In late June, I paddled most of Battle Lake, just over an hour southwest of Edmonton (near Pigeon Lake and Twin Lake). I entered on the north shore at Battle Lake Park, a campground run by the county of Wetaskiwin. I think this is the only public access, but you might be able to DIY something in the SE corner, off Range Road 15a.
There was a nice sand/gravel launch, a dock, fish cleaning shed, and picnic tables and pit toilets up by the parking area.You can drop your boats right beside the water but then you need to park about 200 feet back. The water was pretty clean (tiny clumps of algae in places) the day I was there and there was cell reception at the launch and on the lake. None at the day-use area, though.
I paddled the western three quarters of the lake in about two hours. The south side was basically aspen forest down to the water, broken up wth a few swampy areas and a couple of places where there were private cabins. There looks to be a bit more useable land on the north side but same kind of deal.
There were a lot of fish in the lake (must have seen 20 jumps) and also lots of birds. I saw six pelicans, including this one right across from the launch.
Things get a bit weedier as you go west, but nothing was gross.
I saw at least four loon families.
There were also the usual grebes, ducks, gulls, etc. And two large geese families.
The northern end of the lake was occupied by a bunch of pelicans (can't really see them in the picture below, but they were there) so I left them alone and didn't explore up the inflow.
The trip back was just amazing. A few more clouds and a slight breeze at the end, but a very nice paddle. I was too tired to try the eastern portion of the lake.
It looks like the campground also has a beach (I didn't see that before I went so I didn't drive through to it). There is also the Battle Lake interpretative trail that I was too tired to walk!
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