A collection of travel and adventure stories

Camp Far West Lake Kayaking

Description and Directions >>

Description:
Camp Far West Lake is located in the foothills of Northern California. The lake contains 2,000 surface acres of water with 29 miles of shoreline. Camping and boat ramp facilities are provided.

Activities:
kayaking, boating, fishing, hiking, camping, picnicking, swimming, sightseeing

Directions:
From Roseville, CA, take Hwy I-80 to Hwy 65 North. Continue for approx. 18 miles to Wheatland. In Wheatland, take Main Street east, which turns into Spenceville Road. Continue on Spenceville Road for approx. 5 miles, then turn right onto Camp Far West Road. Continue for 2.5 miles until you reach the "Y" in the road, staying to the left. The boat launching facility is 1.5 miles from the "Y".

Story Date 5/1/2005
Publish Date 12/27/2005

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: I was very surprised at how pretty Camp Far West Lake was! I think this had a lot to do with the time of year that we went kayaking...spring time. In the summer, I am sure the grass is brown and the lake is full of speeding boaters. However, in the spring, the hills were full of green grass and wildflowers. Since it was a little cool, there weren't as many speeding boats on the lake as well.

We put in at the North Recreation Area, which has a boat lauch area. There really isn't a need to use the boat ramp for kayaks, since you can drive right up to the edge of the lake in the day use area and put in there. There are picnic day use sites, along with a large number of camp sites located throughout this area. This part of the lake is fairly wide across, so if you are interested in more peaceful kayaking, the best bet is to hug the shore around the lake. We did this until we reached a nice grassy shaded area across the lake. We pulled out for lunch and watched the happenings on the lake, which weren't much at this time of year. However, we did see the funniest thing. As we were eating lunch, we started hearing ice cream truck music...you know the kind. We looked across the lake and a real ice cream truck was driving along the grassy hillside, along with the appropriate music playing. How strange!

We continued kayaking the lake up toward Rock Creek. We were able to explorer many different bays or inlets. At one point we saw a guy catch a fish with a bow and arrow type mechanism. Very interesting.

This lake is a great place to kayak if you go in the off season, like spring. There are many places to pull off and enjoy the views.