For a beginner-friendly lake 30 mins from Vancouver, Deer Lake is a great choice. The lake is only 850m end to end, and it’s surrounded by a well maintained network of trails, a great restaurant, and plenty to do for families.
There is also a busy rental service right at the lakeshore, with a parking lot.
We were usually able to grab a parking spot right next to the sidewalk, making it extremely easy to pump up and launch.
We’ve come to paddle on Deer Lake 3 times so far. The first time was in 2019, bringing my dad for his first paddle. I was quite shaky myself, and it took me a couple of minutes to warm up and stand up.
Our second time was in June this year, and I was able to paddle with Junior in front while standing up.
Then we went again today, and Tina jumped on for a quick practice too!
One major downside of Deer Lake is that the water is quite muddy and swampy. There are lots of seagulls and ducks so there are lots of bird poop as well.
- Difficulty – very easy
- Boat traffic – no motor boats but lots of pedal boats and kayaks
- View – fair, having high rise buildings in the background is pretty unique
- Facilities – flush toilet, playground, and lots to do in Deer Lake Park
- Overall score – 6/10
4 responses to “Deer Lake Paddle”
[…] perfect next-step for leveling up from a small lake like Sasamat Lake, Rolley Lake, Alice Lake, or Deer Lake. In our first session, I spent 10-20 minutes paddling on my knees with Junior to build both of our […]
[…] lookout points with benches for you to relax and enjoy the view. We had fun trying to spot Billy paddleboarding on the lily covered […]
[…] Deer Lake is a small 850m lake in the heart of Burnaby. It’s very calm and quite scenic for an urban lake, surrounded by lush trees with high rises of Metrotown in the background. Launching here requires wading through a muddy beach with lots of bird droppings. There is a small dock but it is always occupied by the boat rental company’s human powered boats. No motor boats in Deer Lake. […]
[…] is also a better paddle destination than the near by Deer Lake, which was smaller, busier, dirtier, and harder to […]