Kayaking trip on Coal Lake, AB, or how not to listen to the weather forecast.

We are enjoying a very nice October this year and, so far, it seems to be a fine month. To celebrate our wonderful Canadian fall, we decided to go kayaking to one of the lakes nearby on October 5, considering that it might be one of our last trips this year.
This time we decided to explore Coal Lake. Initially, the plan was to go in a larger group, maybe as many as 10 kayaks and to form a nice flotilla. Alas, some people could not make it and some others declined on account of an "iffy" weather forecast that was calling for showers that day. Oh, boy! were there ever wrong, as it turned out to be a really nice day, after all.

Only three of us Young Poles decided to go in the end, including (forever young) Roman, Piotr and Mike.

    

Roman knew this lake quite well, as he was there several times in the past. For Peter and myself, it was the first time.

Coal Lake is located in a valley between two hills, just south of Leduc and north of Wetaskiwin, which is only about 25 minutes drive from the Airport.  The lake itself is about 11 km long and 500-1000 m wide.

 The lake itself snakes through a beautiful forested valley that looked absolutely spectacular at this time of the year with the golden colours of the season.

 

In any case, we decided to ignore the weather forecast and we met at noon at the boat launch on the northern tip of the lake. As a bunch of well known conspirators, we know quite well that "media are lying" and we were correct again, Ha!

The parking lot was totally empty; we were the only people on the lake that day.

It was warm enough to go in shorts.

 

We prepared our kayaks on a small piece of a pebble beach  and were on the water in no time.

After launching our water crafts we started looking for some calmer and less windy parts of the lake, as the wind was blowing from the south creating small waves. In the beginning we paddled from one side to another, looking for calmer elusive spots. 

Roman decided to hide in the reeds...

 ...where he could enjoy the favourite activity of every true kayaker.

Luckily, Mike and Peter were not far behind.

Thank goodness, the wind stopped or shifted after a short time and we could continue to enjoy our trip, although the sun was mostly hidden initially behind small clouds.

We could watch the shoreline with some (not very impressive) docks that looked so spooky,  almost like from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean"

 

We paddled to the first peninsula, which is about one third of the lake, enjoying views of plentiful water fowls and numerous musk rats and occasional beaver or two.

Lake surface was nice and quiet behind the peninsula.

To make it even nicer yet, the sun came out in the afternoon, thus making our trip so much more enjoyable.

Peter in his eagerness almost collided with the shore.

 

After spending few nice hours on the water, we put our kayaks on the roofs and departed for home.

 

...And the lesson learned is "Never listen to the weather forecast"

Ha!