While we wait for the lakes to open up, we were back on the Sturgeon last week. I dragged the kid along and we put in again in Oakmont and this time went upstream a ways.
Canoeing Around Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Saturday, April 20, 2024
More on the Sturgeon
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Early start on 2024: The Sturgeon
It has been a warm winter and early spring. That meant a portion of the Sturgeon River was open on March 17. I put in at the corner of Otter Crescent and Olivier Close and paddled downstream (north). Street parking about a 150-foot carry to the water. Just through the stone archway and head directly towards the river through the grass and shore weeds.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
2023 Wrap-up
Alright, well that wraps up the 2023 paddling season. Overall, it was a great year on the water.
I paddled almost 60 times (I lost track after 55). About half of those were on my own and half with the family. I also paddled 24 new lakes this year. Both of those are one-year records for me.
I spent some time over the winter putting together a more user-friendly list of lakes that I've paddled, linking to the posts for each lake. On the web version, this sits at the top right of the blog (above my picture). On the mobile version, your guess is as good as mine!
Hopefully, we'll have open water (and water period) this year to start off 2024! As retirement looms, I have a good list of lakes I'd like to try, including some down in the SE corner of the province and bunch up around Smoky Lake.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
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.
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.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Half Moon Lake, Sherwood Park
On Thanksgiving, I hauled my boat out to Half Moon Lake just SE of Sherwood Park. The public access is east on Wye Road to Range Road 220 (the Esso corner), then south on RR220 until you hit the lake. The public launch is across from the second Canada Post box and there is gravel parking for three vehicles. Then you have to carry about 300 feet down a steep gravel path to the water.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Lac La Nonne
Last Thanksgiving, I dragged the family up to Lac La Nonne of a paddle. The weather was amazing and we basically had the lake to ourselves. The water was pretty green.
We put in at the north end of the lake at the nature reserve (signage of the highway was terrible). I'm not sure that this is a public boat launch. It is at the end of a public road, but there was a sign (I noticed on the way out) that said it was a members only space. That may refer to the dock that is usually here. Anyhow, there was a boat launch and a small beach and we went off the beach and headed east.