Astotin Lake

In late May, we ventured out to Elk Island.The family wanted to hike and see the frog chorus going on. I brought a boat to try my luck at Astotin Lake. As is often the case, there was a stiff breeze. Not quite white caps but the waves were 12- to 18-inches off the main beach (not go picture because I was busy paddling).

It looks like the canoe rentals are again a go and there is also a permanent snack shack and other improvements over my last trip out. While I launched off the main beach, the boat launch (below) has been redone since my last visit (the annoying wooden walls have been removed and the lunch is much more functional).

I tacked to the south to try to get over into the lee of the islands along the south shore.

Things were much calmer here and there were a lot of gulls and ducks and such.

I puttered around for awhile, hopping from island to island and avoiding most of the waves.

After an hour or so, there was no sign of the wind abating so I tacked back to the main beach. It was a fairly wet trip with spray. Not the roughest I've been out on Astotin, but getting there. 

Several other folks pulled up with boats but only one couple decided to try their luck. A lovely visit otherwise with a huge herd of bison visible on the way back.

East Pit Lake

In late May, we went out to East Pit Lake, which is about 1km north of the Wabamun Village exit on Highway 16. This is a man-made lake over an old quarry (the whole areas looks to have been strip mined about 25 years ago).

There is a small parking lot about 1000 feet from the lake. You can slide your boats under the gate and follow a trail leading west. The trail forks after a short distance; stay on the northern (right) footpath as it passes an outhouse and climbs about 50 vertical feet to the crest of a hill. From here, it is about 100 vertical feet down to the water.

The entrance is a small "beach" which was a touch grotty. The water, however was lovely and clear as soon as we were off the beach. Definitely suitable for paddle boarding.

The lake itself is about 1.5 km long and maybe half a km wide. We did a full circuit in about an hour taking our time.

The lake was very calm, being down in a bit of a hollow. There were a tonne of birds to be seen and lots of fish jumping

This was a very beautiful paddle. The only people on the lake were a couple of folks fishing from the shore.

There were also some beaver, an osprey, loons, mergansers, and lots of red-winged blackbirds.

Getting the boats back to the car was a bit of a chore. The pictures below give you a sense of the climb. 

There is a bench about half way up and you can detour to see one of the scrapper buckets (about the size of a small garage) used on the site.

Overall, a pretty positive trip. The carry was long than usual but not too challenging.

Pipestone Creek at Coal Lake

I dragged the kid out to Coal Lake and up Pipestone Creek before she went off to work in the mountains for the summer. It was busy at the launch with both people unloading to kayak and fish.

While we crossed over the north edge of the swamp towards the creek entrance, we saw a tonne of birds, including a dozen pelicans.

We also saw a yellow-headed black bird.

For the most part, though, we saw red-headed black birds (a hundred?).

The creek was a super interesting paddle, as you transition from swamp to forest to open glades to forest, to marsh. A super interesting paddle.

There are a huge number of swallows nesting under the bridge, flying out to get bugs and return to feed the young in their mud nests. You could hear the young as we floated under. 

It was a beautiful day to be the the water (despite the bloom of mayflies).

As we were loading up, this poor fellow paddle this boat in, having forgotten to gas up. He had a much harder paddle than we did.

North Saskatchewan, Quesnel to Dawson

We had a three-hour run through town on the North Saskatchewan on the long weekend. Our daughter dropped us below the Quesnel Bridge.

The Edmonton Queen looks ready to sail; I imagine they are waiting on some higher water.

The river was very busy by 10 am, with canoes and rafts and crew out. We caught this coyote on the shore by the Mayfair golf course.

We also chased a beaver for awhile below the Groat bridge. I ground out just above the LRT bridge and had to bumscoot to deeper water (thought I was going to have to get out and push!).

Mill Creek outflow was chugging along.

By accidental beach we spotted some kind of eagle (golden or young bald) being harassed by a bunch of magpies and crows. It eventually flew off, scaring up all of the ducks.

The pullout at Dawson Park was grime. We ground out about 40 feet from shore and had to wade in through the silt.

All told, a lovely float down the river to start the year.