Ashland Reservoir and Dam

On the Labour Day weekend, we ventured out to the Ashland Reservoir that is SW of Warburg. We went west on Highway 16, turned south on Highway 770 (the Carvel turn) and then went south to Highway 39. We then turned west and went two miles before turning south again on Range Road 34 (which was gravel). It took about 75 minutes to get there and the same time to come back through Calmar and Devon

There is a campground here and a day use area. There is a $5 fee per car to use the day use area which includes a portapotty, picnic tables, parking, and a boat launch. The day use area is open until September 15 but a fellow said some folks continue to use it after September 15 by parking at the gate and then carrying their boats 500 feet to the boat launch.

The boat launch was pretty good but the mud at the bottom was soft! It was also a very smokey day from a fire in Jasper.

We went left out of the launch and towards the southern end of the lake. The water was iced tea coloured and got weedier the further south we went. 

There were ducks and a hawk out and about but everything else had slowed down for autumn. The bushes were just starting to show some fall colours but the overcast note the colours some.

We paddled the whole perimeter at a leisurely pace in about 75 minutes. This looks like it would be a great lake to fish in (lots of folks in boats with electric motors out fishing). I hear it is also nicer looking earlier in the year.

The smoke and cloud did eventually clear off and we had a lovely paddle around the northern end of the reservoir.

Overall, a nice paddle and I'm happy we went. There are nicer lakes closer to town though, so I'd probably not stop here again unless I was already headed towards Rocky Mountain House for some reason.