Helliwell Lake

In early July, I headed up Highway 2 towards Athabasca to try Helliwell Lake. The lake is 4 miles long (maybe 7km) and is in three basins, straddling two range roads. I've seen this lake from Highway 2 on many trips to Athabasca and decided to paddle the eastern and centre basin (almost 11km return).

The best access I could figure was off Range Road 250. I parked on the south side of the lake (just below the pink arrow and made my way in to the eastern basin at the green arrow. You could probably get in elsewhere along the road (I did walk it all on both sides)--this just looked the easiest given the weeds (lots of nettle!).

I beat a path down the bank (below, green arrow) and then slide the boat down. It was reasonably steep. Then I stepped in and bum-scooted the launch.

There is a bridge on RR250 but it is not possible to pass under, both because of the cross beams and the beaver dam.

The picture below is basically what you get in the eastern basin. Lots of bullrushes, some aspen/fir forest and a few cabins. The very hopeful "lakefront property" signs put up by real estate agents on the roads nearby made me laugh. Yes, it is a lake, but really is is a sloe.

The water was full of blue-green algae when I was there. Not too smelly but definitely not for swimming. There were lots of ducks, loons, cormorants, and fish jumping.

At the far eastern edge (blue arrow), you could get in off Highway 2 (below) if you could get your car off the road and into the ditch (note how close the highway is to the lake!). RR250 was likely a better option, I think.

I fished this bird (I think a female red-winged blackbird) out of the water. She was still alive (despite the picture!), just exhausted. She warmed up as I paddled back west and I set her ashore on some sunny grass to recuperate (or not). Getting out, I almost brained a muskrat with my kayak, startling us both!

I carried the kayak across the road to the centre section at the pink arrow. This was a bit more of an adventure, with more nettle, worse footing and a sharp turn at the bottom.

The centre section is two miles long and is mostly this:

At the far western end, it gets more agricultural:

The most interesting part were about 60 pelicans sitting on an old beaver lodge.

At the western edge, you hit Range Road 252. I think you could get out here. I wasn't keen on trying the western basin and I was getting hot, so I turned around and headed back.

All told, an interesting paddle with lots of birds. I can't imagine going back, though. My boat needed a pretty thorough washing when I got home.

Bowness Lagoon, Calgary

In late June, I was in Calgary and spent a couple of hours on the water in the Bowness Lagoon with a friend. Access is in front of the restaurant, on the right as you enter the park. We carried from the parking lot (maybe 40m) but you can drop your boats about 15m away and go park.

The cement launch is pretty handy. Other folks, especially using SUPs, just launched from shore. The water was murky (usually is clear in the summer but the river was quite silty) and there are no swimming/wading signs.

The lagoon is pretty small. We did a quick lap, noting that the water was very high (likely because the nearby Bow River was also high).

There are boat rentals here and a nice little canal to paddle through. There were lots of ducks and geese.

The more interesting part of the paddle is up the creek that brings water in from the river. To access it, go under the car bridge that brought you into the park and head west.

The creek isn't always super passable and the rental folks ask you not to take their boats up the creek. We had no problems with the high water, Last year, we did have to carry over one low section.

There were a few downed trees to duck under or otherwise navigate around.

It is just over a kilometre to the far end, just underneath Stoney Trail. While the water does flow in here, there is no access to the river (although you could likely portage to it).

We then had a nice float back. It was a Tuesday night and there were a small number of SUPs on the water (mostly people just floating and talking).

Overall, a reasonable beginner paddle that is doable even on a windy day when the reservoir is rolling.

Castor Creek (Parr Reservoir) and Big Knife Provincial Park

In late June, I detoured on a trip to Calgary to the east of Red Deer and visited Castor Creek. The creek was dammed in the 1940s to create Parr Reservoir in what was once a coulee. The resulting "lake" is about 3.5km long and maybe 20m wide (this varies). Because it is down below the level of the surrounding land, there isn't much wind but there are a lot of interesting sandstone cliffs. 

Access is in the town of Castor (green arrow above). There is a parking lot and proper boat launch, with a concrete ramp and two docks. There are also picnic tables, what was once a small sandy beach, and a hellsketchy change room and toilet (maybe the worst I've been in a couple of years). The water was dark but smelled okay. You could definitely SUP but I would not want to swim here.

