North Saskatchewan, Laurier to Whitemud Creek

I've been trying to venture out of town to see some new lakes this year, but the North Saskatchewan is just too convenient to not paddle on.

The Laurier Park boat launch has been so crowded on the weekend that I haven't bother with it. But it is quite during the week. I had a nice paddle upstream with very clear water (no rain so just mountain runoff). Always happy for this rock to hide behind before pushing the last bit up to Whitemud Creek.  

The Edmonton Queen is still in drydock air the mouth of the creek.

The water in the creek was higher than usual so I was able to get underneath Fox drive before grounding out. A very pretty little section of creek.

Then a nice float back down to Laurier, which went quickly since the river is a touch higher than usual this year.

Twin Lakes

 The Twin Lakes are located about 90 minutes north of Peace River. This is a long drive unless you are on your way to High Level (in which case, this is about half way). There are two lakes here but only one is readily accessible for paddling from the recreation area.

The recreation area has two parts. Up top, there are campgrounds, a picnic shelter (watch your head!), and really awful pit toilets. Down below, there is a sandy boat launch, dock and parking area. 

The lake is clean enough to swim in and has an interesting (if weedy) bottom.

The shore is a mix of weeds, bushes, and turf with a few beaver lodges. We followed two loons around the perimeter (maybe a half hour paddle).

There is also a trail around the lake (maybe 3km) that connects to the second lake. The trail is fairly rough so hauling boats isn't really an option.

It looks like there is a fair bit of fishing and we ran across some bear poop on the lake trail. also lots of bugs on the trail (but none on the lake).

I was surprised how much I liked this lake. At one point we were the only ones on it. I can't imagine I'll every get back here but who knows.

Cardinal Lake

Cardinal Lake is located just west of Peace River. We put in in Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park. The boat launch requires a hard right as soon as you pass under the park archway (the left take you to an outdoor museum and rodeo ground).

The boat launch is nice enough (ramp, dock and gravel beach). The lake was pretty murky (you could see down less than 12 inches). There are washrooms, lots of parking, a playground, and a campground here.

The only other access point I could see was what looks like a boat launch on the south shore off range Road 244, to the west.

As a paddle, this was a bit of a bore. The shoreline is a mix of rocky beaches with scrub growth and reeds. Looked like lots of fish though and we saw some birds, including a pelican.

We had a very overcast day but, on the plus side, this very late lake was glassy calm, which make for some great reflection in pictures.

I don't think I would go back. It was nice enough but not super interesting.

Figure Eight Lake

We spent some time near Peace River this summer, which opened up some new paddling opportunities. Figure Eight Lake is located just west and north of Peace River. It was one of the nicer lakes that we paddled in the Peace country.

There is a nice campground and a day-use area. The easiest place to launch is from the main beach. There is a short 150-foot carry down a gentle slope to a sandy beach. There are also toilets, picnic tables and a picnic shelter. The water was clean enough that we went swimming afterwards.

If you drive through the campground, there is also a proper boat launch and the lake is popular for fishing. There looks to be a hiking trail around the lake, although we didn't try it.

A leisurely paddle around the lake takes about 45 minutes (it is pretty small). There is a small bay on the north-west side. Here we had beavers slapping their tails at us and a bald eagle giving us the eye.

Out on the main lake there were loons and we saw an osprey dive and catch a pretty large fish.

Other then the beach, the shoreline is mostly cattails. There were several docks around the lake, including one just as you come into the day use area.

Overall, a nice paddle despite crazy heat (+30C) and would definitely go back if I was in the area again.