Little Beaver, Big Beaver and Miquelon Lakes by Camrose

In mid-June, I put in to Little Beaver Lake, just SW of Camrose at the village of Ferintosh. There are two public access points on the eastern shore, the campground (yellow arrow) and a day-use area (green arrow). I chose the campground because it had a washroom (flush toilets! pay showers!). There was also a playground and picnic tables.

You can drive down to the boat launch, drop, and then come back to the main picnic area to park. I just parked and walked the 100m.

There is a cement launch but it was easier to go in on the left side of it where the bottom was soft and the slope was gentle.

The water was very Mountain Dew but didn't smell at all. There were lots of critters in the water so I would not swim here.

The lake is about 9km around and takes about 2.5 hours. It is very similar to most of the valley bottom lakes between Edmonton and Red Deer to the east of Highway 2 (so First and Second Chain Lake, Magee Lake, and Lacombe Lake). Basically some bullrushes along the edge (but also some exposed bank) that gives way to shrubs (willow, dogwood, wild rose, high-bush cranberry) and eventually a deciduous forest.

The most interesting thing I saw was on the eastern shore when I noticed what looked like fur among the leaves (middle of picture below).

I circled back and woke someone up. Bigger than a house cat but not bigger than my 75lb lab. No idea for sure what it was as it cleared off pretty fast.

The north end of the lake was very swampy with lots of birds.

I went down the western shore and saw a beaver and, later, a heron being harassed by two red-winged black birds.

The southern end of the lake is more open. Coming back up the eastern shore is the day use area by what I think is the village pump house. A school trip in canoes were loading out.

There is a dock here. If you are in a kayak, you'd be better off to try through the reeds on the far right of the photo below (where there is a lake level gauge). 

Big Beaver Lake

Since I was down here, I tried to find access to Big Beaver Lake (which is immediately north and east of Ferintosh). Some looking on google earth suggested trying the SW or NE corners.

The picture below is shot from the SW corner (red arrow). While you could access the lake here, you'd have to cross fenced private land and splash through a boggy creek. That was a no for me.

The NE end is more doable. Range Road 211 abuts the lake (blue arrow). It may be that a portion of the pitch is private land (and maybe not) but it is not fenced.

It is quite a drop to the lake and edge of the lake has bullrushes and what looked like a muddy perimeter. The only parking is on the edge of the gravel road. There's lot of room but sometimes the RCMP will ticket parking like this (I doubt they're randomly driving by, but someone might phone and complain).

I dunno. The lake is pretty much a repeat of Little Beaver Lake so I'm likely gonna take a pass on this.

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park

Since I had some time on my hands and was in the area, I cruised by Miquelon Lake. The park is lovely and well maintained but the lake has shrunken significantly since the last time I was here (maybe 2017?).

It was almost 600m from the parking lot to the water by the main beach, which is maybe 200m further than it was in 2007--maybe more. The water quality was terrible and you'd have to trudge out a long way to get deep enough to float.

I drove up to the old hand launch site. This is a shorter carry (maybe 50m) but the same launching issues exist here.

The last time we were here, I think we launched roughly where the picnic table is in the photo below.

The lake gauge (the bottom of which is about 60cm above the current lake level) really tells a tale.

There are lots of interesting things at Miquelon Lake, but it isn't really a viable paddling destination at the moment.

Tide Creek, off Pigeon Lake

In early June, I spent a windy morning exploring Tide Creek, which is located on the western edge of Pigeon Lake. There are a couple of access points off Secondary Highway 771. The first is through the Gilwood boat launch (green arrow). This puts you on Pigeon Lake about 100 north of the creek entrance.

There is a dock, lots of parking, and a portapotty here and the launch is sand/gravel. The water is very shallow for a long way out and, in early June, it was cleanish but pretty smelly.

The entrance to the creek is an easy paddle. Below, looking up the creek, you can see the bridge where Highway 771 crosses it (orange arrow). This is the second access point. 

There is well established ditch parking on either side of the road on the south side of the bridge. The shot below looks south on the east side of the bridge and is probably the easiest launch point.

The shot below looks south on the west side of the bridge and is a trickier launch, although you can carry to a lower spot just out of the frame on the right. There were some folks fishing here when I went by.

Once past the bridge, the creek was about 10m wide. The water level was high due to a wet spring so YMMV here.

The paddle up the winding creek is maybe 4km to Range Road 22 (yellow arrow). Round trip was two hours. Along the way, there is a birch forest, a more boreal fir forest, and some open meadow. The surrounding terrain sat just above my head most of the way. You could get out but it looks mucky.

There were both wild strawberry and raspberry plants along the way.

I also ran across two broken beaver dams. The first below (blue arrow) was easy to paddle over.

A bit further along (red arrow), there was a more intact dam. This took me a couple of tries and some light cursing to get over and I finally dragged myself up on the left side.

I'm not sure this would be passable in lower water. At this point, the creek had also narrowed to between 4 and 6m wide.

Eventually, I hit the bridge at Range Road 22 (yellow arrow). The creek continued on beyond it but looks narrower. There was a third broken dam under the bridge and this one I could not get past. The current was strong and there were some hidden rocks right in front of the chute that made things tricky. I could have carried around but I was tired and the paddling beyond didn't look great so I turned around.

Overall, a nice trip (thank to Seana for suggesting it) up a creek that I haven't seem anyone really post about. This was a good paddle option for a windy day. I'm not sure what it would be like later in the season if the water water level dropped. I'd say even six inches less water would make portion of the paddle much more difficult and the channel narrower, especially near the far end. It might also be pretty buggy.

I'd certain go back here. The bird watching was great and there were also beaver and muskrats. It is probably about the same distance as Pipestone Creek is from Edmonton but offers a different vibe.

Leduc Reservoir

In early June, I drove to Leduc to try out the Leduc Reservoir, located just west of Highway 2. It is right by the flags and the old jet trainer on a post.

Access is thorough Fred John's Park on the south side of the reservoir and there is a boat launch right off the parking lot. You could park as close as 10m to the water. The park has washrooms, a playground and picnic tables as well as walking paths.

The launch is a shallow gravel launch and the water is iced tea coloured. I've no idea what the water might look like later in the year. Although this is called a reservoir, it is really more of a storm pond and/or sloe.

Reverse shot of entry.

There is some inflow on the south end and an outflow on the north.

The sky was quite moody on the day I was there so the shots are a bit dreary. It was a very pretty swamp paddle with great birding.

Grebe nest with eggs.

Pelicans and geese on the island.

Cormorant.

This is a pretty representative shot: bullrush edge with aspens and firs in behind. The reservoir is surrounded by park and walking trails.

There is a small interior pond if you duck under this bridge.

The sun briefly came out. I did about 1.5 laps at a regal pace and it took me an hour.

It is worth noting that the east end of the main basin is right up against Highway 2 and it was loud.

More pelicans. Overall, a nice short paddle reminiscent of Hermitage Pond in Edmonton.

This would be a decent after-work paddle when the days start to get short of a nice two-fer with Telford Lake, just to the east.