Day Trip: Cat Lake, Squamish BC

With the purchase of Robyn’s new 2008 Toyota Yaris we decided that we would take a little road trip to take a dip in one of the many lakes here in the southwest of British Columbia. Robyn mentioned that there was a lake she wanted to try out along the way to Whistler just a bit past Squamish, and no it’s not Murrin Lake which is right next to the highway either.

When we got to the parking lot of Petgill Lake (north of Squamish, past Brackendale) a police officer was telling people that the parking lot was full and we would have to turn around and park about 1Km down the highway if we wanted to get in. He was actually having cars towed from the parking lot too. Imagine being at the lake for a couple hours returning to the parking lot only to find your car is missing? Your first thought would probably be that someone stole it right? That would suck.

So we turned around and drove only to find that the walk back to the lake would have taken too long and with the sun being at its highest it would have not made for a fun walk. We noticed that there was a sign pointing to another regional park and lake called Cat Lake so we decided to take that gravel road to see if we could find it.

Traveling the gravel road in Robyn’s new Yaris went fairly well. The gravel road itself is a forest service road with many pot holes and driving went slow to ensure we didn’t bottom out her car or do any crazy damage since it is only 3 days old. We managed to pass a few vehicles that were coming back but being a fairly narrow road with a shear drop on our side made it a bit daunting.

10 to 15 minutes of driving on the gravel forest service road we eventually got to the destination; Cat Lake. The parking lot was full with about 20-25 vehicles but we manage to snag a spot as another car was leaving.

Once at the parking lot you only have a 5 minute walk down a trail to the lake. The lake itself is decent size and was fairly busy. Not much in the way of sandy beaches but there are the occasional dock in which you can swim off of.

Some people at one side of the lake were riding their bikes down a path and up over a ramp into the water.

There were no motorized water craft as there is no way of getting such a vessel onto the lake, nor is it really big enough for one. People were floating on large inflatable islands, inflatable water loungers, using pool noodles or just (like me) swimming with the floating drift wood.

Robyn and I only stayed long enough for a dunk in the warm water and swam around in our little private section of the lake. It was a fun way of cooling off in the heat of the summer even if the drive there was a bit daunting.

If you are looking for a more remote lake without much traffic I would recommend taking the Cat Lake route past Squamish on the way to Whistler. If you do not have a truck, just take the forest service road a bit slower and you will have no trouble getting to the parking lot. The lake was worth the journey.