Bowness Lagoon

In late May, I had a chance to paddle the Bowness Lagoon in Calgary. The lagoon is pretty small, but pleasant and sheltered. You can also rent canoes, kayaks and paddle boats. 

The best access is from a concrete ramp by the restaurant and washrooms and the carry is only a couple of hundred feet (depending on how busy the parking lot is).

After waiting out some rain, we did a quick lap of the lagoon (dodging the high school gym class that was learning to paddle). The vibe is very much cool urban park, with walkways and channels and ducks and whatnot.

We then headed west up the channel that brings water into the lagoon from the river (accessed by going under the car bridge by the restaurant).

There was a current but it was negligible. The channel winds maybe 1.5km west through the trees, getting narrower and shallower as it goes.

Other than ducking under a tree that had fallen, the only impediment was this shallow bit where we had to get out and lift over a slight shelf. We tried to shoot it on the way back but ended up bum scooting.

Eventually, we hit the end of the road by the pillar of the Stoney Trail bridge.

We then turned around and paddled back and toured the lagoon again.

This is a great first paddle or family paddle with the kids and we had a nice afternoon. There is also a playground, a miniature train, picnic sites, and what looks like a spray park at the east end of the lagoon.

Glennifer Lake, north shore

Work took me to Calgary in late May and I hoped to get in a paddle at Glennifer Lake. The lake is a reservoir created by the Dickson Dam. We came in off Highway 2 just past Innisfail and hit the north shore of the lake. Unfortunately, the reservoir was very low (in anticipation of spring melt) and it was stupidly windy so, instead of a paddle, we just toured the launch sites on the north shore and had lunch.

The map above gives the the lay of the land. Coming from the east, we stopped at the Dickson Dam beach, the North Dyke Provincial Recreation Area, and the Dickson Point Provincial Recreation Area.

The Dickson Dam Beach has a parking lot with a locked gate and fairly good hike (800 feet?) on a gravel road to get to the water. Accessing the beach required a five-foot drop/scramble to the sand (there might be a gentler slope if you looked around). Overall, pretty meh.

North Dyke Provincial Recreation Area has a campground with pit toilets and fire rings and a modest amount of tree cover. There is a proper boat launch here (cement). The water was low so the launch was long (note wife below for scale).

Again, the beach was meh. Even with higher water, the shore line would likely be pretty disinteresting and prone to wind.

Our last stop was Dickson Point Recreation Area. There is a small campground here with pit toilets and the like and better tree cover. There are two options here You can access the Dickson Trout Pond (maybe 20 acres?) designed for fishing (so electric motors only). There was good parking, an easy carry, and good access. The size and shape like keeps the waves down.

Fifty feet further down the road is a proper boat launch down the lake. The water levels were very low so you could see the entirely exposed. This access point gets you close to the point where the Red Deer River flows in. I would guess this is the most interesting place to paddle. The main lake was rolling like crazy here.

Overall, this was a pretty underwhelming visit. Dickson Point looks like the winner as the launch. Recognizing we didn't get to paddle, the weather was bad, and the water was low, overall the lake looks big and a bit boring. I'm not sure I would bother going back to try again.

Wizard Lake, west launch

In late May, we drove south to Wizard Lake. In the past, we've put in on the eastern edge of the lake by Jubilee Park Day Use Area. That end of the lake tends to be very full of boats and, for a long time, I just gave up on Wizard for paddling. This time, we put in on the west end (Range Road 275 and Township Road 481).

This is a basic county boat launch: portapotty, area to turn around, and a gravel launch. There is some parking on the easy side of the launch and more roadside parking further up the hill on Range Road 275.

You can drop right beside the water and the launch was clean and easy. We went right (west) off the launch, hoping to go up the channel and into a smaller basin on the west end of the lake.

Right off the launch, we saw a bald eagle, chilling out. There were lots of folks fishing here and some pelicans on the south side of the lake.

We then went up the channel and into the other basin (maybe 8km around trip, including the perimeter of the basin). No current at all in the channel but it would like be pretty weed-choked by summer.

