Cosens Bay Beach is a lovely beach on Kalamalka Lake, inside the boundaries of Kalamalka Provincial Park. This beach is accessible by trail (hiking or bicycle) or by boat.
A sandy beach with lots of room to find a place for the day, but be aware, many boaters come to this beach by way of the lake. Most of them tend to gather to one end of the beach and yes, they do bring their dogs. During my visit, they seem to keep their dogs close to where they anchor.
View details about Cosens Bay Beach:
Beaches-Vernon AreaGreat Scenery Views
The hike or bike trek to the beach is certainly a great outdoor experience of mother nature. Along the trails you can enjoy the beach or view the awesome lake from a higher vantage point. Even if you don’t stay at the beach, the hiking or biking will provide a wonderful experience hiking or cycling through the forested area and in open field areas. One way or the other, the natural surroundings make it memorable.
Hiking / Cycling to the beach
Other than boating into the bay on Kalamalka Lake, this is the only way to get to the beach. There are no parking lots close to the beach, and the dirt road that you can drive has “No parking” all the way along. No wonder, it is not a wide dirt road, so caution is highly recommended when driving, cycling or walking it.
From the main parking lot, 2.5 km away, you can hike the dirt road until you arrive at the Cosens Bay Trail that goes down to the beach, or you can take Cosens Bay Trail from the main parking lot and follow it to the beach (see gallery images below).
Not for the Faint of Heart – Physical Ability & Health Required
Cosens Bay is a wonderful area, but getting there and back requires reasonable fitness. There is an incline getting to the beach from the main parking lot by either the dirt road or trails, but that incline is short compared to coming back.
Both the dirt road and trails are mostly inclines with a few flat areas when coming back. This is because the main parking lot is at a higher elevation than the beach.
Trekking along the dirt road or trails (hiking or by cycle) to get to the beach is not recommended for families with small kids, especially if you intend to carry a lot of beach stuff to make it a day visit. This trek is better suited for the young adults and up, and certainly not recommended for the elderly unless you are fit.
Having to hike 2.5 km to the beach does not provide an easy way to drag coolers, food and bags of stuff for the kids day at the beach. It is just the terrain getting to the beach and back with young children is, I believe, too much.
If you visit for a short hike in the area, that is different and fine with a family and small children.
Depending on who you are, what kind of group is with you, getting to Cosens Bay beach and back to the main parking lot may be a bit of a challenge. It seems the natural layout of the area created an mostly adult only beach. If you have any physical handicap or problems with your legs or back, do not take this trek at all.
To avoid this 2.5 km trek, especially for small kids or the less physically capable, then it is better to boat into Cosen’s Bay from Kalamalka Lake instead.
Water
Always take enough water when hiking or cycling into Kalamalka Provincial Park, especially to Cosens Bay. A 750ml bottle of water will not be sufficient, believe me, because just on the trek to the beach on a hot day, you’ll likely finish that bottle of water, leaving you with no water for the hot trek back to your car, let alone having enough water during the beach stay (…alcohol is not a water replacement choice!). Therefore, for those that trek the paths to Cosen’s beach, in your bags or knapsacks, carry around 2 liters of water.
Washrooms & No Vendors
When I visited Cosen’s Bay beach, there were no amenities like food and drink vendors. Washrooms are pit toilets, so with that, I recommend you take a roll of toilet paper with you in the event the pit toilet has none. Remember, there is a 2.5 km trek (by foot or bicycle) to the beach from the main parking lot and park attendants don’t visit this beach often to even restock toilet paper.
Images About Cosens Bay
