Coming to Edmonton sometime soon but don’t know how to spend your time outdoors? Edmonton Day Trips has it covered for you. All the trips are within a three-hour drive for the day. Know you won’t have to drive a crazy amount of time to have fun! There are trips in every direction. Where do you want to go? North? South? East? West? What do you want to do? You can go canoeing, kayaking, rafting, swimming, hiking, and even have supper on a train if you want to! Keep reading for a detailed description on each adventure.
Table of Contents
West of Edmonton
When heading west of Edmonton, you can do three different activities: Chickakoo, Lake Isle Kayaking Adventures and Pembina River. Chickakoo is for people who love hiking and want to be close to the city while still feeling like being in the middle of nowhere. Lake Isle Kayaking Adventures is for kayaking with a variety of places to see on the lake. Pembina River is for rafting, relaxing by the river or swimming and a picnic with wonderful company.
Chickakoo
Chickakoo is surrounded by many different lakes. It’s located thirty minutes west of Edmonton. It’s super convenient to get to from highway 16. The trees are gorgeous any time of the year but the fall colours make for lovely pictures and you can cross-country ski here in the winter as well. If you’re interested in completing all the loops, it should be possible in three or four hours. If you’re looking for a more relaxed outing, hike for a couple of hours and then sit by the lake enjoying your lunch. There is also a playground for children close to the parking lot.
Different Loops
Chickakoo offers different loop difficulties and lengths depending on how much time you have and how much exercise you can fit into your day. The hikes are relatively easy, comparatively to the Alberta mountains but it’s nice to get out of the city and feel away from home in nature. The trail map indicates that the yellow marked trails are for beginners, the green and blue trails are for more experienced hikers and red is advanced. I think they are doable for all levels of hikers. The red trails have more significant uphill and downhills, but you are capable! It just might take longer to hike up or down. Take your time to complete the loops, it’s not a race. The red loop is the longest, taking approximately one hour to complete.
Tip: If you aren’t sure if the terrain is appropriate for you, start with a small loop, and add more if you’re feeling capable and confident.
Lake Isle Kayaking Adventures Edmonton Day Trips
Lake Isle Kayaking Adventures is one hour west of Edmonton. Cynthia will greet you to rent her kayaks for $25/hour, $45 for two hours and $65 for three hours for individuals aged twelve and older. She asks that you bring cash. It’s easy to leave the property and go directly kayaking from this location. Free parking is available. It’s easy to text her at 780-241-5034 to reserve kayaks for your group. If the weather isn’t suitable for kayaking, she’ll contact you to reschedule to a different date that works for you.
The lake is gorgeous for a fun afternoon exploring, looking at varied wildlife along the way (loons, pelicans, deer, and ducks to name a few), and relaxing. Depending on how long you have to explore, choose one of four directions to create an excursion. It’s a fantastic place if you’re looking for some alone time or an adventure with the family.
Pembina River
Pembina River is a popular place to spend a summer day. It’s located one hour west of Edmonton, very close to Lake Isle Kayaking Adventures. Depending on the type of adventure you want to have, there are two options available. Many people love rafting down the river over the course of a couple of hours or if you’re looking for something simpler like dunking your feet or your body into some water, this is a fantastic place to go.
Rafting
Have an awesome day rafting with your family or partner. Start the two-hour and fifteen-minute float from Pembina River Tubing location. Find specific Pembina River Rafting details here. Rafting is a relaxing activity with relatively calm waters allowing you to enjoy conversing with the people around you. Bring snacks, water, sunglasses and especially sunscreen. The last thing you want after a gorgeous day in the sun is to look like a lobster. It’s possible to take a shuttle after your adventure by either pre-booking with your group reservation, pay at Pembina River Tubing in advance, or pay the shuttle driver at the Pembina Provincial Park Day Use Area for $20/person, if space is available.
Tip: A fantastic idea is to wear sandals or water shoes while rafting in case you need to navigate shallow waters with rocks. These can be slippery with slime or jagged; not something you want to deal with barefoot.
Swim and Picnic Edmonton Day Trips
Pembina River Provincial Park has a big parking lot for swimmers, rafters, and tubers. A playground for children is available beside the green space. Four outhouses (two for females and two for males) are located to the left beside the parking lot; they are often clean. Walk to the end of the parking lot to a set of stairs that lead to picnic tables in the shade, available for your needs. Continue to the gradual large downward path that is wide enough to carry a raft to the water. A large gravel area on both the left and the right side of the path is available to set up chairs and towels.
Floating Down the River
Swim and float down the river as many times as you want throughout the day. Have a picnic when you get hungry and enjoy each other’s company.
Tips
Tip #1: The parking lot doesn’t fill up on a gorgeous weekday, come whenever you like. On the weekends, however, the top parking lot tends to be full by 10 a.m. Arrive by then if you want to spend the day at Pembina River.
Tip #2: Bring an umbrella or tent to use for shade as most of the beach will be in the sun all day.
Tip #3: Wear sandals or water shoes on your feet when swimming. There are many rocks at different levels in the river. They’ll show up out of the blue. It’s better to be prepared with your sandals up in front of you while floating down the river to caution you if something lies ahead. Otherwise, stubbing a toe or injuring your foot on a sharp rock or slipping on one while getting out of the river could be a possibility.
North of Edmonton Day Trips
North of Edmonton you’ll find a beautiful river pathway in St. Albert city where I like to go for walks. It’s a ten-minute drive north of Edmonton, making it a super convenient place to explore. Big Lake is also situated to the left of Riel Recreation Park (where I park). If you have a kayak, canoe or raft, it’s a wonderful lake for water sports.
