Alberta Lakes

The beaver carefully dragged the green alder bough up the side of his substantial lakefront lodge.  I was not sure if it was destined to be a hearty breakfast after pulling a long nightshift on lake patrol, or part of a construction project?  I had watched from across the glassy lake as the beaver towed the prize from further down the shore, past the winter food cache to the lodge itself.  Apparently, it was not breakfast, for as soon as it had been anchored in place properly, he went on to other projects.

It was a typical morning at the small lake we had all to ourselves; and the beavers, and the loons, and grebes, and osprey, and ravens, herons and fish, and deer, and whatever had made the crashing noises in the bush last night that scared Hailey!  There was one campspot on the lake that consisted of a firepit, and a table, and we had it all to ourselves for the second night. This was at the end of an unmarked road that we had explored two days prior.  A pair of loons came by for a close look at us and were very vocal when I tried my best loon calls.  I’m not sure if they thought I was a fellow loon gone crazy, caught in a trap, or if they were simply laughing at my feeble attempts at imitation.

One of a chain of lakes northwest of Athabasca, Alberta, another nearby lake was the home of a family of foxes that had made their den under a pile of logs. Once again, I used the ‘photo through the spotting scope' technique to get some decent photos.

The kits were playful and unafraid as they wrestled and fought each other and chased butterflies, before scurrying out of sight when their mother gave the word.  The lake I was camped at was not that good for swimming, but the nearby one had a small beach and boat launch, and finally some warm weather was enough to convince me to take a refreshing dip.

I had spent the long weekend visiting friends, watching parades and fireworks in the Fort Saskatchewan area, and camping , fishing, and kayaking on a different lake north of there.  I also enjoyed a Canada day concert in the park watching long time friend and award winning country music artist, Lisa Hewitt put on another great performance, and chatted with her and her husband.

Back at home, the truck camper once again got the nod for this expedition, knowing that we would likely be exploring back roads, mud holes, and lakeshores.  For the first time, I managed to tie my kayak onto the roof, to see how that would work.

Once on the road, we assumed our traveling positions of comfort to begin another adventure.

 

A quick stop at a Canadian Tire store completed the preparations and supplies, including a quick look at a back roads map book of some of the intended destinations. I sometimes use my camera to capture the relevant pages, but in this case I bought the book to add to my growing library of maps.