We did come across the beaver lodge. The hump floating in the water between the edge and my wife was a boated carcass of some kind. mostly submerged, wth longe dark hair. Maybe a young moose or a black bear?

We entered the western basin. There were no boats here (although one was docked at the far end). The channel in was pretty shallow as was the lake. 

We had a very good breeze pushing us west and the paddle back was pretty tough. The wind was about 25kph. No waves (every shallow lake) but lots of wind resistance!

The shore is mostly reeds giving way to aspen. The far west end is just a fen with no obvious channel.

There were lots of birds here, including a yellow-headed back bird that  don't get a shot of plus beaver and muskrats.

Overall, this was a much nicer paddle than the east end of the lake and has really redeemed Wizard for me. I suspect this is a nicer paddle early in the year than later.

North Saskatchewan River, Emily Murphy Launch

The weather on the May long weekend was pretty mixed so I decided to try a quick paddle on the river during one of the brief sunny periods. I put in at Emily Murphy Park, paddled upstream for 45 minutes (maybe 2km), and then floated back down.

The good part of this paddle is it is super convenient. I can be standing the river about 12 minutes after I lock my front door. The downside is that access continues to suck. You can park with 50 feet of the water but you have to skid your boat down and up and steep and muddy bank or try your luck climbing down the rocks by the dock piling.

I went up the inside of the turn, trying to avoid both the current and the wind (and holy was it gusty at times!). There was still some ice to be found in the shadow of the bank.

Overall, a lovely paddle. I then hung out by the outflow of the Mackenzie Ravine and watched two of the eight-person boats get ready to race (Canary versus Edmonton).

On the way back (on the sunnier, outside of the turn), I saw these two geese with 9 or 10 goslings between them.

There were a couple of canoes and the fire boat on the river. But mostly it was just me. Lots of volume and pretty mucky with the rains. No sign of the spring melt yet.

Hopefully the weather will be good enough next week to go out of town and try somewhere new. I also have a work trip that takes me south so I'm hoping to try a few new lakes on the way there and back.

Long Island Lake

In early May, we trucked about 90 minutes north past Westlock to paddle Long Island Lake. The best access is through the municipal campground on the NE corner. The price for a day pass was $10 plus GST. The water the super clean. Cell coverage was not great.

The boat launch is nice and sandy. You can drop your boats right beside the water and then drive 75 feet back up to park. There are pit toilets by the parking. The dock that is normally here was installed while we were on the water.

It was a bit windy we we took a quick spin around the island, which blocked most of the chop. 

Then we headed south down the long panhandle of the lake towards Larkspur. The perimeter of the lake (at guess) is about 12 km. We saw two bald eagles fishing together, some herons, and a bunch of loons.

At the south end of the lake is Larkspur (maybe a summer village, mostly just cabins). I wanted to look to see if it was possible to access the lake here off Larkspur Drive. It kinda-sorta looked like that from the satellite photos.

From a distance, I thought maybe (this shot faces due south with Larkspur Drive just on the other side of the gate).

As you get closer, the answer is not really. There is about 20 feet of deep bog that includes a lot of logs and reed clumps between the water and solid ground. Getting out would be a major production and get back would be worse. I suppose entry is theoretically possible. The rest of the southern shore was no better.

We went back up the lake, periodically fighting the wind.

The leaves were just coming out. This is a lovely paddle in the summer. Most of the southern panhandle has no cabins.

It does however have a lot of boat slips. My understanding if that weekends and nice days in the summer see a lot of traffic. There were no boats when we were there and, even in the wind (note the flag standings straight out in the background below), there wasn't much chop (but there was a lot of wind!).

The municipal campground also offers camping and a very nice beach. The website suggests that day-use passes often sell out on the weekend, so that is something to consider if you are going up in the summer. If Long Island Lake is full, you can also go another 20ish km north and try Cross Lake Provincial Park.

Overall, a nice paddle and probably a fun day for younger families, if you planned to use the beach as well.