Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Chickakoo Lake

Chickakoo Lake is located in the 480-acre Chickakoo Lake Recreation Area, just west of Edmonton on Highway 16. Take Highway 16 to Secondary Highway 779 and turn north. Then turn west on Township Road 534 and the north on Range Road 13.

The main site offers pit toilets, lots of parking and a trail system suitable for walking, mountain biking and horse riding. The loop (Indian Ridge Trail) that leaves the parking lot has several picnic sites. There is also a boat launch and it is a popular fishing hole.

Chickakoo Lake runs NW-SE with the boat launch at the SE corner. Excepting the boat launch, most of the shoreline is reeds and bog.

The trees mean the lake is extremely calm most days and there are a lot of fish jumping (it is stocked each year). We’ve also seen beaver and lots of waterfowl. Others report deer, moose and bear.

To the north of Chickakoo Lake on Range Road 13, you will hit Township Road 540. Turning east will return you to Secondary Highway 779. On the south side of the road, you will see a long lake called Kettle Lake. I have not been able to find a decent entry point to Kettle Lake.

The hiking here is lovely and we might go back to ride our bikes. From a canoeing perspective, wildlife and fishing and the main draws. There are prettier lakes to canoe.

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