Lily Lake (Darwell)

In mid-June, we decided to try our luck at Lily Lake, west of town near Darwell. Lily Lake is not easy to get into, requiring a 800m (2500-foot) carry, but I was keen to give it a whirl. Access is from the north off of Township Road 550 through the JBJ McDonald Conservation Area. I always see deer on this road (and we saw two today) so mind the ditches.

The conservation area is operated by the Edmonton and Area Land Trust (EALT). The EALT publishes rules about appropriate usage (you can find online) and this site bars wheeled vehicles. That means no carts and you need to carry your boats in. As you'll see, carts would also simply be unworkable after the halfway point. Note that 800m is a long distance to carry a hard-shell boat.

There is a good map at the car park (and good signage throughout). The parking lot holds maybe four cars and I've never seen more than one there. There are no washroom facilities--I'd guess the closest would be at the gas station in Darwell or the Darwell Launch on Lac Ste Anne (maybe a 20 minute drive).

Looking at the image below, you park at the red arrow at the top. Walk south on the yellow line, take the first SE spur and eventually access the lake at the Esther Lookout. We decided to walk in without boats to see what it looked like (which was a good decision).

Things start out pretty good and you go about 300 meters down an old homestead road bed, equal parts dirt, gravel, grass, and cow poop. 

The first left is a good cutline. It is a bit steep but good footing all the way up.

Down the other side is steeper and it gets boggy at the bottom. This was the point where we should have turned back for lack of appropriate footwear. We did not (this was a bad decision).

At the bottom there is meadowy-trail through the woods that is boggy. Some parts have a metal grate. This soon peters out and you are on dirt. It was a very wet June and the ground was soakeds and soft. Waterproof boots were really required.

At this point my wife decided to wait while I wanted ahead (I presume she set up a go-fund-me for new shoes). The trail gets better, and then worse, and then better.

Then you turn left into a single track towards the lake. The bottom of the single track was very soft and wet but I figured what the hell, my feet were already soaked.

Eventually, this spills out on the NW corner of Lily Lake. The lake is pretty and would maybe take an hour to go around. It was already pretty full of lilies and that would have been a hassle to paddle.

The launch site is really just the edge of the marshy grass and you'd likely want to bum scoot into the lake (the ground was very very soft). The signage says the lake goes off very steeply.

Below, you can see that I'm sinking maybe three inches into the grass (and and inch into the water) and I was still a ways back from the lake. At this point, we decided to call it (well, my wife decided that quite bit earlier) and went to Lac Ste Anne instead.

Not every trip is a success, especially to a new lake. Overall, I'd be game to try this again, but probably by myself. I'd bring a lighter boat (that I can carry overhead--no way to carry two boats abreast for much of the trail)) and my waterproof hiking boots. Early spring or late fall would likely be a better time (water would have fewer lilies and the ground would be drier). I'd also bring bear spray again (there are bears, moose, and cougars in the area).