Chilko Lake

Chilko Lake is a 180 km² lake in west-central British Columbia, at the head of the Chilko River on the Chilcotin Plateau. The lake is about 65 km long, with a southwest arm 10 km long. It is one of the largest lakes by volume in the province because of its great depth, and the largest above 1,000 m in elevation. It and Harrison Lake are the largest lakes in the southern Coast Mountains.GeographyThe inland equivalent of the many fjords which line the British Columbia Coast on the other side of the Coast Mountains, Chilko Lake's glacial valley opens not out onto the ocean, but onto a broad lava plateau that lies inland from the highest section of the main range. The mountains at the head of the lake are among the highest in the province, and two broad, deep glacial valleys connect east to the smaller Taseko Lakes, which drains northwards parallel to the Chilko River, both of them converging with the Chilcotin River which is a tributary of the Fraser. Tatlayoko Lake, to the west across another range, is not part of the Chilcotin-Fraser drainage, however, but is part of the Homathko River drainage to Bute Inlet.