Kimball Lake, Saskatchewan

A vacation took us to Meadow Lake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan. Our first stop was Kimball Lake, which is rated as one of Canada's best beaches. Oddly, the lake did not appear on my GPS (although the road net to the campground did).

The best lake access is on the east side of the lake, just north of the campground. There is a boat launch a little bit to the north of the parking lot but the carry for the parking lot to the beach is about 100 feet and it was way nicer to launch off of the beach.

Boat launch as seen from the water.

We paddled up the north side of the lake to the west end. The bird watching was good: herons, eagles pelicans, and loons all put in an appearance. It was an hour or so to paddle the length of the lake, with several stops to rescue dragon flies.

We had fine weather and this was one of the nicest paddles I can recall.

Wr got the west end of the lake and found a beach (boat in only) where we stopped for a swim. The water is super clean and reasonably warm. It looks like you can get into the next lake with a short portage to the west.

The wind came up so we cut down the south side of the lake and made it make in half the time (there was a bit of chop!). We then sat on the public beach (below) and had lunch and swam.

The beach was pretty dead due to COVID. The store by the campground was closed (this was the case at all the lakes we visited), although the store at Grieg Lake was open. Would absolutely recommend this as a vacation spot. A bit of a drive from Edmonton (6 hours) but amazing beach and a decent looking campground.

Back on the Sturgeon

Spring has finally arrived, so Monday night we loaded up the kayaks and headed for St Albert.

The boat launch across from St. Albert Place was clear of ice (and people!) and the water was high so it was a lovely entry.

We saw lots of muskrat in town and a few other boats on the water.

We paddled past the rail bridge just before a big ice floe crashed into the bridge and blocked the channel back!

There were a few other big floes and I got to play around and steer one to the side.

The beaver were very active towards Gibbons Drive, with two beavers quite unhappy that we were paddling near the lodge. They swam around and slapped their tails multiple times.

We eventually turned around and floated back down as the clouds made the light way more dramatic. Lots of birds and waterfowl.

The bridge was still blocked when we got there.

We couldn't bust the ice floe free but we were able to paddle around through the pillings because the water was so high. That beat portaging.

On the way back, there was another beaver on the bank near St Albert Place (no picture).

Happy no people or phones got wet this time. It was great to be back on the water.

The North Saskatchewan has opened up but there is a fair bit of water, lots of floating ice, and the sides are too iced up for access. The city has also put the access point at Emily Murphy out of commission due to bridge repairs.

Athabasca River, Athabasca

During  recent work trip, I managed to get an hour in to paddle on the Athabasca River, which flows past the town of Athabasca. I've paddled the Athabasca in Jasper but never this far downstream.



Access is really easy, with Highway Two depositing you right a the river's edge in a lovely park. There is a boat launch right there and ample parking.

I paddled upstream about 45 minutes until I started to lose the light and then floated back. The river is a bit larger than the North Saskatchewan and had a pretty decent current, even late in the autumn.

The autumn leaves made for a nice paddle. It might be more fun to do this paddle with a shuttle arrangement.

My time was limited during this trip but nearby Island Lake and Baptiste Lake to the west and Lawrence Lake to the north look like good places to try the next time I'm up (in the summer!).

There is also Skeleton Lake and North Buck Lake to the east (the latter has a provincial park).

Long Lake Provincial Park

Work took me north in early October and I managed to swing by Long Lake Provincial Park during the drive. This is a different Long Lake than the one which hosts the Forfar Recreation Area (which is to the west about an hour).



Long Lake is a bit of a haul from Edmonton (2+ hours each way) for a day trip, but there is a nice campground here. The facilities were pretty decent and included a boat rental and concession (open during the summer) as well as a store and gas station just outside the park gates. The boat-rental dock (normally on the left in picture below) had been hauled out for the season when I got there.

There is a large public beach with a playground and picnic facilities. You'd have to haul a boat maybe 200 feet to beach launch, but this is likely the best option.

The lake is very long (north-south) and it can be windy. When I got there, the air temperature down in the valley was only 3 degrees (!) and the wind made it much worse. I'm pretty hardy but this was just too cold for me to paddle.

There is a boat launch to the north of the main beach.

There is also a dock at the boat launch.

Overall, likely a nice lake on a calm day. Not so nice of a paddle if the wind gets rolling. I would say this is a slightly less attractive paddling option than the Forfar site at the other Long Lake in the region.

Moonlight Bay, Wabamun Lake

It has been a couple of years since we've been to Wabamun Lake Provincial Park. I took a morning off work after a late night and Jess and I headed out for a quick paddle.



Things are basically the same as the last time were were here. Good parking and two boat launches. There is also a big public dock if that is to your taste. The bathrooms move have been recently improved.

The beach was lovely and largely deserted on a Wednesday morning. The weekends are typically much, much busier

We paddled around the outside of moonlight bay, voice dup some garbage and two beachballs.

The water was super clean, and with the sun, we spent a lot of time looking at the weeds, watching fish jump, and swallows catch bugs.

It was a calm day so we also went under the railway bridge and out in the main lake. Basically you could paddle forever here (Wabamun is big!) but Jess was getting a bit tired so we poked around in the reeds and then went back to the beach.

I'd say we spent 90 minutes here and it was a lovely paddle, perfect for beginners. Things were picking up by 11 with more kayaks, some paddle boards, and more power boats.

Our next paddle with either be Long Lake north of Gibbons or maybe Lake Nakamun (hard to find info about public entry--google suggests a launch on the south side).

Forfar Recreation Park, Long Lake

We drove up towards Athabasca last week to check out the Forfar Recreation Area. The trip is about 90 minutes north on Highway 2 followed by a short drive west on Highway 663.

There is a $5 entry fee to access the lake. The main access point has a beach, boat launch, dock and swimming area. The water is lovely (spring fed and clear). There is also a campground with separate beach.

We paddled north up the west side of the lake. After getting through the first narrows we hit a shallower area with a speed limit. This was much nicer as we weren't have to cope with the wake of the many boats pulling tubes.

Pretty typical northern lake but with lovely clear water (more like northern Saskatchewan lLakes at the tail of the Shield).

We paddled up towards a camp. We came back down the east side to try and get out of the wind that came up. There is also a small camp ground at the north end of Long Lake, but I don't know what kind of lake access there is (google suggests limited).

Further north is Narrow Lake. We didn't try that but there is a campground with water access about half way down the east side of Narrow Lake.

Overall, a lovely day and a very nice lake. We might go back again and see what the south end of the lake holds. There is another Long Lake about 60km to the east (which is confusing) that also appears to have a campground and beach that we might try this summer.

Cardiff Pond

We took a couple of trips out to Cardiff Pond this spring while the Sturgeon was too low to paddle and the North Saskatchewan was too high.

A kayak club has taken up residency here which means a new (and better) dock and beach. This makes for a much nicer launch.

Jess always enjoys collecting fishing gear that has floated away from the many anglers. We ended up with 14 floats and a half dozen lures this time. We also managed to get into the one reach we could not paddle last year because of an aggressive loon.

I also managed to recover a large patio umbrella and a sodden coat. On a separate trip, I found two cans of beer (thanks to the graduating class of Morinville High!).

Overall, a pleasant afternoon only 30 minutes north of town. Lots of birds on the water, including terns, loons, geese, ducks and heron.

 Also lots of other kayakers as the club has practices and races on the weekends.