VANCOUVER—In my mind’s eye, B.C. is blue.

The image comes from the first time I visited the province in 2008, a decade before I would call it home. Driving up the Sea-to-Sky Highway, sea-blue Howe Sound seemed to melt into glacial-blue, snow-topped mountains, and gray-blue sky to form a monochromatic landscape of natural wonders.

Now I’m a B.C. import from Ontario and the image has stuck. Since I moved here 18 months ago, discovering B.C. has been a study in the blue beauties — the mountains, the sea and the lakes — that fascinated me the first time I visited.

This summer, I focused on the latter. Swimming being both a treasured pastime and a perfect excuse to venture to parts of the province I’d never seen before, I set off to hit at least one different lake every weekend.

Some weekends I swam only in salt water, and other weekends I hit three lakes at a time, so on average, as August wrapped up I stuck to my goal. It’s been a personal goal, not a journalism one. Most of these outings were done with the company of my equally aquatic roommate or my sister, and whoever else was interested in tagging along.

It turns out that seeking out fresh water can take you all over the province, and just about anywhere I found myself in B.C. had lakes on offer, even when I wasn’t looking, with the result that I now carry a swimsuit in my bag almost everywhere I go. When work took me to Port Alberni this month, it took all the self control I could muster not to shirk my deadlines and submerge myself in Sproat Lake.

What follows is a summary of my tour around B.C. lakes this summer (so far — it’s not over yet!), broken down by region. Of the 20,000 lakes in this province, I’ve swum in just about 20, or one-tenth of one per cent. Proof only that, whether you’re relatively new to B.C. like I am or have been living here your whole life, there’s a lot more to see outdoors.

Lower Mainland

1. Alouette

2. Cabin

3. Sasamat

4. Mystery

Lesson learned in the lower mainland: When swimming in the mountains, expect clear water and frigid temperatures.

This summer’s fresh water swimming journey actually began in the spring, on May 18, after about three hours of hiking along the Alouette River in Golden Ears Provincial Park. The river, a tributary of the larger Pitt River, is a striking green-blue colour that invites swimmers by resembling sea water on tropical beaches. It ends in at the rocky shore of Alouette Lake, with views of the dramatic Golden Ears mountains. At the north end of the lake I stood waist-deep in 12.5 C water for about five minutes before convincing myself to dive in. Though cold, the water had a fresh mineral taste and left my skin feeling softer than before the swim, as many clean lakes do.

Alouette Lake does warm up over the course of the summer, reaching an agreeable 22 C in August. But that freezing first trip more or less set the tone for the rest of my Lower Mainland swims; All three of the coldest swims have taken place in the region closest to home for Vancouverites.

The other two cold ones were Cabin Lake and Mystery Lake — both alpine bodies, short but steep hikes from the parking lots of Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, and Seymour Mountain in the District of North Vancouver, respectively. They are too small to swim a long way, but both offer the feeling of being secluded in a natural environment, only about 40 minutes away from Vancouver. On June 2, there were still snow banks melting into Cabin Lake, making it look as cold as it felt. Mystery is the larger of the two lakes and, on an August weekend, was packed with people and their dogs, mostly lounging by the shore or floating on the peat-black surface using inflatable pineapples and flamingos.

Of the four lakes I swam on the lower mainland, by far the best for a long swim is Sasamat, located in beautiful Belcarra Park near Port Moody. It’s large enough to swim a two-kilometre loop, and White Pine Beach makes for a beautiful place to relax after the workout. The water is warm and deep, and after swimming there for the first time for a race on Canada Day, Sasamat became my go-to local lake for swim training on the weekends. The beach is busy, but friendly.

Sea-to-Sky

5. Lost

6. Browning

7. Alpha

8. Cat

9. Elfin

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Until this summer, I’ve associated the winding drive up the Sea-to-Sky Highway toward Whistler with winter skiing. The first time I visited the resort town in the summer was a day trip to Lost Lake, which instantly and permanently broadened my view of Sea-to-Sky recreation to include swimming and lounging in the sun. Lost Lake is a small and peaceful oasis that’s accessible by free shuttle from Whistler village, which also makes it a popular spot. A walking trail around the lake is about two kilometres, and floating platforms are stationed near the shoreline all around the lake. I estimated that swimming around all the platforms was equal to about one kilometre, and it’s a route many swimmers do throughout the day. Something I love about Lost Lake is that it’s used for multiple purposes — fishing enthusiasts launch small row boats in the evenings, kids play on kayaks and paddle boards, dogs have their own designated beach area, and a long dock made for lounging is usually occupied by (sometimes naked) adults. I loved being able to look up from my swim at the now-bare ski runs on Whistler and Blackcomb.

