Babine Lake ( ) or Na-taw-bun-kut ("Long Lake") is the longest natural

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada. Babine Lake is located northeast of the town of

Burns Lake Burns Lake is a rural village in the North-western-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, incorporated in 1923. The village had a population of 1,779 as of the 2016 Census. The village is known for its rich First Nations heritage, and ...

in central British Columbia, some west northwest of the city of Prince George. It is long, wide, and has a net

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an op ...

of and a total area of , including islands on the lake which cover . It lies at an elevation of . It drains northwest into the Babine River, an important

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Skeena. There are several provincial parks on Babine Lake: * Babine Lake Marine Provincial Park ** Pendleton Bay site ** Smithers Landing site * Topley Landing Provincial Park * Red Bluff Provincial Park

Babine Portage

Babine Portage is a campsite located about 12 km north of the Portage Yekooche Reserve along a gravel road, on the west end of Babine Lake. The name originates from the 19th century, when the site was used as an entry point for canoes portaging to the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

post. In the past, there were five cabins on the east side of the creek and seven on the west side, but in 2003, all but three were ignited by grass fires and burned down. Although people from Tache, Fort St. James, and Prince George visit the area, it is mostly used by members of Yekooche First Nation, who spend most of the summer there before returning to Portage Reserve in the fall. The lake provides them with

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

and kokanee, while

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

and bear hunting can be done nearby around Salt Lake, Frank's Meadow, and a lagoon west of the camp. People also fish at 4 Mile and 6 Mile Creek, east of the camp near Quarter Island. People from Yekooche rely on their catch from Babine Portage for winter food. An important local tradition at Babine Portage involves ''t'es-ing'' up first-time visitors, which means to rub coal on their cheeks to ward off bad weather at the camp. (''t'es'' means ''charcoal'' in the Babine-Witsuwit'en, Babine language.)

Climate

References

* {{Authority control Lakes of British Columbia Skeena Country Bulkley Valley Omineca Country Babine Range 5 Coast Land District