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

Hastings Lake and Allen Nature Trail Hike

by

Nine people came out to the Hastings Lake area and the Allen Nature Trail. It was a beautiful day through forest, pastures and around sloughs.  

We got to St. Margaret’s Church early, so we decided to hike the Allen Nature Trail before lunch.  Marja Allen met us at the lake with binoculars for bird watching.  

Marja was excited to find this new beautiful new wild flower.

It turns out this is Orange Hawkweed, a invasive non-native plant on Alberta’s prohibited noxious weeds list.

We hiked the rest of the trail keeping our eyes open for the 100 year old spruce tree and a Hawthorn tree full of berries.

We returned to the church for lunch. Marja opened the doors and shared the history of the church, the cemetery and the area.

It was a great day. Thanks to Marja for sharing her incredible knowledge of the area. Thank you to Trail Maintenance for the great work and to the landowners for their continuing generosity. You can see all the photos on Flickr.

Where we’re going next.

North Coal Lake Hike

by

Eight people came out to hike the North Coal Lake trail. It was the most brilliant of blue sky we’ve seen in a long time.

What’s so special about this picture?

Somewhere around this fence line is the edge of a “little great divide”. Water runoff on the left runs into the Battle River, while runoff on the right is the Source of the Blackmud. That’s Blackmud Creek, which merges with Whitemud Creek in south Edmonton, which eventually flows into the North Saskatchewan River.

Hundreds of miles east, at North Battleford, the Battle River catches up and also joins the North Saskatchewan.

Thanks to Johanna for scouting and leading the hike, to Trail Maintenance for the great work, and to the landowners for their continuing generosity. You can find more photos on Flickr.

Where we’re going next.