A staple within the CRD for families and summertime swimmers, Durrance Lake has more to offer than a place to catch some sun. As one of the few lakes within the Mount Work Regional Park, it is the most accessible with a parking lot close to the lake, and a wide gravelled trail along the Northside with washrooms, picnic benches, small beaches, and an accessible fishing dock where you can catch smallmouth bass and cutthroat trout.
Along the Southside, connecting to the gravel and creating a loop around the lake, is a little more of a rugged trail within the forest surrounding the lake. It offers more undulation but is accessible with a TrailRider, though, on occasion, it can be busy with mountain bikers coming fresh off the single tracks of Mount Work.
There are always opportunities to take a moment and look out onto the lake and enjoy the flora and fauna around you; it’s a great place to see trilliums in the springtime. Along with the joys of taking a cooling dip on a summer’s day, there always seems to be bald eagles around watching over you. An incredible experience I had, and will never forget at Durrance Lake was during a Power To Be program activity. While we were passing along information, we suddenly heard a thrashing from above followed by pieces of branches falling on us, and as we look up we see an eagle take off from a branch 20 feet above our heads. It was an incredibly humbling experience and instilled in me the need to slow down and look all around instead of just on the path ahead.
Get out there and go explore Durrance Lake!
