| The Babine
Lake region is filled with history, adventure and wildlife.
Located in a valley siding the beautiful Babine
Mountain Range, the lake is the longest and largest natural
lake in British Columbia, Canada spanning 177 kilometres long
(110 miles).
The lake is a popular destination in the summer
for swimming, hiking and bird watching. During the winter months
the lake freezes over and people are out snowmobiling and cross
country skiing the trails around the lake. The villages like Smithers
Landing, Granisle, Fort Babine, Topley Landing, Tachet and Pendleton
Bay are all located on the shores of Babine Lake.
From August to November the streams and creeks
connected to the lake are filled with salmon returning to spawn
like sockeye, chinook, pink, coho, steelhead and chum. A whooping
90% of the Skeena River fish population pass through the babine
counting fence on the river. For example in 1994 180 million sockeye
were counted. The lake is home also to some rainbow trout, whitefish
and char.
The shorelines and forested areas of the lake are
home to many trails like the Old Fort Mountain Trail leading to
a summit of 1574 metre (5165 feet) and there is a trail leading
up to a forestry lookout on Shoulder Mountain near Topley Landing.
The wildlife also roams the area especially the likes of moose,
eagles, wolves, elk and bear.
The lake is an attraction in itself drawing people
to the area, either, to vacation in one of the lake front accommodations
or tent out under the stars at any of the campgrounds. Some arrive
just for the day to launch a boat or canoe from any of the many
boat launches so to explore the many islands on the lake like
Snowshoe Island, Bear Island and Tachet Island.
The winter seasons, the lake freezes over and the
mountains get blanketed in snow creating a winter recreation destination
popular with the snowmobiling, snowshoeing and cross country skiing
crowds. Burns Lake, Shoulder Mountain and the backcountry roads
near Granisle and Smithers Landing in the Babine Lake region are
popular for snowmobiling.
Babine Lake is filled with adventures and history.
For example at one time there were 5 First Nation Villages lining
the shores of the Babine. Then how about taking history even further
back... like 40,000 years because that was how old the 12 foot
Mammoth was found eighty feet below the ground near Newman Peninsula
in 1971.
How to get to the Babine Lake:
Babine Lake is best accessed from Smithers, Telkwa, Burns Lake,
and Houston depending on where you want to explore on BC's longest
natural fresh water lake.
Smithers & Telkwa - Travel northeast on Babine Lake Road for
64 Km.
Burns Lake - Travel north on Babine Road for 45 Km.
Houston - Travel east of Houston on Hwy 16 toward Topley. Turn
onto Hwy 118 and continue down this road to Babine Lake for 51
Km.
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Babine
Lake
Smithers
