Yes…that is correct…paddle on Missawawi Lake!
This is a first paddle for us on this beautiful lake.
It was a sunny and most welcome smoke-free day. The sky clear blue and most importantly there was no wind! Perfect day for a leisurely canoe.
Jen met me at my house and after stopping at for fuel and some treats at Petro in town, we headed out to Missawawi Phase 2, where the access for the lake shows on the map, arriving just before 10am.
It’s very obvious that the water level has been very low for some time. The boat launch is exposed for a good 20-30ft. The vegetation is grown in with the lake peeking out a small hole. Boat access beyond lightweight aluminum fishing boats, canoes, and kayaks would be out of the question.
From hearing stories of this lakes’ history, being a great boating and fishing lake with even a small beach at one time are hard to believe when you see the lake today.
After unloading, and taking an excessive amount of time to get ready to paddle 🙄 (while sitting in the canoe; a girl just has to be ready and comfy lol), we decide to head to the east, and we are off at 10am.
You know it’s going to be a great day, when the first thing you see is a Bald Eagle perched up in the trees! 🤩
We were thinking at first that the lake was fairly small, and by looking around, it would maybe be the size of Square Lake which would take about 2-2.5 hours to paddle. Good thing that was not our goal setting out, the lake is 25.4squared km, which would take us about 5-6 hours. 🤓
No exaggeration…there are soooo many birds!!! There are batches (from 5-10) of ducklings, chicks, baby birds (whatever you would like to call them) with each momma bird everywhere AND they are not really too happy to see someone on their lake. The adults are making noise, hurrying them along to the middle of the lake. They use their diversion wing-flapping technique to try to distract us as the little ones scurry along.
In the middle of the lake, it is birds, birds, birds!
There are all kinds of water birds; ducks, grebes, a few pelicans off in the distance and overhead, a few Red-winged Blackbirds on shore, other shoreline birds and jackpot…one of our favourites, the Blue Heron.
At the east end of the lake, which we only paddled a very small amount of, is very marshy. It is lined with cattails and tall grasses that speckle out into the lake for a good distance. It is peaceful and serene.
We can hear a variety of birds, that we can not see, so we quickly download the Merlin Bird ID App on my phone. (Yes, good cell service, and the App is FREE!). This is the coolest app! You put it on record sound and as it picks up the bird sounds it identifies them really fast! Unfortunately, the one we were listening to had spider sense and didn’t make a peep after the app was running. We did get a few identified.
As we make our way back to the launch, some clouds move in and a slight breeze is behind us.
It may have been the first of our paddles on Missawawi, but it will not be our last.
When we come back, we want to paddle farther into the first finger to the east shore to explore and then around into where we stopped this time. If you keep going, you end up a the Venice bridge, which would be cool to see.
Birders, canoers and kayakers…put this on your adventure list! 🛶
Upcoming canoe trips; Crow Lake, Lac La Biche (from Whitesands down part Lac La Biche River), & Blackett in Lakeland Provincial Park. (Not necessarily in that order). 😉
#greenbeancanoeadventures #sillysisters #missawawi #canoe #birding #albertabirds #laclabicheandarea #laclabichecounty
