Over the winter I purchased a folding kayak so that I could use a backpack to hike to hard-to-get-to-lakes with a kayak.   The first lake for this adventure was Island Lake, a grasslands lake in the middle grasslands of Lac du Bois Protected Area.

With the backpack on, I hiked from the trailhead to the lake on a faint single track and across the grasslands hills to the lakeshore, about 800m.

At the lakeshore I assembled the folding kayak (the Oru Inlet).    I paddled around the lakeshore, a 1.2 km route.

The ducks were surprised by my boat, likely the only boat to have ever been on this remote lake.   All photos by the author.

A few moments of the hike and the paddle are captured in this YouTube video:

More backpack and paddle outings are planned for the spring, summer, and fall.