Heritage Lake

Every time I come back from Athabasca and pass through Morinville, I look to the west and think that I should stop and paddle at Heritage Lake. We recently had the chance to do that.

The easiest access is north on Highway 2, leaving the highway right before the overpass and entering Morinville, and then take the Highway 642 underpass to the west. 

Turn left (south) at the first intersection and follow the public fishing signs to the south end of the lake. (There is a beach and launch site in the RV park at the north end but there is no public access.)

In the public park, there is a boat launch with parking, washrooms, and picnic tables. The launch is a bit sketchy with no real bottom support once you get into the water. The bottom looks sandy, but that is silt on top of sucking mud. (Wear shoes that are on your feet pretty good!)

A quick circuit of the lake take about 30 minutes as a slow pace. Lots of ducks, some weeds, muskrat and lost fishing tackle. This would be a good first paddle for someone. But this is mostly just a local fishing hole.

Better options nearby include Cardiff Pond, the Sturgeon River or even Hermitage Pond.

Nakamun Lake

Jess and I went out to Nakamun Lake for a paddle. We'd previously been here in the winter when I was a chaperon at band camp (sadly, sober) and I've always meant to come back in summer. The drive is about an hour--better to drive up to Morinville or Legal on Highway 2 and then west than trying to work you way up from Highway 16.

The only public access appears to be on the south side of the lake in the summer village of Nakamun Park. There is a boat launch here with conflicting signage: one says residents only and another says use at your own risk. Overall, there were a LOT of rules and speed bumps in the community.

The launch is very long and ends in a hard-to-read ramp.

Sadly, the lake was in the middle of an algae bloom when we arrived so we decided to not paddle.

It looks like a nice enough lake with a fair bit of boat traffic. I'm not sure it was interesting enough to come all the way back for, though.

After a quick snack in the park, we headed to try our luck on Heritage Lake by Morinville.

North Saskatchewan, Laurier Launch

Back on the river last week and I decided to try my luck at the Laurier Park launch. This was a much nicer starting point than Hawrelak Park.

It was a beautiful night, with a hot sun and a light breeze. Paddled up to the the Quesnel bridge.

The River Queen is in dry dick on the beach below the Whitemud Creek snd the current was still pretty fast over on that side of the river.

I spent some time cycling in and out of the eddy behind this big rock. Usually this is in the middle a rock garden but the water was high enough I could float in pretty easily.

With the hot weather causing the river level to drop, I'm hopeful to put in at Fort Edmonton and paddle up to the foot bridge (or maybe the dog park) in September).

Jackfish Lake

Jackfish Lake is located just south-east of Stony Plain with access of Highway 770. Parkland County operates a day-use area on the east side of the lake that includes the boat launch, washrooms, and picnic tables. While access to the boat launch is free, the county charges $20 to park in the evening and on weekends.

The lake itself is reasonably pretty and clean. It is about four km north to south and maybe 2.5kms east to west but the irregular shape make the lake seem smaller and keeps the waves down. There are a lot of cabins on the lake and a fair number of boats (especially on the weekend).

This trip we went into the south end of the lake (we'd previously been to the north about five years ago). There were a large number of coves and reaches to paddle that kept us out of the wind.

The water was very clear. Parts of the bottom were sandy and parts were quite weedy.

I got to try out the new life jacket Jenn and Jess bought me (old one was 20 years old and smelled pretty bad).

Of particular interest is the main island which has boat-in cabins. How do you empty a septic tank on an island?

We had a better time this trip than last, mostly because there were fewer yahoos in boats. I suspect that a hot weekend would see the lake full of power boats, so timing the trip is important.

North Saskatchewan, Hawrelak Launch

Although I haven't been blogging about it (because we haven't been anywhere particularly new or interesting), we've been kayaking a lot this summer. The water finally dropped on the North Saskatchewan enough that I could get out.

Construction on the Groat bridge has backed my usual launch site at Emily Murphy so I tried the new launch at Hawrelak Park. It is so-so. Short carry (200 feet?). Bottom is rocky and seems to drop off. You launch right into a pretty stiff current, which isn't great for starting out paddling upstream. Not sure how the dock (if ever installed) will affect that.

I then paddled upstream on the south shore basically to the Laurier boat launch (so just below the end of the world look out). The first part (to the foot bridge) was a reasonably hard paddle. Once under the bridge, it got easier.

It was a beautiful night to be on the water.

I haven't paddled this stretch before and there are lots of interesting bank formations showing the various layers of clay and a bit of coal.

I also cut down some fishing tackle that was trapped on a tree. An upstream breeze came up on the way back and I had to paddle downstream against white caps! Think I would launch for Laurier next time. Nicer paddle.

Pierce Lake, Saskatchewan

Pierce Lake is located on the west end of Meadow Lake Provincial Park. We put in at Sandy Beach on the south-west corner of the lake. There may also be access in Howe Bay (we did not go here) or where Highway 950 crosses the creek connecting Piece Lake and Lepine Lake (this might be a scramble, though).

Sandy Beach has a boat launch, washrooms, fish cleaning shack, and a nice enough beach area. The lake was very clean, we launched off the beach, and we paddled east along the shore line for an hour or so. The water was clean and we could see the bottom at least 15 feet down.

The beach was smaller than at Kimball Lake. The swimming was very nice and the campground looks large. The store was not open when we were there. We probably wouldn't go back here as there are lots of other lakes of explore in the park and nearby and this was a bit of a drive (although we did see two bears on the drive).

Greig Lake, Saskatchewan

Greig Lake is a large lake located in Meadow Lake Provincial Park. The water is very clean but the edges are a bit swampy. The shore is a mix of sandy beaches and rocks.

There appear to be three main access points. On the east side, there is a boat launch in the Greig Lake campground (there is also a store at the entrance). The pictures also suggest a nice beach but I don't know about access for day paddlers.

On the south east corner (off Highway 224) there is a small day area which includes access to the lake (short carry over a berm). The third access point is at the Waters Edge Eco Resort on the west side, but access is restricted to guests.

We had a lovely time paddling here. The side of the lake means big waves in a blow. There was quite a lot of fishing and water spots on the lake, but its size meant that we never really saw anyone closer than 500 feet.