Coal Lake and Pipestone Creek

In late May, I ventured down to Coal Lake and Pipestone Creek near Wetaskiwin. Access to both is available at the south end of Coal Lake near the campground.

The launch contains a cement ramp and a small gravel beach, a dock, pit toilets, and picnic tables plus lots of parking. The water was pretty clean in late May.

The entrance to Pipestone Creek is due west across the lake from the launch. The entrance is in the reeds on the south end of the lake but isn't hard to find (being 25 feet across). Just paddle to the west shore and turn left (south).

The channel meanders some and eventually you go under a cement road bridge with lots of swallows.

You can then paddle about 4 winding km up the creek. There are usually lots of birds to watch.

Eventually you enter sensitive habitat with this request to stay in your boat. This matters because you will encounter some beaver dams and be tempted to get out to get around them.

On this trip, the first one I encountered was broken (left side of picture below) and the water was high enough that I could bum scoot over the lip.

The channel narrows as you go upstream against the very mild current.

Someone cut the tree that used to block the channel.

This let me get to the second beaver dam.

This is a good-sized dam (over my head sitting in the boat--maybe a four-foot lip). I was getting tired and decided to turn around and float back.

It was a lovely paddle on a hot day with no bugs and pretty decent water. Probably not suitable for SUP or inflatables, though,

On the way out, I got pretty close to some pelicans.

I drove back past the launch at the north end of coal lake (which is very long). This site has pit toilets, picnic tables, and a cement launch.

The road that crosses Coal Lake also has informal pull outs you could access. Coal lakes extends a bit north of the road (although you can't get under the road) so you could also paddle that, if you wanted.

I think the next time I'm down here, I will give the north access a go.

Pipestone Creek at Coal Lake

I dragged the kid out to Coal Lake and up Pipestone Creek before she went off to work in the mountains for the summer. It was busy at the launch with both people unloading to kayak and fish.

While we crossed over the north edge of the swamp towards the creek entrance, we saw a tonne of birds, including a dozen pelicans.

We also saw a yellow-headed black bird.

For the most part, though, we saw red-headed black birds (a hundred?).

The creek was a super interesting paddle, as you transition from swamp to forest to open glades to forest, to marsh. A super interesting paddle.

There are a huge number of swallows nesting under the bridge, flying out to get bugs and return to feed the young in their mud nests. You could hear the young as we floated under. 

It was a beautiful day to be the the water (despite the bloom of mayflies).

As we were loading up, this poor fellow paddle this boat in, having forgotten to gas up. He had a much harder paddle than we did.

Pipestone Creek, Coal Lake

It has been a few years since I've been out to Coal Lake by Wetaskiwin. I went out this time specifically to paddle Pipestone Creek, which enters Coal lake at the south end.

Access is pretty easy. South on the 2A to Wetaskiwin, then east on Highway 13 for 15 kms until you drop down into the big valley by Gwynne. Coal lake is on the north side (you can see the berm from the road), with the turn off being marked by a truck up on top of some scaffolding. Follow the gravel road to the boat launch. There is a dock, a launch, good parking and nasty pit toilets.

Pipestone Creek is directly west of the boat launch in the swamp at the south end of the lake. When I was there, the most prominent marker was the lime green algae in the creek (the lake was clean).

Shortly after entering the creek, you go under a car bridge and, other than a house on the bluffs, you basically leave civilization behind.

The creek is a very nice paddle. Almost no current and lots of wildlife. I scared up some herons and saw lot of ducks and two hawks. There were also lots of shore birds and a couple of muskrats. Lots of beaver activity evident but I did not see any. Oh, and lots of wasp nests (but no bugs to speak of).

The algae came and went and this might be a cleaner paddle in the spring or autumn. No smell but a fair but of extra drag (which was surprising).

After about 75 minutes of paddling, I hit a pine tree down across the river (below). I could have snuck under on the right or maybe levered over on the left. Just around the bend, though, there is a large beaver dam (about a foot higher than the creek) plus lots more obstacles.

Some paddlers I met on the parking lot said you can portage around the dam but I was pooped so just turned around and went back. 

Overall, a fun paddle, especially if you like birds. I'd definitely go back in another season to see the differences.

Coal Lake

Coal Lake is located east of Wetaskiwin and west of Camrose in a small valley. The lake runs roughly north-south for about 11 km and is about 1 km across. It is dammed at the south end and reminded me of lots of prairie lakes in the bottoms of coolies.



It seems to be a part of chain of lakes in a old glacial meltwater valley, including Saunders Lake and perhaps Telford Lake, that eventually turned into the ox-bow hell of the Battle River.

We accessed the lake at the south end from Coal Lake provincial park. The lake access was not signed but was reasonably easy to find. We travelled east-bound on Highway 13 then took the second left once down the valley. Most notable land mark is a logging truck fixed atop part of an oil derrick (you'll know it when you see it...).

There are pit toilets, a boat launch, a parking lots and a jetty here. Access was good and the water was reasonably clean. The carry was about 25 feet--which is hardly worth mentioning.

The lake is long and it was windy when we were there. The sides of the lake were nice and calm and there were only a few power boats out fishing. We went north on the east side, got bored, turned back and then cut across to the west side (below).

There are lots of bird here. At the south end of the lake, there is a bit of a swamp with channels to explore and lots more birds. The biggest we saw were a bunch of pelicans.

The most striking was a yellow-headed black bird (I don't think I've ever seen one before--mostly we see red-winged black birds).

We sent probably half and hour in the swamp, watching birds and cutting among the reeds for open spots.

 Overall, a nice enough lake. I'd be worried if a big wind came up as there is no where to hide!

I'm not sure we'd go back although there is also access at the north end of the lake.