The Many Moods of Boya Lake

Boya Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in Northern British Columbia if not the province. It is located in Tā Ch’ilā (Boya Lake) Provincial Park just 50 miles/81 kms from the BC/Yukon border and about 74 miles/120 kms north of town of Dease Lake, and just 2 km off the Cassiar Hwy or Highway 37.

Aerial view of Boya Lake looking North

Aerial view of Boya Lake, BC looking southeast

Aerial view of Boya Lake looking southeast – Lots of interesting bays and islands to explore!

Boya is amazingly clear and displays incredible colours ranging from deep blue to vibrant aqua marine depending on the lighting conditions. The colours result from a combination of the crystal clear waters and a bottom composed of marl, a mixture of silt and shell fragments. Boya is also one of the few northern lakes that warm up enough for swimming during the summer. The other feature that makes Boya so intriguing is its very convoluted shoreline with many islands and beautiful bays. This makes it an interesting and fun lake to explore by canoe, kayak or standup paddle board. Boya was once named Puzzle Lake because of all the convolutions of its shoreline.

The water colours change with the water depth on Boya Lake

The water colours change with the water depth and lighting

Floating on crystal clear waters near a beaver lodge

Crystal clear waters reveal a beaver swimming by

There are 42 campsites including RV sites and tent sites, some on the lake and some in wooded areas. The sites all have picnic table and fire rings. Fresh water is available and there is a large picnic shelter, playground on the waterfront, and a boat ramp. Boating, paddling, fishing and other water related activities are the most popular activities at Boya, but there are a couple of short 1-½ km hikes.

Camping Perfection on Boya Lake

Canoeist taking advantage of a break in the thundershowers

One of the short hikes around Boya Lake

There is fishing for trout (lake char), whitefish and burbot. Being a useless fisherman, I usually can’t be bothered trying, but a friendly neighbour asked me to help him unload and set up his whitewater raft and so we went out together to try our luck.

There is a lot of beaver activity on the lake with many lodges and one large dam that cuts off a complete arm of the lake and has raised the water level in that arm a good 4’ above the rest of the lake. We were here two years ago, and the damn was half the height. Beavers are great engineers and their big claim to fame is their ability to modify their environment to suit their needs. You can certainly see that happening here as the shoreline is beginning to flood and trees begin to die off.

There was small fast moving stream at the end of the lake used to flow through a small peninsula and into the lake. The lake level is now high enough that it has flooded the stream channel far enough back that there is no longer any visible current flowing.

Tree cut down by beaver and beaver dam in Boya Lake

Beaver activity near the dam

The beaver dam under construction on Boya Lake, BC in 2014

The beaver dam under construction in 2014

The Boya Lake beaver dam in 2016

It is well worth spending some time at Boya Lake to make sure you catch the true beauty of this spectacular wonder. The absolute best is when the wind drops down, the sun comes out and the waters turn so calm they look like a mirror. But, as the weather changes and light alters, so do the moods of Boya Lake and they are all spectacular!!