OWIKENO LAKE

Owikeno Lake is part of the meandering fjord and its contributing watersheds that defines the boundaries of Wuikinuxv Nation.

This is a classic fjord lake – long, narrow, surrounded by steep-sided mountains. Fjords are formed when glaciers carve a narrow path between the mountains. The contour lines on a topographic map are close together, indicating the steepness of the inclines.

Owikeno Lake is approximately 70 km long. It’s about 2 km wide at the widest point. Three sets of narrows divide the length into four basins. The basins are fed by four main rivers – the Tzeo, Sheemahant, Inziana, and Machmell.

The rivers drain from the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains. I am presuming that the glacier we see at the first narrow is part of that icefield. That is the point at which the Machmell River enters Owikeno Lake.

Fjord lakes are often filled with the rubble left behind when the glaciers melted back. The pebbles, some very large, on this beach are typical of the rounded cobbles that were weathered into smooth shapes by the glacier’s back and forth movement.

Glaciers are remarkably powerful. They scour the rocks and dirt from the mountains, leaving crevices and near vertical cliffs, which now add shape and contours to the terrain.

From where we were standing we could see the ravines that house some smaller rivers, but not the rivers themselves. Looking west towards the lake outlet into the Wannock River, the Medowse Creek. flows through ravine we can see.

Looking east, I suspect the indents that we can see on the south side of the lake (to the right in the picture) are the entrances of Dallery Creek, and possibly Loquaist Creek.

The larger in-gap, just at the bend on the north side might be the outlet of Amback Creek. Without full reckoning, on site with a topographic map, the specifics remain speculation at this time.

Decades ago major logging operations happened up at the top of Owikeno Lake. The logs were floated down the lake and off loaded here because the Wannock River has unpredictable currents and irregular depth. The narrow beaches are littered with huge logs, remnants of the logging industry.

For us, Owikeno Lake is our casual recreation area. We regularly take the extremely energetic dog, Granville,

and OrangePekoe the cat for a romp on the beach. Well, maybe OrangePekoe doesn’t romp; she quietly explores as much as possible stretching her leash to its limits.

While it is always a delightful outing, being a geographer and a teacher, plus a surveyor and a woodworker, we look at the landscape with more than casual eyes, adding another dimension to our day-trips here.

Despite our slight tendency to make it a bit of a busman’s holiday, we mainly come up to Owikeno Lake to enjoy the beauty of this glacial lake, and the ever changing atmosphere of the area.