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Totally Golden: Long weekend camping

Long weekends in Golden have been an elusive creature for a long time. Finally, I had the glorious opportunity to spend one here.
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Long weekends in Golden have been an elusive creature for a long time. Finally, I had the glorious opportunity to spend one here.

We hastily planned out a last minute camping trip to Kinbasket Lake to an undisclosed destination. This is a funny thing about Golden, it often feels like nobody wants to give away their secrets. Now here I am, keeping one from you. Just to be clear, this is not my choice, but at the request of my camping partner.

I understand the importance of keeping certain things sacred in Golden. There are so many great public places around that many people know about, so those people can just go there. For the rest of us, we like to get off the beaten path, and we like that path a little less travelled.

My friend knows of this great little beach on Kinbasket. It is mostly rocky, with patches of beach-side fauna and sandy pits. We set ourselves up with one of these nice sandy pits right in the middle of camp to enjoy some barefoot time. At one point, while lying on a beach blanket, I noticed that I was covered in glitter.

It was the little particles in the sand catching the light, and it was pretty magical. Even after jumping in the lake multiple times, I kept finding patches of glim glam all over myself.

There are so many great opportunities at Kinbasket Lake. It all depends on what you want to get from the experience and what fun toys you have at your disposal. Even though we had kayaks, the first thing we did was hop on top of a large floating log, and paddle out with our hands. Occasionally we pretended to be old loggers, rolling it around underneath our feet (possibly unintentional, we are not professionals).

After eating a few good meals, we took the kayaks out onto the lake. This is the first time I have ever been in one of those sit-on-top boats, so it took a bit to get my balance back, but it wasn’t long.

We went up along the shore, checking out dead head stumps in the water along the way, and were in awe of how the landscapes changed. From our sandy lazy beach, they turned more heavily forested, then steep, then pebbly, rocky, muddy. There was a whole array of different types of places.

I am going to let you in on a secret. One of my favourite meals to bring camping are tacos. Seriously, they are the best. They are delicious and filling, and you just have to cook the meat, and eat them with your hands. There is very minimal cleanup, and everyone walks away from dinner feeling satiated and happy.

We expected a quiet beach even though it was the long weekend, and we came pretty close to achieving it. There were a handful of families around, and a few people who showed up later in the evening, but all in all it was fairly quiet. It was entertaining to see the children digging in the dirt, and we even got to see one pup sup (a dog on a stand up paddleboard). There was a crowd of people around the bend from us who got a little rowdy, and concerned us with a fire they had built, but the fire warden showed up and put an end to that. It was also nice to see the conservation officers doing the rounds later that night.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I would definitely return to that spot again. If you’re looking for a sweet spot on the lake, a little sense of adventure will find you one. There are endless opportunities along the lake for camping, and I have faith you will find a new favourite spot.

If you would like to suggest a “Totally Golden” thing to do, e-mail editor@thegoldenstar.net.