Fontaine Lake (Cold Lake South)

August 6, 2009
If you drive east on 50th Avenue of Cold Lake South (formerly known as Grand Centre) you will see a sign that says African Lake Bicycle Trail. So today, while my car was in for repairs I decided to go for a bicycle ride to African Lake. So rode to 38 street and went north on it, as the sign indicated. The street ended and a trail continued on between two residentual lots. The trail was rather over grown with weeds and grass so it appears to have not been maintained anytime in the recent past. I wasn't very far beyond the houses before any possible bicycle trail was lost. In stead there was a trail which was clearly well traveled by ATVs. This trail was not easy to Bicycle down. A little further north and then east until I came to a sedge marsh around some open water and a beaver lodge. My Discover Canada Map showed this as Fontaine Lake. I took the photo here. I then continued on south on an old road or Quad track. I tried to ride but found the few dead fall and bog areas to be too many obstacles so I ended up pushing my bicycle and walking. The trail looped east next and back toward the lake but I only found sedge marsh and willows. It then went straight south to Township Road 630. I returned to the City of Cold Lake on that road. So I never did make it to African Lake. There are Quad tracks and old bush roads heading that way but I saw no clear signage or even evidence of a bicycle trail. I will however, explore this further. As it stands right now though, if you are in Cold Lake City and want to ride a bicycle trail I do not recommend the African Lake bicycle trail. If all you want to do is tramp around in the woods and some sedge marshes and pick a few Dewberries then there are lots of ATV trails and tracks to follow out there.

The total ride/walk about 10 km.
1 hour 11 minutes
about 1 hour 30 minutes total time.
Maximum evelvation 1855 feet