Landowner Rights & Trail User Responsibilities

The Waskahegan Trail is a unique resource that exists only because of the generosity of landowners. Before you set foot on the trail:

  1. Know the landowner rights and the trail user responsibilities.
  2. Check the trail conditions

Maintenance at Coal Lake: the building continues…

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Maintenance crews have been working A45 Kjorlein corner to the Water Plant the last two weeks. May 25 a crew of 11 were out; with muggy conditions after all the rain. We built a 2 section boardwalk at the Hughston stopover and did maintenance from the stopover south to the pump house.  We managed to haul the makings for a 4 section boardwalk in two trips over many hills and slanted footing with the lake begging for a plunge 1.5km to the site. At one point the tilt and weight of the cart on one wheel blew out the clip holding the wheel and they had to fix it with a nail!  We went for refreshments at the Red Barn in Millet.

IMG_4342June 1st, 9 workers split into 3 groups. At the stopover John, Gary & Brad took a cart loaded with tools south to build the 4 section boardwalk. Linda, David & Darlene went north of the stopover to work on new stairs and improved the existing ones. The others cleared trail: Oscar chain sawed, Terry mowed and I was clipping and signing from A45 to the stopover and back. Then we moved to the pump house road and Oscar chain sawed, Terry clipped and signed and I drove to the Water Plant where I got permission to use their road so I could pick them up. Hot cinnamon buns and coffee at Ivy’s in Millet finished off our day!

So this section of Coal Lake has had a major upgrade in the infrastructure along with the trail clearing. Thanks to all the volunteers!

Thanks also to landowners Jay and Laurie Cridland for giving us access to their road down to the stopover on both Wednesdays.

Blackfoot Staging Area

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When Irene steps up to lead a hike she has a huge following. She is a hiker’s magnet. Thirty-one hikers, from Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, Camrose and points in between met up at the Blackfoot Staging Area under cloudy skies after a week of near-constant precipitation. The minute we stepped out of our cars and took in our first breath, we experienced the rich, earthy aromatherapy that always follows a good rain. A great start.beaver lodge

The Blackfoot Recreation Area has over 170 kilometers of trails and four developed staging areas (one of which is the Waskahegan Staging Area—no relation to us). Some trails are for certain activities only while others are shared trails.

We brought our rain gear, but it was not needed as the clouds kindly chose only to shield us from the sun. We appreciated the crisp, fresh air as we hiked along lush, well-marked trails with names like Whitetail, Buck-Run and Muskrat.lungwort

Although we trekked mostly on trails for hikers only, near the end we briefly shared a trail with a considerable posse on horseback, which kept an eye on us from a respectful distance.swallowtail butterfly

Irene offered us two hike distances to choose from, and on both paths, hikers experienced a cascade of greenery—from the aspen canopy above to the middle tier of dense hazelnut bushes, sweet scented wild Alberta rose, and blooming red osier dogwood, to the ground floor that was carpeted with creeping dogwood (bunchberry), elegant meadow rue, globe flowered sarsaparilla, Solomon’s Seal, vetches (both purple and cream coloured), beardtongue and brilliant blue lungwort (who names these plants??).

Canada toadAlso seen were many ducks enjoying the wetlands, swallowtail butterflies darting about, and frogs hopping everywhere.

Most memorable was the evidence of a beaver’s handiwork on the felling of a huge, expansive and formidable balsam poplar. The beaver must have spent days gnawing on the trunk from all sides before the mighty tree finally toppled. It must have been a little disappointed that the massive project did not fall cleanly to the ground, but instead became stuck as branches tangled in neighbouring trees.

Anyway, this super-hero-class beaver has a lot of work gnawed out for itself this summer. Speculative massive construction projects are obviously being considered in the Blackfoot Recreation Area.

Group May 28, 2016 hike