Mahood Lake lies in the western edge of Wells Gray Park, but must be approached from the west, so from Kamloops we drive to Little Fort (95km), then west on Highway 24 (Interlakes) for 70km, then we turn north at Sheridan Corner onto the Horse Lake Road, then the Mahood Road (8000 Rd.) for about 40km to Canim Lake, and finally east for 15km to the west end of Mahood Lake.   This takes about 3 hours.   It can be done in a day, but the campsite at Mahood Lake is worth a night or two of paddling and hiking.

On this last trip to Mahood, I launched from the boat launch/beach at the end of the lake and headed down the lake to camp at one of the marine sites 21km away to the east.   The winds were light at the start, but soon heavy winds came in from the northwest, so I beached about 1/3 of the way down the lake.

On this September day, the campsite was empty, the few cabins east of the campground looked locked up, there was no one on the lake, I was paddling solo, the temperature had dropped, and there was snow on top of Mount Mahood.   With a choice of braving the winds downwind, waiting the winds out on the shoreline (it actually blew for 2 days), or turning back, I decided to turn the kayak into the wind and work my way back, a slow paddle in strong headwinds.   Safe back at the launch, I went for a hike to Deception Falls and the Canim River Trail, but left Mahood Lake with the goal of paddling the whole lake another time.