Canoeing Around Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Devil's Lake
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Muir Lake
Saturday, April 9, 2022
First paddle of the year
I got out on the Sturgeon on April 4. Not quite the earliest paddle ever, but close. I put in at the Riel launch. It was muddy and quite slippery (and I almost dumped!) but was otherwise fine.
Saturday, January 15, 2022
End of Season
I wrapped up the 2021 paddling season with a couple of trips on the river (the last being November 5) before the frazil pan got too thick.
The Emily Murphy launch was open again (albeit a much crappier entry point now) and other than having to chop through some ice to get out, it was a nice way to end the year (rescued a traffic cone that was accessible with the water being low).
These last few mid-day paddles saw me have the river to myself, which was lovely. I also managed to rescue a can of booze floating downstream (Watermelon flavoured hard seltzer--yuck).
The late paddling saw some interesting ice formations (frozen spring below).
The muskrats were happy to sit up on the ice and there was some interesting slush to plow through.
Overall, this was a great year. I paddled 45 times and we visited 14 new lakes/creeks.
Looking forward to trying some new lakes south and north of town next year. Also hoping to take another trip into north Saskatchewan.
Happy new year!
Saturday, January 8, 2022
Kettle Lake (?)
In mid-October, we hauled back out to the Chickakoo Nature Reserve to paddle a lake that runs along the north side of the reserve. It doesn't appear to have a name but looks like it was once part of Kettle Lake (which is due south) so that's how I titled this post. The link above goes to google maps but, since access is tricky, I screen shotted a portion of the map.
Overall, a fun paddle with a rustic entry and no one else on the water. The shoreline is about 4km around and took maybe 90 minutes without any hurrying. We did see some hikers from the Chickakoo trails plus some horses from a farm the juts out into the lake.
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Chickakoo Lake
On the Thanksgiving weekend, we went out to Chickakoo Lake for the first time in years. We've walked around here but I don't think we've ever paddled.
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Johnny's Lake
On the Thanksgiving weekend, I ventured out to Johnny's Lake, just west of Stony Plain. Access to Johnny's Lake is a bit tricky the first time so I have put a map below. You take Highway 16 west of town then turn south on Highway 770 (just past the big turn north to Whitecourt).
Go south on 770 and then turn west on Township Road 530. After four miles, this road curves south and becomes Range Road 25. Alternately, you can come up Range Road 25 from the south (Star Lake). Range Road 25 is the north-south road on the right side on the map below.
Turn into the community and drive to the red arrow, which is an unmarked lane that leads to the boat launch (green arrow). There is lots of room to park at the boat launch but no other facilities (nearest washrooms are at Star Lake to the south, I think).