Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Not your after-work excursion


Swimming in Elfin Lake
Watercolour and oil pastel
©2019 Charlene Brown

Although the Elfin Lakes are not far from Vancouver, getting there is pretty much an all-day undertaking. First there is a 16 km drive off Highway 99 at Squamish, up through Quest University on Mamquam road and Garibaldi Park road to the trailhead. The 11 km climb is not steep, with just a 600 metre elevation gain, but it is a climb.
And swimming in the first lake is not the casual affair this painting and the many pictures posted on the internet would have you believe it is either. You may notice no swimmers are ever very far from the entry point   because the lakes are sometimes not ice-free until July! And they never really feel ice-free. Apparently. I wouldn’t know.