Desjarlais Lake, Pierre Grey's Provincial Park

In early August, we took a trip to Hinton and Grande Cache, which gave us a chance to try some new lakes, including Desjarlais Lake in Pierre Grey's Provincial Park. Access from Hinton is about an hour north on Highway 40. There are five lakes in the park, three of which are easily accessible and none of which allow for gasoline-powered motors.

We had finite time to paddle so we chose Desjarlais Lake since it looked to be the biggest and most interesting. The easiest access was at the main boat launch (blue arrow above).

The launch is large and you can drop right by the water. There is a floating dock and a fish cleaning station. Pit toilets (which were lovely) are just up the hill 25 meters by the parking lot.

The bottom at the launch was gravel and the water was clean and people were swimming. To the right is a causeway out onto the ling spit of an island that breaks up the lake halfway down. There were lots of people fishing, both from the shore and from boats.

We paddled the southern bay and stopped for lunch on the water. The shoreline is basically fir trees down to the water. The bottom was mostly sandy or tan coloured silt. On the west end of the island, there was a large osprey nets wth three birds in it. You can see in the photo that the weather is starting to turn!

There was lots of sunshine but also periodical sun showers. The area around the island is quite shallow.

There were several spots like the ones below where underwater springs were pushing water into the lake.

We got soaked about half was to the north end so turned tail and came in. Overall, a nice paddle and a very quite lake with no motorized boats to content with.

Before we left, we also toured the other launches sides. Access to Moberly Lake (green arrow in map above) was easy with a concrete ramp and floating dock. You could park right just to the left of the launch in the photo below. The water was clean and beautiful and people were swimming.

The launch at MacDonald Lake (orange arrow in the map above) required a bit of a carry (maybe 20 meters) down a hill. 

At the bottom, it was a fairly easy grass launch and there was a floating dock. The water was again clear and beautiful. Not shown are a bunch of paddle boarders.

Overall, this was lovely park to visit and I would definitely go back to try the other lakes if I was in the area.

Trappers Lake, near Elk Island Park

I have a long list of lakes to visit around the province. In early August, I decided to check out Trappers Lake, which is located immediately west of Elk Island National Park. The lake is about 2km east-west and 1 km north-south, although low water can have a significant effect on the dimensions of the lake.

Access is north off of Highway 16 up Range Road 210 until it ends (green arrow below). The road that hooks to the right (red arrow) is not accessible, basically being an ATV trail within Elk Island Park, behind a 10-foot bison- and paddler-proof fence.

When you get to the end of the road, you can park by the bullet-riddled dead-end sign. Access to the lake is down a "path" that starts on the left side of the photo below. 

The path to the lake is about 100m long and is vague most of the way (more of an animal path). It roughly follows the green arc on the map below. I ended up bushwhacking a fair bit of the walk.

There is a bit of a downward slope, lots of fallen trees underfoot, and quite a bit of rose bush for the first 50m. I'd suggest good boots and long pants! Honestly, it would be a real chore to get a boat though here, even on my head.

Then you get out of the trees into a meadow. It is another 50 meters to the lake. Again, there is tricky footing with lots of thistle and shoulder-high nettle. Shorts were a poor choice on my part.

The shoreline is soft, shallow and muddy. Maybe you could bum-scoot your entry to deeper water. The trick would be getting back out without sinking in the goop. There was a rough quadded trail that looked to go around the south side of the lake, so you might be able to find a decent entry spot further east or west. 

At this point, I decided this was a "pass" for me and I hiked back to my truck. Finding where I'd come out of the wood was challenging. The direction of the sun and the national park boundary marker was helpful in this regard.

This was (hopefully) the only real bust trip for the season and I'm happy this wasn't too far to go.

East Twin Lake

In late July, my daughter and I made our way to East Twin Lake, southwest of Edmonton, by Winfield. It is located just east of the Twin Lake campground and required about a 1.1km carry to get into.

