Gone Fishn – Pierre Grey’s Lakes
Gone Fishn – part 2
Pierre Grey’s Lakes Provincial Park
May I be so bold as to suggest you read the 1st post of the GONE FISHN post series before reading this post. — Gone Fisn Introduction post.
We packed up the Swan Lake (Gone Fishn – Post 2 Swan Lake recreational area) camp the day before we have to pay for another night. We did so as the weather forecast was for big rains. They never happened!
Google maps tell us Piere Grey’s Lake Provincial Park is 3 hrs by forestry trunk road highway (hwy) 734 or 4 hours by paved hwy 40. Hwy 40 would take us through Grande Prarie and then south on 40. Google does not say the 3 hr route is impossible to do in 3 hrs as an average of 80 km/ph is impossible to maintain as the road is full of tire rim denting potholes and chicanes to navigate dodging the rutted potholes. DO NOT USE HWY 734!!! We lost a boat wheel bearing cover, cracked sparked plug in our outboard motor, and caused our truck dash idiot light battery warning is now on and time will tell of other damages related to use of this highway. We now must include time to purchase and replace the boat trailer bearings cover before the boat trailer can go into the water.
Along Hwy 734 we spotted only one animal. A young black bear. Dozens of large semis (trucks) with their road filling loads. Luckily no such trucks came from behind us. One person did pass us at the exact same time as we had to swerve into the oncoming lane due to potholes. You can’t see behind you of the dust! And then there he was 20 % into the slope of the ditch and crusin. He passes us just as we switch back into our proper lane avoiding the potholes in the oncoming traffic lane. Potholes the passing truck then had to negotiate.
This Google Maps 3 hour route took near 5 hrs!
DO NOT use hwy 734 Forestry Trunk Road north of Hinton!
We drove all 4 campgrounds when we arrived at Piere Greys Lakes Provincial Park. The campgrounds were near empty so we chose D20 from the first come first serve sites offering relatively close lake access and electricity. Day 1—The boat was unloaded and camp set up. My English class-related book club starts at 3 PM and we can’t find Telus internet service anywhere in the campground. Our first search for internet service had us drive all the way to the nearest town (Grand Cache) before establishing a clean connection to Telus’s services. Funny thing as the campground information person had internet provided in the campground. Internet provided by Rogers. Next search found full phone service about 4 or 5 km up the paved section of hwy 734 (forestry trunk road). Later we also found it when we changed lakes about 10km in the direction of Hinton.
I liked this park better than Swan Lake as this campground offered more than fishing! The 4 campgrounds are intertwined with walking trails wandering the shoreline and the still wild forest.
Poor weather set in for our first 2 days, crappy cold rain and drizzle rain, so I use this time to study English and prepare these posts on the laptop to be posted later. I made friends with our camp squirrel and could hand feed it nuts in one day. I now understand feeding animals is a bad thing as man fed animals are dangerous according to all the posted signs. I can’t imagine a dangerous squirrel. Can you? So the signs must be for bears and feeding squirrels does change their winter food source. Perhaps they need something specific from the tree cone seeds that enables winter survival. So perhaps one should not feed the squirrels either.
3rd day—the fish stocking trucks arrived mid-afternoon and put some 3.5K brown trout and 6.5K brook trout up to 6 inches in length into Moberly lake. So now you have to keep these 3—6 inch trout off your hook to catch one that had lived in the lake for a year or longer. We had some fun catching and releasing these fish. I was using our fishing net and from shore was netting and releasing these newcomers faster than my husband could catch and release them using spinners. You do not want to eat these newcomers as they have been feed trout hatchery food all their lives and do not have the flavour of the fish that had lived in the lake for months or years.
4th and 5th day the sun comes up at 0 C with highs of 12 C – 15 C. Our first mosquitoes of the trip are now out and biting!
Considering the fact of yesterday’s lake stocking and no boat trailer wheel bearing covering the axle bearings we used this day to pack up for the next leg of the journey. The pack-up takes nearly 6 hours. Unload all from the storage tent then take apart the tent. Begin packing by laying the boat floor protection wood sawhorses used to put under the camper when the camper is off the truck. Then figuring out the puzzle of where everything goes.
We visited a neighbour on one of our walks. He said he comes here nearly every year and in a couple of hours of shore fishing he and his wife had 3 Rainbow trout which were on the BBQ as we visited. Regular coloured small marshmallows on a pickerel rig have always worked for them.
The Park’s Name sake, Pierre Grey, was a Canadian metis. Metis is the name given to people born of mixed blood part caucasian and part indigenous native. He owned and ran a successful trading post at this location. You have to walk K trail to the split in the trail well into the woods to find the sign directing you to the trading post site. The trading post site is well-marked with explanatory signage. What I found unique was the size (how small) that the area was that defined where buildings were. Small tack building, small supplies building and small home/store.
Link to our Pierre Grey’s provincial park online photo album.
Part 3—coming soon .. Gregg lake, William A Switzer Provincial Park post. NOTED there was a no drinking water available notification on the related website due to a late mountain run-off (snow melting) but on arrival, we were told if the showers work the water is potable (drinkable).
For more Piere Grey’s Provincial Park-related pictures click the picture album.
Read the first blog of this series of blogs and find out why we are Gone Fishn – introduction.
FISH-ON the video of 6Kg Rainbow trout, 46 cm brown trout, 46 cm eastern brookies, and non-stop walleyes on the hook.
Next lake – Faifax Lake Provincial Park.
Have you watched Gone Fishn – Swan Lake ….. The video?
Gone Fishn—Blog Posts
Published
- Introduction—the why we are Gone Fishn
- How to make a leech trap video.
- Swan Lake Recreation Area
- Pierre Grey’s Lake Provincial Park
Coming Soon
- Fairfax Lake Provincial Park
- Muskiki Lake
- Dolberg Lake
- North Country Fair
- Young’s Point Provincial Park
- Swan Lake Take 2
- Pierre Grey’s Lakes Provincial Park Take 2
- Gregg Lake Provincial Park
- Buck Lake Provincial Park