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

Devon Trails Hike with Battery Creek

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Twenty-two people came out to hike the new Battery Creek trail east of Devon. The trail is the newest addition of the River Valley Alliance trails. Eventually it will connect Devon to the Rabbit Hill ski area.

The trail has two major features. One them is the stunning view of the bend in the North Saskatchewan River.

The other feature is the grand staircase that takes you down to the bottom of the ravine. The stair steps are wide with deep treads, making it easy to negotiate even when covered in snow.

After the staircase, we turned around and connected to the loop to the Lion’s Campground. The pavilion is open to the south, which makes it a good place for lunch in the winter. After lunch, we continued west along the river’s edge and circled back through the golf course.

It was a great day for a hike, with many new faces and lots of conversation.

Thanks to Lee for scouting and leading the hike and to the town of Devon which does a great job maintaining trails and promoting safe hiking. See all the photos on Flickr, and see where we’re hiking next.

Whitemud Creek – North Hike

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For our first hike of the winter season we visited the Whitemud Creek from Snow Valley to Fort Edmonton. The turnout was large, at 22 people. Several hikers were joining us for the first time.

We walked from Snow Valley past the Alfred Savage Centre, then turned west along the North Saskatchewan River. West of the Quesnel Bridge, the river was unusually reflective. The water had that turquoise tinge that reminds you of mountain lakes, like Abraham Lake which several of us had just visited on the Goldeye Trip in September.

We were pleased to run into local wildlife photographer Wayne Oakes, who was shooting with a friend. Earlier that morning they had seen a short-tailed weasel. Its all-white coat made a distinctive impression, as we still had not had any snow.

Here are a few creatures that we got quite close to. When there are sunflower seeds around, they are not shy at all.

Thanks to Martha M. for scouting and leading the hike. You can find more photos on Flickr.