There was no one there the day I went (mid-day on a Tuesday in late June) but the north part of the lake is used for waterskiing. I went left (north) off the dock and paddled to the outflow and back in about 80 minutes (at a slow pace). The pictures below are basically representative. There are some steep hills with rosebushes, a few bullrushes along the shore, and then some cliff faces.

There are lots of swallows nesting on the sandstone and some of the cliffs show exposed coal seams.

The far northwest corner has the outflow which is just a giant hole the water flows into (blocked off by these posts). This was the only part of the creek with any noticeable current.

As I came around the last corner, I saw a lifejacket floating in the water (fortunately empty).

The paddle back to the boat ramp was fairly uneventful. There were lots of cormorants, ducks, red-winded black birds, and I heard (but could not spot) an owl.

Back at the launch, I paddled south under the bridge. Here, the creek narrows some and I would say this was the more interesting paddle, with more varied cliffs and more birds. I ran out of road at the next bridge because beavers had dammed the creek. It was only a one-foot height difference but that was enough to turn me back. You could, certainly, get past this if you were keen.

More cliffs and some of the swallow nests built into them. These nests were everywhere.

The whole paddle lasted about two hours and was definitely interesting. Whomever did the facebook advertising that got pushed into my feed certainly did good job showing off the best parts of this paddle! I'm not sure it was worth a 2.5 hour drive, but I also got to stop at Big Knife Provincial Park (about 45km NW of Castor) and you could easily make this a two-fer or an overnighter, if you camp.

Big Knife Provincial Park

Big Knife PP is located 3km west of Highway 855, between Heisler and Halkirk on the south bank of the Battle River. There is a campground here along with a day-use area and boat launch.

The launch has a cement ramp and you can drop your boat right beside the water. Parking and washrooms are a little ways off.

The Battle River is pretty slow and meandering so there is lots of opportunity to paddle here and bird watch. The water wasn't too gross although there was a bit of goop right at the launch.

I shot the two photos below from a small hill about halfway between the highway and the park to give you a sense of the topography. Basically a winding river with lots of oxbows.

I think this would be an okay place to paddle, but I didn't have time to put in and check it out.

Anglin Lake, Prince Albert National Park, SK

In late June, we spent a morning on Anglin Lake, just south of Prince Albert National Park. Anglin Lake is a reservoir and sprawls over a large area. One option for entry is the Great Blue Heron Regional Park on the eastern end. There is a day-use fee here ($10, I think), a campground, standard boat launch, and a beach with put toilets and a picnic shelter.

This entry offers good access to the eastern part of the lake. The water looked lovely and was mostly empty when we were there (one kayaker and one guy unloading a fishing boat).

A second option is the Anglin Lake Bridge, about two-thirds of the way towards the west end of the lake. Again, a day-use fee applies. This allows access to the western basin (down towards the dam or up towards the Spruce River inflow) or the middle basin.

We decided to put in here because it looked the most interesting. Access is down a grassy slope on either side of the bridge. 

The west side looked easier but both required wet feet.

We paddled east, under the bridge and into the middle basin and did a circuit.

The middle basin basically looks like the image below: reeds and grassy slopes give way into an aspen forest. We saw a deer frolicking in the shallows (no picture).

We also annoyed this poor heron who flew off.

The lake was calm and mostly empty. On the south shore of the middle basin, there looks to be a public boat launch and we saw a fishing boat unloading there.

We paddled around a couple of islands before heading back towards the bridge.

A few dragon flies were rescued.

The western basin had more fir trees on the northern shore and was, overall, bit more rugged looking.

You cross into the National Park in this basin.

The inflow of the Spruce River  is just to the left of the trees in the picture below, but we didn't get that far up the lake.

After pulling out, we followed the road to the south end of the lake where the dam is. It was good walk from the parking area along the top of the dam and there were lots of butterflies.

The outflow of the dam itself was surprisingly small.

There is a launch here but this end of the lake looked a bit boring.

Overall, a pretty nice lake with enough to explore over several paddles. The folks we talked to said the fishing was also good (jack and walleye).