Half Moon Lake, Sherwood Park

On Thanksgiving, I hauled my boat out to Half Moon Lake just SE of Sherwood Park. The public access is east on Wye Road to Range Road 220 (the Esso corner), then south on RR220 until you hit the lake. The public launch is across from the second Canada Post box and there is gravel parking for three vehicles. Then you have to carry about 300 feet down a steep gravel path to the water.

The launch itself is nice gravel.

This shot maybe gives you a better sense of the launch.

The lake was still and empty and the trees were very colourful.

The lake was also colourful; this was about the worst of it.

The far west end was too choked with weeds to bother with and there were only a few geese and ducks around.

There is a beach launch on the souther end of the lake but usually you have to pay for access from the resort.

At this point in the years there is real "empty lake, empty beach" vibe going on.

Great reflections though and a pretty nice paddle.

Overall, this is more of an early season paddle when the water is better and the lake is much quieter on a  weekday than on a weekend in the summer.

Halfmoon Lake by Thorhild

Back in early June, we drove up to Halfmoon Lake, north of Bon Accord (we were going to a greenhouse up that way so put the boats on). Access is through the Halfmoon Lake Campground and there is a user fee (I can't recall how much, maybe $10 for the car?).

There is a boat launch with a beach, dock, swimming area, playground, and picnic tables. There are also washrooms and a change room a bit further back. I think they sell ice cream at the gate.

We had both cloudy and smokey skies the day we were there. The lake is long and narrow and can have a lot of boats on it in the weekend. It was pretty quiet early on a  Sunday morning.

Basically you get a weedy edge that immediately gives way to forest. There are a fair few cabins on the north edge and maybe one of two on the south.

The east end of the lake had quite a lot of weeds.

We chased a heron most of the way from the east end to the west.

There were a lot of ducks and a couple of loons in the west end, which is also swampy. Plus whatever the hell that floating scaly root thing is.

We had a nice tail wind heading back. Maybe an hour around the lake?

Overall, this is a so-so lake. I'd paddle here again if I was in the area. I'm not sure I'd drive up again without a good reason.

Half-Moon Lake, Sherwood Park

In June, I drove out to Half-Moon Lake just SE of Sherwood Park for a paddle. There are two access points. I came south off Wye Road (turn at the Esso) onto Range Road 220, then south until the road turned east to parallel the northern edge of the lake. The public access is across from the second Canada Post superbox.

There is parking at the top and then you can carry down You could also drive down but the road is steep and you'd be reversing back up. You are only seeking about half the vertical drop in the picture above. The put-in is nice gravel.

The other option is on the south side of the lake at the resort (see below). There is a fee but a proper boat launch, beach, and such.

I had a beautiful sunny day and the reflections were amazing. The lake is quiet during the week but busier on the weekends and is pretty narrow.

A full circuit took me about an hour paddling very slowly as I watched the birds and enjoyed the sun.

I startled a red-necked grebe off a next in the reeds in the western end of the lake (you can see eggs in the middle of the image below). Lots of birds, although no pelicans this year.

Overall, a nice easy paddle in clean water.

Half Moon Lake, Thorhild County

After visiting Half Moon Lake SE of Sherwood Park, a friend pointed out that there was also a Half Moon Lake NE of town in Thorhild County. I took Highway 28 north of town to Bon Accord, turned up Lily Lake Road and followed it until it dead-ended at Township Road 590. Then maybe 4km on gravel to the Half Moon lake Campground. About an hour all told.

The campground has a day use area with a sandy boat launch on the north shore. The access fee is $20 per car to use the launch. There are washrooms and decent parking. The rest of the lakeshore is private property and I didn't see any other access points. I expect this lake would be hopping on the weekend.

The lake is only about 200m wide and the perimeter is four and half or five km long. It took me less than two hours to paddle at a relax pace. The lake runs east-west and there are no trees on the west end so the wind gets a good run. I'm not sure the lake is deep enough to worry much about big rollers. It was pretty windy when I was there (up to 30kmh) but the waves were no real problem.

The west end of the lake is a typical northern Alberta lake. Pine trees, boggy shore, beaver lodges, waterfowl, and some lilybeds. The water was super clear.

I paddled though the swampier area on the west end and then cruised the south shore back east.

The eastern half of the lake is much of a Parkland style, with aspens. Overall, the east end was prettier.

The wind really picked up on the way back but the wave action was pretty modest (below).

Overall, a nice paddle. A friend said she and her family picked up some itch there once so a rinse after getting out might be in order (I didn't see any facilities for that, so plan ahead with some water jugs). There was a touch of algae in the west end (typical swamp stuff, not a bloom). No idea what the water would be like in the summer--might be worth phoning ahead to the campground.

Half Moon Lake, Sherwood Park

I tried out Half Moon Lake a week or so back. This Half Moon Lake is located south and east of Sherwood Park. You can come at it a couple of different ways. If you come in off Township Road 520 on the south side, you can access the lake through the Half Moon Lake Resort. This includes a beach (see below) and boat launch. I understand there is a small day-use fee to launch from here ($10/person).

The other options require you go east from Sherwood Park on Wye Road then turn south down Range Road 220 and come at the lake from the North. There are two public access points that I have flagged in the screen cap below. Both are a little tricky to find. As you drive eastward along the north shore of the lake, there are three Canada Post super boxes. The launches are across from the second and third boxes.

The right-most launch is a grassy path down to the water. There is a bit of slope.

The water entrance is the pits. Big step down to the bottom where the lake drops off rapidly.

I think the better option is the left-hand access. This is a gravel road. In theory, you could drive down, unload and drive up. But there is no room at the bottom to turn around and the road is pretty pitted and quite steep. I just parked at the top and carried (maybe 200 feet?).

Access to the water is good with a little shelf of gravel on the bottom to stand on and launch from.

The lake is about 4km around the perimeter but the western section is marsh where pelicans and other birds nest (so best avoided until late summer).

There were a lot of lovely birds (including pelicans--I saw one group of at last 30 in the distance) flying and floating. The trees are mostly aspens and have a lovely rustling sound in the wind. I bet this would be spectacular in the autumn when the leaves turn.

A beaver lodge, a fair number of cabins, and lots of power boats on the shore. So probably a busy lake on a summer weekend. I wonder about algae in summer.

Overall, a really nice beginner paddle (maybe an hour around the edge). Not much shelter in a blow, though. Would totally go back.