Little Mere Lake and North Lake

In mid-October, we hauled back out to the Chickakoo Nature Reserve to paddle Little Mere Lake and North Lake that run along the north side of the reserve. The link above goes to google maps but, since access is tricky, I screen shotted a portion of the map.

So the best access we could find is on the east end of North Lake, right where Range Road 12 intersects Township Road 540 (yellow arrow). There is a "dead end" sign (below) and 15 feet to the east of that is a culvert that brings the lake right to the edge of the ditch. We just parked on the shoulder.

The bank is pretty steep and then you get to make an exciting DIY entry. We had to bum scoot the boats about eight feet before they floated free. The lake level is up quite a bit due to beaver activity so you then need to navigate a small forest to get out on the the lake properly.

The lake itself is quite nice. Iced tea water but no real smell. Lots of birds, though, with nesting boxes all around the perimeter.

The two lakes are connected through a swampy narrows.

Some deadheads here plus a lot of muskrats. Nothing too difficult at this water level. I'm not sure it would be navigable at the normal water level.

The western basin (Little Mere Lake) is smaller but also pretty nice (below). There is a road along the north and west shores. You could get in at the west end of the lake, but the bank is steep. The north road is much higher than the lake so that would be a sucky (or extremely exciting, depending upon your perspective) entry.

The sun was beautiful while we were out and the kid showed off what she's learning in her botany class.

On the way back, we followed the south shore and found where the lake used to drain towards Kettle lake. The beavers have dammed this up and the lake is several feet above its natural level.

Overall, a fun paddle with a rustic entry and no one else on the water. The shoreline is about 4km around and took maybe 90 minutes without any hurrying. We did see some hikers from the Chickakoo trails plus some horses from a farm the juts out into the lake.

Chickakoo Lake

On the Thanksgiving weekend, we went out to Chickakoo Lake for the first time in years. We've walked around here but I don't think we've ever paddled. 

The place was hopping and we snagged the last parking spot by the boat launch but there was no one on the lake (lots of hiking and picnicking). Some other paddlers showed up just as we were pulling out.

There is a dock, boat launch (sort of), dock, and pit toilets and picnic table there. We had to push a bunch of logs out of the way to use the launch and the water was pretty green.

The lake was surprisingly small once we go out on it. Nothing wrong with it but you could paddle the perimeter in half an hour if you you really hauled. The map suggested we might get into Kettle Lake via a creek but that is not the case.

We had a pretty good time puttering around and playing in the aeration bubbles.

The sun came out at the north end of the lake, near the scout camp. I fished out a float, lure and 40 feet of line someone had lost.

There were lots of muskrats to watch.

Overall, this was a fine enough paddle but a bit shorter than I wanted. It wa sonly about 6 degrees when we started so Jess was perhaps happy to be done so quickly!

More interesting to me is the seemingly unnamed lake (perhaps once part of Kettle Lake?) that is immediately north of Chickakoo and runs east-west just south of Township Road 540.  It looked like there was sore access on the east end off the road.

Chickakoo Lake

Chickakoo Lake is located in the 480-acre Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area, just west of Edmonton on Highway 16. Take Highway 16 to Secondary Highway 779 and turn north. Then turn west on Township Road 534 and the north on Range Road 13.

The main site offers pit toilets, lots of parking and a trail system suitable for walking, mountain biking and horse riding. The loop (Indian Ridge Trail) that leaves the parking lot has several picnic sites. There is also a boat launch and it is a popular fishing hole.

Chickakoo Lake runs NW-SE with the boat launch at the SE corner. Excepting the boat launch, most of the shoreline is reeds and bog.

The trees mean the lake is extremely calm most days and there are a lot of fish jumping (it is stocked each year). We’ve also seen beaver and lots of waterfowl. Others report deer, moose and bear.

To the north of Chickakoo Lake on Range Road 13, you will hit Township Road 540. Turning east will return you to Secondary Highway 779. On the south side of the road, you will see a long lake called Kettle Lake. I have not been able to find a decent entry point to Kettle Lake.

The hiking here is lovely and we might go back to ride our bikes. From a canoeing perspective, wildlife and fishing and the main draws. There are prettier lakes to canoe.