Tide Creek, off Pigeon Lake

In early June, I spent a windy morning exploring Tide Creek, which is located on the western edge of Pigeon Lake. There are a couple of access points off Secondary Highway 771. The first is through the Gilwood boat launch (green arrow). This puts you on Pigeon Lake about 100 north of the creek entrance.

There is a dock, lots of parking, and a portapotty here and the launch is sand/gravel. The water is very shallow for a long way out and, in early June, it was cleanish but pretty smelly.

The entrance to the creek is an easy paddle. Below, looking up the creek, you can see the bridge where Highway 771 crosses it (orange arrow). This is the second access point. 

There is well established ditch parking on either side of the road on the south side of the bridge. The shot below looks south on the east side of the bridge and is probably the easiest launch point.

The shot below looks south on the west side of the bridge and is a trickier launch, although you can carry to a lower spot just out of the frame on the right. There were some folks fishing here when I went by.

Once past the bridge, the creek was about 10m wide. The water level was high due to a wet spring so YMMV here.

The paddle up the winding creek is maybe 4km to Range Road 22 (yellow arrow). Round trip was two hours. Along the way, there is a birch forest, a more boreal fir forest, and some open meadow. The surrounding terrain sat just above my head most of the way. You could get out but it looks mucky.

There were both wild strawberry and raspberry plants along the way.

I also ran across two broken beaver dams. The first below (blue arrow) was easy to paddle over.

A bit further along (red arrow), there was a more intact dam. This took me a couple of tries and some light cursing to get over and I finally dragged myself up on the left side.

I'm not sure this would be passable in lower water. At this point, the creek had also narrowed to between 4 and 6m wide.

Eventually, I hit the bridge at Range Road 22 (yellow arrow). The creek continued on beyond it but looks narrower. There was a third broken dam under the bridge and this one I could not get past. The current was strong and there were some hidden rocks right in front of the chute that made things tricky. I could have carried around but I was tired and the paddling beyond didn't look great so I turned around.

Overall, a nice trip (thank to Seana for suggesting it) up a creek that I haven't seem anyone really post about. This was a good paddle option for a windy day. I'm not sure what it would be like later in the season if the water water level dropped. I'd say even six inches less water would make portion of the paddle much more difficult and the channel narrower, especially near the far end. It might also be pretty buggy.

I'd certain go back here. The bird watching was great and there were also beaver and muskrats. It is probably about the same distance as Pipestone Creek is from Edmonton but offers a different vibe.

Leduc Reservoir

In early June, I drove to Leduc to try out the Leduc Reservoir, located just west of Highway 2. It is right by the flags and the old jet trainer on a post.

Access is thorough Fred John's Park on the south side of the reservoir and there is a boat launch right off the parking lot. You could park as close as 10m to the water. The park has washrooms, a playground and picnic tables as well as walking paths.

The launch is a shallow gravel launch and the water is iced tea coloured. I've no idea what the water might look like later in the year. Although this is called a reservoir, it is really more of a storm pond and/or sloe.

Reverse shot of entry.

There is some inflow on the south end and an outflow on the north.

The sky was quite moody on the day I was there so the shots are a bit dreary. It was a very pretty swamp paddle with great birding.

Grebe nest with eggs.

Pelicans and geese on the island.

Cormorant.

This is a pretty representative shot: bullrush edge with aspens and firs in behind. The reservoir is surrounded by park and walking trails.

There is a small interior pond if you duck under this bridge.

The sun briefly came out. I did about 1.5 laps at a regal pace and it took me an hour.

It is worth noting that the east end of the main basin is right up against Highway 2 and it was loud.

More pelicans. Overall, a nice short paddle reminiscent of Hermitage Pond in Edmonton.

This would be a decent after-work paddle when the days start to get short of a nice two-fer with Telford Lake, just to the east.

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.

Jackfish Lake, Parkland County

In late May, we got out to Jackfish Lake, just west of Stony Plain, for a mid-week paddle. Jackfish is a nice, clean lake with good access on the eastern side at the county boat launch just off Highway 770. There is a dock, cement ramp, gravel beach, pit toilets, and a picnic table here. The drawback is that the county charges for access after 4:30 on weeknights and all day on weekends (it was $20 when I was there).

The other drawback is that, on occasion, I've had some unkind behaviour from big wake boats, especially around the launch area. We were fortunate to not have any issues this paddle and crossed to the island before turning south.

There is a lot of shoreline to explore and this trip we saw a stupid number of loons.  Some were on nests while others were just out cruising.

The shoreline is fairly built up but there are also still wild areas.

The water was super clean and I'd SUP here.

There are some small bays and inlets in the south end that are fun to explore. There were lots of geese in here.

We had pretty amazing weather, being both sunny and calm. I have had wetter paddles on Jackfish (it is big enough to get a good chop on a windy day). 

There were lots of other birds, including this pelican who we watched fish along the shore. 

Overall, a decent paddle a nice lake. I would avoid this one on a summer weekend as it is likely to be busy. The people we watched fishing were having a great day.