JoAnne Burek

For this hike, we went deeper into the country than we had since spring, into the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area in the heart of the Beaver Hills Biosphere.

The trail from the Waskehegan Staging Area (not related to the Waskahegan Trail—note the difference in spelling) had been scouted on Thursday.

So the eight of us knew exactly what was in store for us. Although the rains had made a mess of some of the trails, the lushness of the vegetation and the filled-to-the-brim ponds more than made up for it.

The humidity and the mosquitoes were no match for us. Especially when we were treated to these water calla in full bloom. There were mounds of these in almost every pond.

• 

• 

Thanks to John for scouting and leading this hike. You can find more photos on our Flickr album.

Ten people came out to Devon to hike the trails from Voyager Park westward. The hike began with an easy paved path along the North Saskatchewan River. Soon, we turned up and onto the “Legs of Fire Stairs”, which sounds like quite a feat, but it’s manageable when you take it at your own pace.

The path took us back down to the river’s edge, along the golf course and up to the Lions Park Campground, where we had our lunch. From there, we headed away from the river and into the ravine but we soon veered right to take the slope up to the hoodoo formation.

Walking now past the back side of the campground, we walked the path through the shaded, fern-covered woodland, eventually arriving at the street. We returned by way of the edge of the town park, ending with the descent to the parking lot on a superb bike path.

The hike was a perfect loop with no backtracking. Thanks to Lee, who looks for these perfect loops, for scouting the route and for leading this hike. You can find more photos on Flickr.