Gaspereau Lake: ski now, paddle later

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David Dermott

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Feb 11, 2010, 10:24:17 AM2/11/10

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I took advantage of sun and light wind on Feb 10 so I went skiing
on Gaspereau Lake (NS's Bermuda Triangle?!)- traveled the whole east
side (parallel to Rt 12).
One photo at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_dermott/4348001574

Access and safe parking is a problem both winter and summer. The NS
Power lane at Dorrey Cove/Weltons Landing (NE corner), where I parked, had
been previously plowed but had filled in a bit: 10-20 cm of loose snow -
bring your own shovel! It is also very dangerous coming out of this lane
and making a left turn on to Rt 12- the blind curve is now even blinder
with high snowbanks. There are 4 "memorial crosses" within 200 m of here
from separate accidents along Rt 12.

One goal of the ski tour was to re-find the unmarked boat launch and
parking area near the south end (Lockharts Cove) that I had found last
spring (while on a bike ride), but couldn't find later. Hint : you CANNOT
get to it via "Sunny Nook Drive" !

I found it; it is where Rt 12 comes close to the lake near a
collection of cottages. It is the next lane south of "Sunny Nook Drive"
The parking area had not been plowed at all: snow was about 50 cm deep.

For future reference: UTM (WGS84) 379978 4978533 20T
lat long 44.9501 -64.5215
GoogleMaps does not have a good aerial photo of the area but
BingMaps/Multimaps does. This link may be temporary:
http://www.multimap.com/s/TViIJ1Rx

Lockharts Cove is not the most interesting area of the lake for
paddling (more cottages, more powerboats), but it it more sheltered when
there is a strong south-west wind blowing. There are some interesting
areas on the south side further west, like Lanes Brook.

BTW: The CBC TV documentary about NS's Bermuda Triangle (search for
sunken planes in Gaspereau Lake) is still available at:
http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2010/01/the-hudson-bomber.html