Northeast River Valley Park

In early September, I dropped in on the Northeast River Valley Park that opened in 2023. The park has a small lake and a channel to explore. You can probably get a boat in just about anywhere but the official launch is about a 250m carry from the main parking lot, across a bridge and down a hill. The picture below looks back at the pavilion from the launch.

There is a dock here in the summer but it was gone for the season when I was there. Entry was a little easier this year due to a small apron of gravel. The bottom is a shallow slope and I got in dry.

Lots of folks are just DIYing entry. The picture below is one access point just below the main parking lot down into the channel. A bit goopier of an entry but only about a 50m carry.

The edge of the lake is most reeds and grass. I was getting some early fall colour the day I went.

The best part of the park are the bridges, including these two that join an island with a playground to each side of the lake. There are also washrooms and a picnic area.

The water was clean but weedy and there are no swimming signs up.

I had a crazy calm day but the lake is also shallow and protected by the surrounding hills so waves aren't going to ever be an issue here.

There are also cement/brick bridges that mark the entrances to the channel.

There wasn't much happening animal wise. I did see a couple different types of hawks, lots of geese and ducks, and I chased a poor heron down the channel and back. The beaver lodge back here looks abandoned.

Two leisurely laps took about an hour. I think this lake offers a nice evening paddle when the days are getting shorter.

Northeast River Valley Park, Edmonton

In late October, I drove out to the new Northeast River Valley Park in Edmonton. The park was formerly a children's camp and still in the process of being developed, but opened in late September. It offers the largest paddling pond in the city.

Signage is still in development so I put a map above. The best parking is by the event centre (purple). You then hike about 600 feet to the launch (green). It is a good hike on a gravelled roadway/path.

The launch looks set to include a dock (it was not present the day I was there). The beach launch is a bit DIY but wasn't too bad.

The pathway down is steep and the last drop to the lake is also steep (if that matters to you). I managed to get in and out dry footed. 

The lake is basically a big north-south pond (maybe twice the size of Hawrelak pond), divided by an island into two basins. There is also a channel on the NE corner that loops around the island that the launch is on.

There is an active beaver lodge in the NE corner of the channel and I saw a couple of muskrats and some ducks.

Otherwise, it was pretty quiet this late in the season. The water is about 15 to 20 feet below the surrounding land so there is some protection from the wind. This is important because there are (so far) few trees in the park and it is a bit windswept--very much like a southern Alberta prairie.

It was a beautiful day when I was out. Sunny and +22C was amazing for late October. It took me about 30 minutes to paddle the whole perimeter at a moderate pace. A second lap made a nice hour of paddling.

The event centre is very pretty and sits atop the hill. Two covered bridged connect an island with a playground on it to the shore. You can easily get under all of the bridges.

Different bridges mark the entrances to the channel. Again, there is lots of headroom.

Overall, this was a nice paddle and would be a good place for a shakedown cruise in the spring or for first timers. It is a long way northeast (I could have gotten to several bigger lakes west of town in the same travel time) so I don't think I'll be a regular.