Paddling Amor Lake on the Sayward Canoe Route

By Keith and Heather Nicol

       We had recently heard some good report about paddling on Amor Lake which is part of the Sayward Canoe Route north of Campbell River. Last year we sea kayaked some parts of this route when we visited Morton Lake Park and paddled Mohun and Goose Lakes. Unfortunately the roughness of that 16 km gravel road has put us off returning to those lakes so when our cross country ski and birding buddy Bruce Moffat mentioned that the gravel road into Amor Lake was in pretty good shape and only 9 km long we decided to check Amor Lake out on Wednesday, Sept 2.

Heather at our sandy beach lunch spot

 It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get into the lake from our house in Courtenay and the gravel road launch point  makes it easy to launch. Amor Lake has several islands and an interesting configuration and can be nicely paddled in a day. There are also many remote campsites around the lake which would be ideal for anyone wanting to spend more time here or if they are doing all or parts of the Sayward Canoe Route.  After launching we checked out the south end of the lake where there is a short portage to Surprise Lake and then we paddled the length of the lake to have lunch on a nice sandy beach which even had a picnic shelter. The vistas from the lake are of wooded hillsides and distance hills and mountains and there is little evidence of logging that we could see which we appreciated. 

Heather paddling down Amor Lake with the distant mountains of Strathcona Park behind

After lunch we headed into an arm which has another portage to Twin Lake and then turned around in a large bay before heading back to explore a maze of islands close to our launch point. We stopped at one and had a snack before crossing the lake to our starting point. Overall we paddled about 13 km over 4 hours which included walking the short portage to Surprise Lake and our lunch and snack breaks.  We fully recommend checking this lake out either by canoe or kayak. We will certainly be back. 

Another arm of Amor Lake