Showing posts with label East Pit Lake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label East Pit Lake. Show all posts

Saturday, February 8, 2025

East Pit Lake

In early September, I hauled my boat down to East Pit Lake. Access to East Pit requires carrying the boat over 1000 feet from the parking lot with a pretty significant elevation change, so generally I end up going here on my own with my kayak riding on my head.


The upside of East Pit is that the water quality is almost always good (a tough thing to find at the end of a hot summer) and the carry deters most paddlers.


The muddy shore launch is fine. There were a lot of folks fishing (it was the Saturday night of a long weekend) and even a few folks on the water, which is unusual. Most cleared out by about 6 pm.


The lake was calm (it sits about 100 feet below the surrounding land) with just enough breeze to help cut the heat.



There were lots of ducks, plus two osprey fishing, and these two making a lot of noise in a nesting box (maybe eagles--it was too far away to tell).


I did two laps in about 90 minutes and there were a lot of fish jumping.



The climb back out is always a chore. The canoeists in the picture below took a lot of breaks getting up the hill.


I managed to make it up the hill in one go...


...And then down the other side to the parking lot. The trail from the crest to the parking lot has had a bit of wear since I was last here and required more attention to footing (roots and terraces, mostly). I wore my runners for the walk and changed into and out of my water shoes by the shore.

Overall, a lovely trip if you're up for the carry. Inflatables--which is what most people were using--really come into their own here.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

East Pit Lake

In early October, I ventured out to East Pit Lake, just north of Wabamun. The lake was lovely; the approach is the challenge here. The carry is about 1500 feet but with a 150-foot elevation change. I've always gone with others so we could cooperate for the carry; today was my first time on my own.


Getting down to the lake wasn't too bad. I just put the boat on my head and walked down. It was a bit stormy when I got there, with some chop and then a small rainstorm that I rode out under a willow bush.


The beavers have been busy with a much bigger lodge than last year!


As the sun came out, the paddle got nicer. There were a couple of guys fishing and one lone muskrat puttering along the shoreline.


The fall colours were great though. 



After a couple of laps, it was time to hump the boat back out. I was glad I brought my regular shoes with me instead of changing at the truck and making do with sandals.


Looking up the hill.


Knees making complaining sounds.


It wasn't terrible but the hill was long.


I managed to get back to the truck without setting the boat down so I'm calling that a win.

Overall, a pretty good paddle and nice to know I can do it solo, since my previous paddling partners are both hard-no's on this one!

Saturday, November 26, 2022

East Pit Lake

In mid-August, we took a second trip out to East Pit Lake, just north of Wabamun on a Sunday evening. The parking lot (which is small) was nearly full but it was entirely with people fishing on the edge.


We humped the boats up to the crest of the hill and then all the way down. About 1000 feet from the parking lot and maybe 150 feet of vertical gain and loss.


The entry was clean and the lake was deserted and calm. Being down in a valley seems to negate most of the wind.


The lake is very much a prairie lake (hasn't been enough time since the area was strip-mined for the aspen to grown back). The water was super clean.


We saw some geese, a beaver, an osprey fishing, and some angry loons. Lots of fish jumping.


The picture below is the hill you have to climb back up at the end! We did two laps in about 90 ninety minutes at a very leisurely pace, including a trip up the little reach on the south side of the lake.


Overall, a neat change of pace from the usual lakes. 

Saturday, June 18, 2022

East Pit Lake

In late May, we went out to East Pit Lake, which is about 1km north of the Wabamun Village exit on Highway 16. This is a man-made lake over an old quarry (the whole areas looks to have been strip mined about 25 years ago).


There is a small parking lot about 1000 feet from the lake. You can slide your boats under the gate and follow a trail leading west. The trail forks after a short distance; stay on the northern (right) footpath as it passes an outhouse and climbs about 50 vertical feet to the crest of a hill. From here, it is about 100 vertical feet down to the water.


The entrance is a small "beach" which was a touch grotty. The water, however was lovely and clear as soon as we were off the beach. Definitely suitable for paddle boarding.

The lake itself is about 1.5 km long and maybe half a km wide. We did a full circuit in about an hour taking our time.


The lake was very calm, being down in a bit of a hollow. There were a tonne of birds to be seen and lots of fish jumping


This was a very beautiful paddle. The only people on the lake were a couple of folks fishing from the shore.

There were also some beaver, an osprey, loons, mergansers, and lots of red-winged blackbirds.


Getting the boats back to the car was a bit of a chore. The pictures below give you a sense of the climb. 



There is a bench about half way up and you can detour to see one of the scrapper buckets (about the size of a small garage) used on the site.


Overall, a pretty positive trip. The carry was long than usual but not too challenging.