Steele Lake, Cross Lake Provincial Park

In early June, we trucked about 90 minutes NW of town to Cross Lake Provincial Park to paddle Steele Lake. The last 10km of the drive are on gravel and the park has a good set of amenities, including a boat launch and dock, a nice beach, pit toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits. There is also a campground.

You can drop right beside the water and park 30m away. It was slightly smoky when we got there but that soon blew off. There was also a small rim of algae on the edge in places (not the bad kind).

With the wind coming from the south, we turned right off the beach and paddled into it, thinking we'd explore the bay in the SW corner of the lake and then work out way east to a creek mouth. The last time we were here, we went north (left) and scoped out the NW corner.

The SW corner is mostly swamp or muskeg, with the trees fairly far back from the water. There were lots of fish and birds but to much else of note.

As we worked our way along the shore, there were a few higher spots with trees closer to the water.

The highlight was probably spotting this loon sitting on a nest hoping the annoying people would just move on (super zoomed in, apologies for the pixellation).

As we started east towards the creek, we bravely rescued a sand shovel that had floated off the beach!

We got to about here (maybe 6km of paddling) and ran into the hugest fish fly hatch I've ever seen. There was no wind and they were so thick my wife said I looked like Pigpen from Charlie Brown.

At that point, we paddled out into the middle the lake to find a breeze and finally get rid of them. Instead of eating lunch on the water, we decided to just paddle back and eat on the beach.

Overall, a pretty nice paddle. Lots of people fishing, both from shore and out of boats. We did about 7km in two-ish hours and had a nice time. The NW corner of the lake was nicer to paddle than the SW. I'd like to get over into the eastern end of the lake sometime.

Steele Lake, Cross Lake Provincial Park

In late May, we drove up past Westlock to Cross Lake Provincial Park (just 60km west of Athabasca). I've been meaning to paddle Steele Lake for a couple of years but I always leave it too late in the season (algae-wise). The last bit of the drive in on gravel but the facilities are very nice.

There is a boat launch but we just launched from the day-use beach right beside it. It was a nice, clean, sandy launch. There were washrooms, change rooms, and picnic tables plus so-so cell service. The camp store apparently sells ice cream.

We went north (left) off the beach and padded around the first large bay. The picture above is pretty representative of the shoreline. Eventually, we arrived at George's Point (below). The point is a hike-in/paddle-in picnic site (looked like outhouses, garbage cans, benches, tables and a fire ring. Some of the older maps suggest this is also a tenting site, but I've read that is no longer the case. something to sort out a head of time if that is your plan.

Before we go to the point, about half way around the first bay, we turned up a creek and ran across a loon on a nest. The loon tried to lure us away. We took a couple of quick shots of the nest before following the loon back out to the lake.

Lots of other birds to watch along the way. The lake was teeming with fish, including perch in shallow.

After about an hour and 20 minutes of paddling along the north shore, we decided to turn back and cut across the lake. There were a fair number of fishing boats out (a dozen?) but the lake is huge so we hardly noticed them.

We had great weather the whole time. Warm, sunny, and no wind. I would imagine the lake would get pretty rough in a good wind.

The water quality was pretty good. There were places where there was some algae (not blue-green). The worst spot was out in the middle of the lake (shot below). The shores were fine. Experienced paddlers say go early in the season to avoid the algae.

Overall, this was a nice lake and I would likely go back and try to south shore. It is bit of a drive (90 minute or more). Nearby is Long Island Lake, which might make for a nice two-for-one trip.