Fickle Lake

Fickle Lake is located about 30km southwest of Edson, down Highway 47. It is a provincial recreation area. Access is on the east side of the lake with a campsite, pit toilets, garbage cans, a concrete boat launch, and a dock. The last 9km is a gravel road (good signage) that you share with some heavy trucks. Mind the railway crossing (very bumpy!) as you leave the highway.

The water was clean but quite dark. The lake is pretty large (maybe a 15km perimeter). Knowing nothing about the lake, we went right (north) off the launch towards the outflow, figuring that would be the most interesting part of the lake.

The water was very still the morning we were there. The land around the lake is mostly low-lying, with fir and tamarack. There is some Aspen further back as the land rises.  

The outflow is slow slow that there was almost no discernible current. We went about 1.5km up, annoying all manner of birds.

The highlight was this loon's nest we paddled past.

We returned to the lake and kept going counterclockwise.

We saw what I think was a marmot sunning itself on a log.

The wind started to come up and we needed to get going so we shortcut the bay back to the launch. There were lots of fish jumping and the sign suggested whitefish, perch, jackfish, and walleye (the latter two being catch and release only).

Overall, a nice paddle and almost no one there (a few people camping and some Alberta Environment staff in a boat). Super happy result for essentially a blind pick on the way back from Jasper.