Tenting at Beauvais Lake

Ryan and I had plans to head out to Montana for camping with the dogs for the weekend. But when he had an opportunity to stay home and work Saturday, we changed out this plans to do the one night an to go somewhere nearby. There are a ton of fire bans on right now and since M.D. of Pincher Creek didn’t have a fire ban, we headed to Beauvais Lake, a provincial park. I see the sign for this lake when I drive through Crowsnest Pass and was curious as to what it’s like.

We head out not quite fully prepared. We forgot bug spray, towels, and fire wood. Oops! Thank goodness for Pincher Creek and the Walmart. After restocking we headed to the lake. When you first come in, there is the Park Office on your right and a map of the lake.

When we pulled in to find the campground we found out that Beauvais Lake has a walk in tenting only camp spot! PERFECT! It can be irritating camping next to RV’s and trailers and listening to generators run.

We drove past the lakeside cabins (so lovely), the day use area, and then came up to the walk in tenting area and only saw one car. Yup, there was only one campsite occupied, we had our pick. We walked around to check out all the sites and chose one that was off on its own in the trees with easy access to the road for loading and unloading. They had outhouses and they were brand new- we could still smell the paint, and therefore were the most clean and pleasant outhouses I have ever used.

After setting up camp, we took our poor hot dogs to the lake to swim. And did they ever swim! Apollo must have been in that water swimming around for a solid 30 minutes. He would come to the shore to rest for a few minutes, and then go back out.

The water was warm enough that I popped in for a dip with the boys too. We had the whole place to ourselves, it was so great!

Ryan’s cousin came by with his kids and we visited while cooking smokies over the fire and Ryan caught up with his cousin. When they left, we took the boys out to check out one of the nearby walking paths.

It turns out there are a TON of paths in this park, and Ryan and I want to come back out with the kids and bikes to explore more of the park.

The sun was setting as we walked through along the trails. At one point we came up to an old grave? Creepy!

 

We spent the evening sipping wine by the fire. The dogs were SO DEAD from swimming and walking that they were dead asleep in the dirt by the fire.

We were pretty tired too and turned in early. Apollo jumped up onto my cot and curled up next to me and passed out! I couldn’t push him out, he wouldn’t move. SO I let him stay there and eventually he got too hot and moved to my feet.

Poor Rocky was a nervous Nelly in the tent. He slept by my cot but would get up and sniff around the cot sporadically throughout the night.

I slept good and hard! I typically “sleep in” until 7:30 a.m. on weekends, but on this day I slept until 9am which is crazy!

I insisted Ryan get a fire going so I could make much needed coffee.

We packed up and loaded the car so we wouldn’t have to do it later and then went to the lake to enjoy the hot day and swimming with the dogs.

Beauvais Lake is a great place to take your family! The lake is on the smaller side, but there are a ton of trails for walking or bike riding and we LOVED the privacy we enjoyed in the tenting spot. We plan on taking the kids here soon.

Do you tent it or use a trailer/RV?

Any other hidden spots within an hour or so from Lethbridge I should check out?