Pine Lake: Action packed or leisurely relaxing
The Central Alberta landscape is dominated by rolling hills interspersed with pockets of forest. Within these rolling lands just to the southeast of Red Deer lies a valley filled by a narrow natural lake called Pine Lake. This lake is supported by an aquifer fed by a watershed 120 square kilometres in size. Though intermittent streams and creeks flow into Pine Lake during spring runoff and rainstorms, it is the aquifer that keeps the lake stable. In the last 40 years, the average lake fluctuation between spring and fall has only been 40 centimetres.
At the very north end of this beautiful lake, you will find Pine Lake Leisure—a Parkbridge RV Resort—featuring a sandy south-facing beach with a 100-slip marina. And while the beach captures the sun all day, the RV resort is located within a mature spruce and poplar forest with 31 hectares (77 acres) of natural terrain to explore. Pine Lake Leisure boasts a recreation hall, a large heated salt water pool, a snack bar, three playgrounds, a volleyball court, horseshoe pits, an arcade, a laundromat, shower facilities and a licensed convenience store. You can find relaxation on the beach or in the forest, or you can enjoy so many activities at Pine Lake. Planned activities are run for the kids at the activity centre.
If you like water sports, Pine Lake is for you with skiing, wake-boarding and tubing and, for the real brave, riding an air chair. An air chair looks like a wakeboard with a chair on top for the rider to sit facing forward. The board is connected to an aluminum bar that extends out from the bottom of the board and connects to a hydrofoil. A hydrofoil is an underwater wing designed to lift the hull of a boat out of the water or in this case the air chair with the rider on top. Riders hold onto a ski rope and control the air chair by leaning into turns, leaning backward to raise the chair up and forward to return the air chair back toward the water. Skilled riders not only bring the air chair up out of the water but cause the hydrofoil to jump out of the water, sometimes reaching heights of five metres (16 feet) in the air at which point gravity takes over and returns the rider back to the water and sometimes even in control.
Pine Lake Leisure has been recognized as Canada’s only destination for an annual water-sport event known as a Hydrofoloosa, organized by the Pine Lake Riders Hydrofoil Club. The airborne jumps, flips and turns that these riders are able to perform make the Hydrofoloosa spectacular. In 2017 the Hydrofoloosa will be running from August 10 to 13. At Pine Lake Leisure, you can just take your lawn chair to the beach to enjoy the show.
Pine Lake is also home to northern pike, yellow perch and walleye. Walleye is catch-and-release only, and in recent years both northern pike and walleye have rebounded, providing an active fishery. Reports indicate that the fishing is more active on the northern end of the lake, and Pine Lake Leisure has a fishing dock that guests can fish from. Pine Lake is also popular for ice fishing in the winter. Pine Lake is closed for fishing April 1 to May 14.
Pine Lake Leisure—a Parkbridge RV Resort—opens on April 28, 2017, and has all the activities you are looking for at a beach-side resort to keep you as active as you want. You can find relaxation in the forest, on the beach or perhaps on a lawn chair watching the flights of the air chair riders during the Hydrofoloosa. Interested in more information about this resort? Visit www.parkbridge.com for photos and details.
