Saturday, June 17, 2023

Magee Lake

In late May, I went SE of Ponoka to Magee Lake. From the north, I think the easiest access is to turn off Highway 2 at Morningside, head east and the south on the grid roads. The boat launch is down a short gravel road. At the bottom, there is a parking area, a portapotty, and a boat launch. The lake looks to be down about two feet from usual so the bottom drop off sharply as soon as you get in the water. There was cell coverage everywhere on the lake.


The lake is about 2km long and maybe 100m wide. The water seems to come in from the north from the Chain Lakes. I went south down to the outflow (reed choked).


In the SE corner, there was a large bald eagle nest (maybe five- to six-feet wide). 


As I paddle up the east side, I saw both birds sitting in a tree. Apologies for the pixellated photo. My phone was zoomed pretty hard and I was bobbing in the slight chop.


The north end is pretty much the same as the south (reedy). There was a fellow fishing for pike there and he said he'd caught and released about 20 over the course of four hours.


Overall, a nice enough paddle but probably not one that I'd repeat. It was not as nice as the nearby (like, 7 miles) Chain Lakes. It might be nicer with a higher water table (not sure why it was low).

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