Little Beaver, Big Beaver and Miquelon Lakes by Camrose

In mid-June, I put in to Little Beaver Lake, just SW of Camrose at the village of Ferintosh. There are two public access points on the eastern shore, the campground (yellow arrow) and a day-use area (green arrow). I chose the campground because it had a washroom (flush toilets! pay showers!). There was also a playground and picnic tables.

You can drive down to the boat launch, drop, and then come back to the main picnic area to park. I just parked and walked the 100m.

There is a cement launch but it was easier to go in on the left side of it where the bottom was soft and the slope was gentle.

The water was very Mountain Dew but didn't smell at all. There were lots of critters in the water so I would not swim here.

The lake is about 9km around and takes about 2.5 hours. It is very similar to most of the valley bottom lakes between Edmonton and Red Deer to the east of Highway 2 (so First and Second Chain Lake, Magee Lake, and Lacombe Lake). Basically some bullrushes along the edge (but also some exposed bank) that gives way to shrubs (willow, dogwood, wild rose, high-bush cranberry) and eventually a deciduous forest.

The most interesting thing I saw was on the eastern shore when I noticed what looked like fur among the leaves (middle of picture below).

I circled back and woke someone up. Bigger than a house cat but not bigger than my 75lb lab. No idea for sure what it was as it cleared off pretty fast.

The north end of the lake was very swampy with lots of birds.

I went down the western shore and saw a beaver and, later, a heron being harassed by two red-winged black birds.

The southern end of the lake is more open. Coming back up the eastern shore is the day use area by what I think is the village pump house. A school trip in canoes were loading out.

There is a dock here. If you are in a kayak, you'd be better off to try through the reeds on the far right of the photo below (where there is a lake level gauge). 

Big Beaver Lake

Since I was down here, I tried to find access to Big Beaver Lake (which is immediately north and east of Ferintosh). Some looking on google earth suggested trying the SW or NE corners.

The picture below is shot from the SW corner (red arrow). While you could access the lake here, you'd have to cross fenced private land and splash through a boggy creek. That was a no for me.

The NE end is more doable. Range Road 211 abuts the lake (blue arrow). It may be that a portion of the pitch is private land (and maybe not) but it is not fenced.

It is quite a drop to the lake and edge of the lake has bullrushes and what looked like a muddy perimeter. The only parking is on the edge of the gravel road. There's lot of room but sometimes the RCMP will ticket parking like this (I doubt they're randomly driving by, but someone might phone and complain).

I dunno. The lake is pretty much a repeat of Little Beaver Lake so I'm likely gonna take a pass on this.

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park

Since I had some time on my hands and was in the area, I cruised by Miquelon Lake. The park is lovely and well maintained but the lake has shrunken significantly since the last time I was here (maybe 2017?).

It was almost 600m from the parking lot to the water by the main beach, which is maybe 200m further than it was in 2007--maybe more. The water quality was terrible and you'd have to trudge out a long way to get deep enough to float.

I drove up to the old hand launch site. This is a shorter carry (maybe 50m) but the same launching issues exist here.

The last time we were here, I think we launched roughly where the picnic table is in the photo below.

The lake gauge (the bottom of which is about 60cm above the current lake level) really tells a tale.

There are lots of interesting things at Miquelon Lake, but it isn't really a viable paddling destination at the moment.

Coal Lake and Pipestone Creek

In late May, I ventured down to Coal Lake and Pipestone Creek near Wetaskiwin. Access to both is available at the south end of Coal Lake near the campground.

The launch contains a cement ramp and a small gravel beach, a dock, pit toilets, and picnic tables plus lots of parking. The water was pretty clean in late May.

The entrance to Pipestone Creek is due west across the lake from the launch. The entrance is in the reeds on the south end of the lake but isn't hard to find (being 25 feet across). Just paddle to the west shore and turn left (south).

The channel meanders some and eventually you go under a cement road bridge with lots of swallows.

You can then paddle about 4 winding km up the creek. There are usually lots of birds to watch.

Eventually you enter sensitive habitat with this request to stay in your boat. This matters because you will encounter some beaver dams and be tempted to get out to get around them.

On this trip, the first one I encountered was broken (left side of picture below) and the water was high enough that I could bum scoot over the lip.

The channel narrows as you go upstream against the very mild current.

Someone cut the tree that used to block the channel.

This let me get to the second beaver dam.

This is a good-sized dam (over my head sitting in the boat--maybe a four-foot lip). I was getting tired and decided to turn around and float back.

It was a lovely paddle on a hot day with no bugs and pretty decent water. Probably not suitable for SUP or inflatables, though,

On the way out, I got pretty close to some pelicans.

I drove back past the launch at the north end of coal lake (which is very long). This site has pit toilets, picnic tables, and a cement launch.

The road that crosses Coal Lake also has informal pull outs you could access. Coal lakes extends a bit north of the road (although you can't get under the road) so you could also paddle that, if you wanted.

I think the next time I'm down here, I will give the north access a go.

Islet Lake

In early September, we decided to take advantage of a nice weekday and head out to Islet Lake. Access to the lake is about a 100m carry that begins on the gravel path behind the cooking shelter. In addition to the shelter there is lots of parking, picnic tables, fire rings, and pit toilets.

The path is straight forward but does have a steeper section right as you approach the lake.

Looking at the photos from last summer, the water level is down about a foot (maybe a touch more) so there is a much larger sand/gravel apron to launch from. There were more rocks we bumped over as we launched.

There was no wind so we went left (south) off the launch and paddled the eastern basin.

The sun came out and it was toasty warm.

There was more fall colour in the countryside than there is in town.

A few pelicans gave us a close pass. We then paddled down to the far northwestern end of the lake.

Along the way we saw some hawks and kingfishers. We also ran into this lone heron, fishing.

The north end gets pretty shallow and you can see (in the photo below) where my wife's paddling was staring up the bottom muck.

Eventually, it was lunch time and we headed back. Some Vees of geese flew over.

This shot gives you a sense of the water. A dark yellow-green. My white paddle disappeared from view about 3 inches down.

Overall, a fine enough paddle and I was happy not to have to fight the wind for once!