May 2, 2009 Flying Shot Lake, Elk Island Park

On Saturday Jim accompanied me on the Flying Shot Lake trail in Elk Island National Park. We hiked this trail in a counter clockwise direction. The last time I was on this trail was on February 2, 2009 when I cross country skied it. That time I skied the trail in a clockwise direction. At that time there were a lot of trees blown onto the trail because of the wind. All that blow down has been cleared away now.

This trail is maintained. It is a wide grass trail through undulating topography. The trail is through mature stands of Aspen and Balsam Poplar woods and open meadows. On this hike we observed many butterflies. As near as I could determine there were two kinds of butterfly. We heard Sandhill Cranes on at least two occasions which I assume were flying over but I did not see them. It is almost certain that buffalo will be seen along this trail. There is also Moose and Elk poop on the trail indicating that these ungulates frequent this area as well. There were a few piles of grouse poop on the trail and we saw one Ruff Grouse. When we came to wet areas we heard both Boreal Chorus Frogs and Wood Frogs. The Wood Frogs were by far the most prevalent. We observed adult Wood Frogs at N53 degrees 32.274' W112degrees 32.274', N53 32.466', W112 50.28' and N53 32.466 W122 50.28. There was, in the trail, what appeared to be a skull of a male deer with some of the spine still attached. The photograph is of a small buffalo skull laying along the trail. My guess is that the skull could have been last years calf. Then there were some buffalo bones near where we had lunch, lower jaw but no skull. These were close to N53 degrees 32.237' W112 degrees 51.029'. We heard at least one Flicker. We observed a male and female Buffle Head duck. There were other water fowl observed on Flying Shot Lake. Flying Shot Lake appears to be clear of ice.

This is an easy hike through gently undulating topography. It is predominately mixed woods with long stretches through mature Balsam Poplar stands. The trail is generally dry except at the SE shore of Flying Shot Lake where the prevailing winds had piled snow. There are 3 or 4 patches of snow remaining. We encountered only 5 other hikers on the trail which seems to be fairly light use for a pleasant and warm Saturday. For a day hike I highly recommend this hike.

Total length was close to 17km
Walked for about 4 hours 30 minutes.
Stopped for about 1 hour 30 minutes.
Our moving average on the hike was 3.8 km/hr

May 1, 2009, Islet Lake

Jim joined me for a hike in the Cooking Lake Recreational Area. We started at the parking lot of Islet lake.
.3 km to the Highline Trail
2.4 km on the Highline Trail
.5 km on the Moose Trail to Corral Alley
2.0 km more or less, down and back on the Corral Alley Trail.
1.0 km on the Middle Trail
.5 km on the Lost Lake Trail
.3 km back the the parking lot
7 km total

This was about 2 hours 24 minutes of walking. 3 hours 24 minutes total time.

My main objective was to listen for frogs and indeed there were Wood Frogs and Boreal Chorus Frogs in most of the ponds.

When we got to Corral Alley we walked to a place at N 53 degrees 27.958' and W112 degrees 48.303'. It is the top of a knoll where I observed a coyote last summer. Jim noticed a dark thing on a hillside a fair distance away. He said it could be a bear I said a porcupine. It seemed small for a Black Bear. We were compelled to walk to it and see for sure and for most of the walk we were not even sure if it was even moving. It turned out to be a porcupine, N53 degrease 27.709' W112 degrees 48.003'

In the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area there are trails designated for specific uses including walking. These trails are wide and maintained. They are just grass trails. On this hike the trails were dry and easy to hike. The trails take you through undulating topography. The area is predominately tree covered with aspen and black poplar.

I believe that this area is Edmonton's best kept secret. I have often hiked these trails without encountering another person.