Trappers Lake, near Elk Island Park

I have a long list of lakes to visit around the province. In early August, I decided to check out Trappers Lake, which is located immediately west of Elk Island National Park. The lake is about 2km east-west and 1 km north-south, although low water can have a significant effect on the dimensions of the lake.

Access is north off of Highway 16 up Range Road 210 until it ends (green arrow below). The road that hooks to the right (red arrow) is not accessible, basically being an ATV trail within Elk Island Park, behind a 10-foot bison- and paddler-proof fence.

When you get to the end of the road, you can park by the bullet-riddled dead-end sign. Access to the lake is down a "path" that starts on the left side of the photo below. 

The path to the lake is about 100m long and is vague most of the way (more of an animal path). It roughly follows the green arc on the map below. I ended up bushwhacking a fair bit of the walk.

There is a bit of a downward slope, lots of fallen trees underfoot, and quite a bit of rose bush for the first 50m. I'd suggest good boots and long pants! Honestly, it would be a real chore to get a boat though here, even on my head.

Then you get out of the trees into a meadow. It is another 50 meters to the lake. Again, there is tricky footing with lots of thistle and shoulder-high nettle. Shorts were a poor choice on my part.

The shoreline is soft, shallow and muddy. Maybe you could bum-scoot your entry to deeper water. The trick would be getting back out without sinking in the goop. There was a rough quadded trail that looked to go around the south side of the lake, so you might be able to find a decent entry spot further east or west. 

At this point, I decided this was a "pass" for me and I hiked back to my truck. Finding where I'd come out of the wood was challenging. The direction of the sun and the national park boundary marker was helpful in this regard.

This was (hopefully) the only real bust trip for the season and I'm happy this wasn't too far to go.

East Twin Lake

In late July, my daughter and I made our way to East Twin Lake, southwest of Edmonton, by Winfield. It is located just east of the Twin Lake campground and required about a 1.1km carry to get into.

To get there, drive to Twin Lake. As you approach the main beach parking area, the road forks. Take the left (east) fork and drive through the campground (along Range Road 33A) until the road dead ends (orange arrow above, there is a pit toilet here). You can unload you boats here and then go back about 100m to park (red arrow, more pit toilets along the way). The path to get into East Twin lake is obvious (a one-track gravel and dirt road) and roughly follows the green arrow above.

You start out walking through a pine forest that looks like the picture above.  You will want real shoes, not flip-flops, for the walk. Eventually, the trail starts to rise (maybe a 10m elevation gain over a long distance) and dry out, and looks like the trail below.

There are sign posts along the way and no chance of getting lost (you just follow the road). You will want to bring bear spray. We stopped a few times to rest our arms but, overall, it wasn't a big deal. It just took some time.

Eventually, the road curves north and drops down to the lake. There is a picnic table here and a garbage can. There is also an old pit toilet a ways back up the trail, hidden in the trees. We surprised a garter snake at the launch!

The launch is grass--just follow the slight drainage cut on the right side of the clearing. The bottom of the lake is sandy and firm. The water is pretty clean and there was no algae when we were there.

The lake itself runs east-west and is about 1.2km long and 300m wide. We went east, paddling into the sight wind.

The south shore is a fir forest with a walking trail just into the trees. The north shore is mostly deciduous and climbs up a steep hill.

The east end of the lake (below) has a small creek flowing in. The west end (not pictured) is reedy.

There were some birds (loons, ducks, a heron, and and osprey) and there are fish and beaver here. The water was clean but a bit murky (Twin Lake would be a much better choice for swimming).

We did a leisurely lap in 40 minutes (maybe 3km) and then had lunch at the launch. You could easily do Twin Lake and East Twin Lake in a day.

The walk back out was a bit of a grind but there was lots to look at each time we stopped. The hiking trails looked pretty well used.