Narrow Lake

In mid-September, I took a birthday paddle on Narrow Lake, about two hours north of Edmonton on Highway 2. Narrow Lake sits in a shallow valley and runs roughly SW to NE. It's about 4km long and maybe 500m wide at its widest point.

The best (and, as far as I can tell, only) public access is through the Narrow Lake Campground on the east side of the lake, about halfway down the length of it.

The launch has a a day-use area with a pit toilet, picnic tables, and fire pits. There are also a small number of campsites here. The boat launch is sand-gravel with a dock. There is also a sandy beach launch available and the water is amazingly clear.

The northern end is the more interesting and sheltered part of this lake so I went right (north) off the launch, and crossed over to the west side to paddle in the chilly air in the sunshine.

The clarity of the water is astounding, even late in the year.

There were lots of geese overhead but only a few birds, including this loon with a chick.

The eastern shore of the north end has lots of submerged logs. On a calm day with good lighting, you can see some pretty cool sights. It was still shaded when I paddled back down so mostly I saw logs thrust up out of the water.

The northern end took me about an hour and I still had some time so I did the southern end too. This was pretty and all, just more open, slightly rougher, and with less to see.

In the SW corner is Camp Wright. There is also a beaver lodge and the opening to a creek that may (or may not) lead you south towards Long Lake (Forfar). I was running out of time (and gas!) so I didn't poke around here

The lake was down between 8 and 12 inches over normal. A lady I spoke with said the drop had been quite sudden (over a week). About the only thing that would account for that is a beaver dam breaking. I'm not sure if that is the case (perhaps the creek on the south drains into Long Lake?) or if, perhaps, she was mistaken.

Overall, a very nice boreal lake and, if you were keen, you could do Narrow Lake and Long Lake together as a long day. The best access to Long Lake for this two-for-one would be the small campground in the north end of Long Lake. I'd come her emir but the drive (two hours each way) is a bit daunting for a quick paddle.