Lacombe Lake

In early June, I popped in to Lacombe Lake for  quick paddle on the way home from Calgary. Access was off Highway 2A to Township Road 402, which take you right to the boat launch in the NE corner.

The boat launch was nice sand and gravel with a gentle slope. The parking area was full (room for about six vehicles) and some folks were parking back up the hill by the Canada Post Box. A good mix of families, fishermen, and couples kayaking and paddle boarding. 

My wife picked up a leech at the launch. After dealing with that, we paddled down the east side of the lake. The shoreline is reedy and then gives way to aspen and spruce.

Near the bottom of the lake, we turned east into a little basin. There were a lot of birds in here (heron, grebes, loons, ducks, red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds) as well as muskrats and beaver.

The Transcanada Trail parallels Range Road 271B on the east side of the lake and it looks like you could slip a boat in here as well. There was one channel that led to a clear path down from the trail (including a sign, probably prohibiting launching from there).

We ended up back out on the main lake and paddle north as the wind and cloud picked up. There were some pelicans in the south end of the lake and lots of grebes trying to lead us away from their floating nests.

Overall, a pretty nice paddle. It might be easily combined with Barnett lake or Elizabeth Lake in Lacombe for a longer day on the water.