Nazko Lake Park is in the northern Chilcotin Plateau northwest of Alexis Creek, with access by logging roads and a dirt track. BC Parks says two-wheel-drive vehicles should be fine if they do not go beyond Deerpelt Lake.
The wilderness park protects wetlands for moose, aquatic furbearers, waterfowl, shorebirds, amphibians, fish, and insects. The area was managed as a wilderness canoe route before park designation.
Nazko Lake is a paddling, fishing, camping, and wildlife-viewing destination. The Nazko Lake Canoe Chain is a 20-kilometre route across six lakes: Deerpelt, Nazko, Tanilkul, Nastachi, Tzazati, and Tchusiniltil. The two-to-four-day route has short portages, with six trails ranging from 20 to 800 metres.
BC Parks lists rustic vehicle-access campgrounds at Summit, Loomis, and Deerpelt lakes, plus four designated campsites on the canoe chain. Rainbow trout fishing is best in spring. Nazko Lake is also a feeding area for American white pelicans, which are legally designated endangered in British Columbia.
Canoe or kayak the chain, use marked portages, camp only at designated sites, swim without lifeguards, fish for rainbow trout with a licence, cycle roads, hunt outside the July 1 to August 31 closure, and watch wetlands carefully.
Access roads can be muddy, slippery, and shared with logging trucks. The track beyond Deerpelt Lake is narrow, steep, and poor for turning around. There is no firewood or potable water at rustic sites, no garbage service, and no boat launch at Deerpelt Lake. BC Parks provides a brochure.
