Oyama is a small town on the side of Highway 97 in British Columbia. It is named after a Japanese Field Marshall Oyama Iwao who was one of the founders of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1868 (Lake Country Museum).
We are lucky enough to have been invited by family to stay at a cabin on Oyama Lake, in Lake Country. The lake itself is rather interesting with all the islands and submerged lands skimming just under the surface. Boat motors get banged up pretty good during low water so make sure you are watching for trees and rocks under the surface! You will find throughout the lake, someone has dropped milk jugs and anchors on many of the submerged islands/trees/rocks to help you save your motors.
The lake has so many pockets of interesting scenery and waters to navigate that you could do a different paddle every day and not see the same thing twice if you didn’t want to! There’s a pocket of dead heads, narrows between islands, little inlets that wrap back around, all the islands to explore, and a marsh that carries you out to another lake!
We quite enjoy paddleboarding through the marsh to Streak Lake. It is a beautiful stretch of wetlands where you meet some of the friendliest (and curious) ducks and frogs. There’s several pathways in the grass where larger animals have come down to have a drink. It is quite shallow through here so go slow if you try to take your boat. Kayaks and Paddleboards frequent this with ease.
When you get to streak there is a little rock island that we sometimes beach our boats/boards/kayaks and have lunch at. If you fancy a swim, jump off the rock into the waters – its quite deep! It takes us a good three to four hours to get to Streak and back on our paddleboards so it is wonderful to take a lunch and a drink along.
During one of our trips, I tried my hand at some paddleboard yoga – with a dog on board. Wow what an effort that was! Riley did not make yoga a very easy experience but if you ever thought yoga isn’t a work out, try it on a paddleboard. Then try it on a paddleboard with a dog! You get a core workout like no other. I took my little waterproof speaker (JBL GO3) and put on my Dan Gibson music (I like his solitudes series for yoga and nature), and headed out for some Yoga!
While I attempted a second day of paddleboard yoga with Riley, we met some curious loons. The two adult loons came up to our board and Riley really wasn’t sure what to make of this. They were about 3-5 feet from us, so close that I could almost pet them! And let me tell you, when you get that close to these amazing birds they are HUGE! These loons were the size of Riley!
I must admit, I was very thankful during this encounter that Riley was in his life vest and tethered to my board. Loons, while beautiful, can be quite dangerous to dogs and other animals if they perceive a threat. They have been known to drown dogs on occasion so having Riley tethered to my board meant I stood a chance at intervening if they attempted to drag him off the board.
Riley did drop his front paws over the edge of the board but didn’t move otherwise. Not a sound from him to these loons, just calmly observing. I raised my paddle out of the water across my board and we sat and waited. The loons circled us a couple times, came quite close and seemed to understand we were not a threat to them. They swam along with us for a moment and then went back into their bay, reappearing a few moments later with their baby!
It is truly amazing how comfortable animals can be when you are on a paddleboard. They are curious, but without the noise of a motor, its like they don’t know if they should be afraid or not. Instead you get these amazing opportunities to get personal with nature. Truly, close and personal.
Riley still surprises me after 14 years. I had thought with these loons approaching that he was going to bark and whine and jump in after them. Instead he was very respectful of their space and allowed them extremely close. He stayed calm. He stayed still. And he just watched. No shaking, no hyper focus that usually tells me he is tense. He was just….calm.
I do believe animals communicate with each other across species without saying a thing. I think there was an agreement made between the loons and Riley this day on the water. I think this, because if these loons had not been comfortable, they never would have gone to collect their baby in front of us. Animals are protective of their young. Allowing Riley and I to see where they had hid their baby showed a level of trust that we were not going to harm them that I have never seen from an animal before.
Nature humbles us in the most interesting ways. It is part of why I love it so much. Part of why I started this blog is to share the experiences with others. Riley loves to get out and explore, but even he is a part of nature. He is an animal. The connection I feel with him is humbling because of the trust he places in me every day. He does things that terrify him because I say it is okay. He trusts me. To experience a level of that trust in the wild, that is why we hike. That is why we adventure. That is why we love it. Trust and respect the nature around you and you will experience some truly amazing encounters with the wild around you.
Do you want to try an Oyama adventure? Check out the Oyama Lake Eco Lodge for lodging and activities that you can do on the lake! There’s also a ZipLine park nearby for some added adventure fun!
ASR Adventures 