St. Albert
The approximately sixteen-kilometres-long pathway requires the same path to be taken in both directions. If you want to take a different route, you’ll have to do the return journey in a neighbourhood. The path switches between shaded and open areas in the sun. The river is gorgeous to walk along. If you want to reach the north side pathways, many bridges are available to cross once you reach the rail bridge, closer to downtown St. Albert. It feels more secluded on the west and east end of the trail and is busier in the middle commercial section of the walk. Benches are set up along the way allowing a break or to stop for lunch or eat a snack. It’s easy to get exercise while exploring a new location.
South of Edmonton Day Trips
Edmonton Day Trips to the south include canoeing from Devon to Edmonton and going swimming at Sylvan Lake. Canoeing is a fun activity that takes around four hours on the water depending on the currents. It could take longer, five to six hours if you have a different type of inflatable such as a raft. Swimming in Sylvan Lake is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Edmonton. Decide how long you want to spend at this location relaxing, swimming and having a picnic before heading back.
Canoe Devon to Edmonton
Canoeing from Devon to Edmonton is a fun way to spend the afternoon. The water current is fairly easy to deal with so that my brother and I were mostly able to relax, have lunch and enjoy our conversations.
You have two driving options to make this trip happen. Either you have your own canoe or rent one from Totem and drive a vehicle to both ends: Devon and another one to Laurier Park. You will have to retrieve your vehicle from Devon once you’ve completed the day. Or, if you don’t want to drive to both locations, it’s possible to park one vehicle at Laurier Park and take a shuttle (only available Saturdays) with your rented canoe from the shuttle company and it will drive your rental and you to your starting Devon location. Once arrived at Laurier Park, you will be able to drive home. Check out specific driving and renting options here.
Sylvan Lake
The Edmonton Day Trips include swimming at Sylvan Lake. There are two locations. The main beach has bathrooms close by with change stalls but keep in mind, that they don’t tend to be the cleanest. The sandy beach is gorgeous for swimming, however. The water is generally cold enough that you won’t see algae. It’s a bit cooler to get used to initially but it’s a nice refreshing swim once you get in. The lake has a rope for a dedicated swimming area; don’t worry about boats running you over. The lake gets deep quickly. You’ll be able to enjoy a deep swim without going halfway across the lake.
There is plenty of space for throwing a frisbee or a football with family members or your partner. Around the main beach, there is a lot of green space as well if you want to set up lawn chairs and have a BBQ.
Edmonton Day Trips: Free Parking
Ten minutes south of the beach, they have a free parking lot if you don’t mind walking a bit with your stuff. It beats fighting heavy traffic for a parking spot close to the beach due to the popularity of this place to hang out in the summer. Plus, the parking spots closer to the beach are paid parking.
Second Beach Location
The second location (Petro Beach Day Use Park) is closer to the north side of town. It has limited parking which could result in street parking depending on the time you arrive. It has one outhouse but it’s generally in good condition. There is limited green space but completely useable for a family that needs a place to sit in the sun (or in the shade if you bring an umbrella) and will be spending most of their time in the water. There is more beach space to the south side if you want to put your chairs in the water or close to it.
The beach initially is a bit mucky and weedy until you get to the nice part of the beach but it’s less crowded in the water in this area. Most of the people that park in that area, head paddle boarding, kayaking or relaxing on an inflatable in the water and don’t stay close to shore and occupy space.
East of Edmonton Day Trips
These day trips involve hiking and a fun trip eating and sleeping on a train! Cooking-Lake Blackfoot is a gorgeous area with lakes, many kilometres of trails and plenty of new space to discover. Footloose Caboose is a different type of experience for the train enthusiast or a family fun adventure. Both are located thirty minutes east of Edmonton.
Cooking-Lake Blackfoot
Cooking-Lake Blackfoot has a variety of different loop lengths that range in difficulty. It’s easy to add additional loops as they tend to be shorter distances. When you have a bit more energy, it can be nice to only add a couple more clicks. Keep in mind, you’ll need to add quite a few loops to accomplish many hours of hiking but it’s awesome to have the luxury to do twenty to thirty kilometres of hiking if you wish. There are approximately forty kilometres available for your exercise pleasure. They have outhouses (usually stocked with toilet paper) at the trailheads and periodically along the trail, which is fantastic.
One awesome thing about winter trails when cross-country skiing is that many trails on opposite sides of each other have different difficulty levels. Kris might do a blue trail while I ski a black trail, but they keep meeting up, allowing us to keep checking in to see if we prefer to do different skill levels or if we want to ski together again.
Footloose Caboose Edmonton Day Trips
Footloose Caboose is such a fun experience. We stayed in one of the cabooses and enjoyed a delicious supper and breakfast the next morning for our anniversary. We had gone in September, not expecting the snow but we made the best of it. It’s possible to walk around the property and view the displays. The caboose to sleep a couple was a bit chilly with the colder temperatures but it’s all part of the fun. The kitchen is located in a different caboose but nice and close to the restaurant. It was pleasant to have a glass of wine as well and relax knowing our accommodation was next door and we didn’t have to drive. The restaurant is perfect for families and the accommodations is set up for couples. The staff are super friendly and welcoming. It was a unique experience that I look forward to repeating sometime soon.
There are so many different Edmonton Day Trips to experience. The most you’ll have to drive over the course of a day is three hours. Where do you want to go? What do you want to see? What type of activity do you want to do as a family or as a couple? Pembina River Provincial Park is an awesome place for spending time in the outdoors while swimming for part of the day down a river. Chickakoo in that area is also wonderful for walks. There are plenty of options aimed at water activities. Or maybe change it up and try a unique adventure like eating on a train for supper at Footloose Caboose with your family.
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