, but then realized it was too hot so moved him to a rope, and that was successful – he soon flew away 🙂
Back on the main rock, I noticed that a few small areas of the limestone looked rather like they’d been sprayed with concrete.
Cathy and Adam’s partner were expecting us for dinner, so rather reluctantly, we packed up and headed back to the boat launch just after 4:00. This photo looks back to our rock.
The limestone cliffs above the lake are very complex and there are a few caves that look liike they might go in some distance.
A communications tower on a shoulder of White Mountain.
Adam and Cecil trolled for a while on the way back, but had no luck (though there were some nibbles), so we didn’t pull the boat out of the water until 5:30.
I was exhausted, and within minutes of getting in the truck away from the bugs, I was asleep.
I woke up as we pulled into my driveway. Cathy pulls together amazing meals on the spur of the moment, and another of those feasts was the perfect way to end a particularly wonderful day.
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What a wonderful day had by all. Beautiful pictures, especially Cecil. 💕💕
Thanks, MJ. It was 🙂