Coquitlam River & Tree Island

Ok... I've got a thing about islands. A weakness. I see one and I've just got to circumnavigate it in my kayak. More on that in a bit. Today the sun broke out a bit and I had the time so off I went in search of a new waterway conquest. I loaded up my kayak- it's a 14 foot Azul Zenon made of polypropalene- a bit heavy but durable and it has fore and aft hatches for my future overnight trips. I have a mini van with roof racks so it's an easy matter for me to 'toss' it on the roof (read heave awkwardly) and strap down. I elected to go with generic racket tie-downs since my van is older and I didn't want to fork out money for special kayak carriers. But I digress...



Coquitlam River Trip (Numbers are km markers)



Over the Port Mann bridge and east a few minutes on Lougheed highway (Maryhill Bypass) is the mouth of the Coquitlam river. I was fortunate to stumble upon a riverside parking lot that services a hiking trail parallel to the Fraser river, not even a kilometer east of the mouth of the Coquitlam river. I launched from here- only had to carry my kayak 30 feet or so to the shore. I was a bit pressed for time since I had to meet someone in a couple hours so I hurried over and made my way up the Coquitlam. There's a bridge for the Lougheed highway to cross the river not far inland and then I found myself in a very peaceful calm waterway with negligible flow. I made easy progress north paddling past a few people walking on the dike alongside the river in Colony Farms. The river makes a few bends and then turns northwest directly toward the old Riverview mental hospital on the stretch of Lougheed that takes you to Coquitlam center mall. I travelled parallel to the highway for awhile before the river took me east away from the road. This was where the river started to narrow and I noticed a marked increase in current which slowed my progress. I was less than a kilometer from the Kingsway overpass that leads to PoCo when I ran out of time and had to turn around. Frustrating! I hate it when my exploration of a new area is cut short- especially when I have to retrace my path on now-familiar waters back to my vehicle.

I hadn't counted on the effect that current had in slowing me down to this point as well as speeding me along on my return trip. What had taken about 45 minutes up only needed about 30-35 back. Here's where the island comes in. Tree island is a very small island in the Fraser river immediately east of the Port Mann bridge. It's been created by the sediment that the Coquitlam river makes when it 'collides' with the much larger and slow moving Fraser river. Islands are too tempting to pass up so off I went to kayak around it with my newfound bonus time. The island is so close to the Port Mann bridge that I actually paddled up and touched one of the huge concrete pilings on the north side of the river. It was during this time that the sun came out in force and I actually felt warm- nice bonus. Though really- can you complain about the weather when it's possible to kayak in early January?

Total trip distance was 5km up river and back plus island for total of 11km. Paddling time about 90 minutes.
Difficulty level: easy. Fun factor: decent to good.