Paddling Lac le Jeune Lakes
The three best lakes for kayaking in our area are Paul Lake, Heffley Lake, and Lac le Jeune and we set out to paddle the whole shoreline of all 3 each spring. Lac le Jeune also has the smaller lake on the west side of the road, the highlight of a day of paddling in the high country. Paddling around both lakes is about 9.4 km. It can be a busy lake so it is better to get an early start if it is a weekend. The best place to launch is off the beach at Lac le Jeune Provincial Park.
There are a number of homes on both the north and south shore, but the east end is just lodgepole pine and spruce forest with some marshy areas.
After doing the circuit around 3/4 of the lake we paddled through the channel under the road. We have to duck low and pull ourselves through when the water is high. Once in the lagoon on the west side, we followed the marshland shoreline and then into a channel to see blackbirds, marsh wrens, ducks, and geese in the reeds. There was also a chironomid hatch on so the smaller fish were rising for a mid-morning meal of midges.
There is a channel at the east end surrounded by cattails, reeds, and marsh conquefoil. Marsh wrens and red-winged blackbirds were trilling in the wetlands.
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We returned through the channel and finished our paddle of the Lac le Jeune Lakes before the rush of boaters arrived. The outing is about 2 hours of paddling if we choose to explore all the marshlands and small bays of the two lakes.