To get there, drive to Twin Lake. As you approach the main beach parking area, the road forks. Take the left (east) fork and drive through the campground (along Range Road 33A) until the road dead ends (orange arrow above, there is a pit toilet here). You can unload you boats here and then go back about 100m to park (red arrow, more pit toilets along the way). The path to get into East Twin lake is obvious (a one-track gravel and dirt road) and roughly follows the green arrow above.

You start out walking through a pine forest that looks like the picture above.  You will want real shoes, not flip-flops, for the walk. Eventually, the trail starts to rise (maybe a 10m elevation gain over a long distance) and dry out, and looks like the trail below.

There are sign posts along the way and no chance of getting lost (you just follow the road). You will want to bring bear spray. We stopped a few times to rest our arms but, overall, it wasn't a big deal. It just took some time.

Eventually, the road curves north and drops down to the lake. There is a picnic table here and a garbage can. There is also an old pit toilet a ways back up the trail, hidden in the trees. We surprised a garter snake at the launch!

The launch is grass--just follow the slight drainage cut on the right side of the clearing. The bottom of the lake is sandy and firm. The water is pretty clean and there was no algae when we were there.

The lake itself runs east-west and is about 1.2km long and 300m wide. We went east, paddling into the sight wind.

The south shore is a fir forest with a walking trail just into the trees. The north shore is mostly deciduous and climbs up a steep hill.

The east end of the lake (below) has a small creek flowing in. The west end (not pictured) is reedy.

There were some birds (loons, ducks, a heron, and and osprey) and there are fish and beaver here. The water was clean but a bit murky (Twin Lake would be a much better choice for swimming).

We did a leisurely lap in 40 minutes (maybe 3km) and then had lunch at the launch. You could easily do Twin Lake and East Twin Lake in a day.

The walk back out was a bit of a grind but there was lots to look at each time we stopped. The hiking trails looked pretty well used.

North Saskatchewan River: Quesnel Bridge to Dawson Park

In late July, I had some family visiting and we decided a fun way to see the city is by paddling through it on the North Saskatchewan. We put our boats in under the Quesnel bridge (south side, just off the road into Fort Edmonton) and pushed off. 

The river was up a bit over normal flow at this time year (rain and maybe a bit of water release upstream). What would normally be a 2.5 hour paddle was done in 2 hours with little paddling on our part.

The water was pretty muddy still and we saw a guy running a sluice box below the Mayfair golf course.

It turned into a beautiful sunny morning.

There were some sirens going over the Walterdale bridge and that set off coyotes on the north and south side, including this guy below the old water treatment plant.

We had to strip off some layers at the halfway point because it was suddenly 25 degrees!

There was enough water the run the channel on the south side of accidental beach but the access was blocked by people trying to cross out to the island!

We eventually pulled out just below the Roland Road bridge in Dawson Park.

Overall, a fun way to see the city and give my niece a Canadian experience.

Thunder Lake

In late July, we took the dog up to Thunder Lake by Barrhead to have another go on the paddle board. Thunder Lake is a bit of a drive (90 minutes). We figured the provincial park would be quiet on a Sunday afternoon and give us some space to get the dog used to the water.

There is a dock here, but it is too high to be an effective launch site. Most people just go off the beach by the parking lot.

There was a kayak-o-mat here this year, which was nice to see.

The dog was excited to try the boat again, mostly because it means treats.

The paddle went okay, with only three unscheduled swims. The handle on the top of the life jacket is super useful for hauling him back onto the paddle board.

It was quite smokey and overcast the day we were there and the beach was empty under a moody sky. 

The dog lasted about 30 minutes on the board before before he started to get antsy. At 75 pounds, it isn't great when he started moving around a lot and erratically.

My wife had a good time. The dog and I seem to have matching wtf faces going at this point.

Shortly after this, he jumped off the board, swam to the beach and that was that. My wife walked him back to the car along the shore.

I towed the paddle board back. Not the best trip of the summer but alright, I guess. Thunder Lake is usually a very nice paddle on a sunny day (sans dog).

I'm not sure how many more attempts I have in me to make the dog like paddling! He may be a land lubber at heart.