The Sea-to-Sky region is brimming with places to swim, some of which require hikes and/or a drive down service and logging roads. Cat Lake, which I understand has a reputation as a bit of a party lake but which I visited on a quiet Monday evening, is on a campground operated by the Squamish Nation, and is another good spot for a longer swim between its three main docks (I estimate a triangular circuit between the three docks is between 750 metres and one kilometre). Alpha Lake, also in Whistler, is a large lake popular among dog owners, with the minor deterrent of ample lake weeds that will probably brush up against you. Browning Lake in Murrin Park, right off the Sea-to-Sky Highway in Squamish, was a fresh temperature for swimming, but it’s also a popular fishing spot so it’s necessary to make space for hooks and lines.

Elfin Lakes are three lakes at the end of an 11-kilometre hike in Garabaldi Provincial Park. One of the lakes is reserved for drinking water for campers, but the lake designated for swimming was, in August, surprisingly warm with spectacular coastal mountain views from 1,600 metres.

Okanagan

10. Okanagan

11. Wood

12. Kalamalka

Swimming took my friend George and I on the 400-kilometre journey to B.C.’s Okanagan region, famous for wine and toasty warm green-blue lakes. In particular, we signed up for the annual “Across the Lake” swim, a 2.1-kilometre traverse of the big blue Okanagan Lake in Kelowna in which more than 1,000 people participate every year. The race itself began in the rain — which admittedly mattered very little once in the water. The journey across the lake from West Kelowna to Kelowna included some large waves about halfway through, but the water, as promised mid summer in the semi-arid region, was warm enough to swim for 40 minutes without a wetsuit.

Okanagan Lake is easily accessible from Kelowna, but a much more beautiful and sheltered place to swim in it is at Ellison Provincial Park, about an hour’s drive north of the city, where the sand is pink and cliffs create the appearance of a cove. East of the big lake are another pair of green-blue beauties, Kalamalka Lake and Wood Lake. Standing in between them in the town of Oyama, it’s hard to believe they’re located in the same province as the forested alpine lakes I had visited earlier in the summer. Dry, sand-coloured mountains crest over the bright, clear water, which during a sunset takes on the same pink hue as the sky. Across from the general store in Oyama there’s a beach on Wood Lake with a sectioned-off swimming area that was as beautiful for swimming as the provincial parks we visited in the Okanagan.

Islands/Sunshine Coast

13. Cusheon

14. Blackburn

15. St. Mary's

16. Thetis

17. First

18. Inland

(extra: Elk, Sooke potholes)

It’s impossible to miss the ocean beaches on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast, many of which are spectacular. (Pebbles Beach on Galiano Island is a standout from this summer, but that’s for another time.) There’s also plenty of fresh water to go around, and, unlike some places on the mainland, lakes are easy to access by car from places like Victoria and Nanaimo.

Thetis Lake is only 20 minutes from downtown Victoria by car, with deep dark water and an island that makes an good landmark to swim around. Elk Lake is equally close to the city, features a large beach and still waters (it doesn’t make the list because I swam there last summer). Both have a low-key quality I associate with destinations most often used by locals, and forested trails around them feature large Vancouver Island trees.

Something that came as a surprise to me this summer: In B.C. there are campsites and recreational areas that are operated by logging companies. First Lake is one of them, and it’s about a 40-minute drive from Nanaimo down an active logging road. Aside from having to watch out for logs submerged at every angle in the water, it was one of the most peaceful and secluded places I swam this summer.

The lakes on Salt Spring Island — I tried Cusheon, Blackburn, and St. Mary’s — are special. Their dark colour reminded me swimming in the Kawartha Lakes back home in Ontario, but they were small in size and surrounded by grasses and reeds, giving them a pond-like, pastoral feeling. St. Mary’s is the biggest but the public beach access to it is tiny and crowded. Cusheon has a public dock that can comfortably fit at least a dozen people. Blackburn is the unofficially official naked lake on Salt Spring Island, so a trip there is most likely a commitment to temporarily adopting the free spirit persona of a Salt Spring local.

Sooke Potholes aren’t lakes, but fresh water swimming holes on the Sooke River about 45 minutes away from Victoria. I was blown away by the rugged rock formations, and forced myself to dive deep in the cold water with goggles so as to get a closer look at the rocks under the surface.

Inland Lake is the only lake on the Sunshine Coast that I’ve made it to (so far) this summer, and it was my favourite. Twenty minutes from the town of Powell River, it has clear blue water and views of rolling hills in every direction, as well as a 13-kilometre hiking loop around it. The water was the warmest of any lake I swam in outside of the Okanagan. Inland has convinced me that the next lakes on my list should also be on the Sunshine Coast, and my swimming buddy George recommended Hotel Lake near Madeira Park as the warmest lake he swam in this summer. I’ll have to judge this for myself, with the weekends remaining in the summer.

For fun, here’s my top five:

5. Blackburn

4. Sasamat

3. Lost

2. Wood

1. Inland

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