Get Back To Nature: Carson-Pegasus Provincial Park

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Carson-Pegasus Provincial Park over the last few years so I thought it was about time I checked it out.  After an early May camping trip to Carson-Pegasus with other homeschool families didn’t pan out due to heavy rain, I made a reservation for the last week of May and luckily had great weather.

At about 2 hours from Edmonton, Carson-Pegasus makes for a great weekend roadtrip, or even daytrip, and having Whitecourt 25 minutes away makes it easy to grab any forgotten items and provide additional activities.

The lady at the gate pulled my reservation quickly and I paid $8 for a bag of wood and picked it up just past the gate. I was only there for one night due to prior planned activities in the city, but I went through 2 bags of wood (which were a good size).  We had the fire going from 7-11 and then again in the morning for over an hour.

We stayed in Site 95 and had lake views through the trees.  There was an outhouse adjacent to us and a trail ran behind our site.  It made for a great area to walk before bed and watch the sunset.  There were several small boats out on the water and people fishing off the dock that was further down the trail.

We arrived around 4:30 pm, I set up the tent and then we got ready for the beach. Kids seem to not mind the temperature of the water and will play in anything!  I found it chilly, but it didn’t seem so bad after a few minutes.  The girls played in it for about an hour. They also spent time playing in the sand and on the playground.

Saturday morning we checked out the playground within the campground. It was about a 5-10 minute walk from our site, uphill on the way there.  There’s a couple of benches there and the play area where the girls had fun with kids they introduced themselves to and played games with.

We heard loons frequently at the beach and into the evening at our camp site. We also saw squirrels and ducks on our evening walk. We didn’t have any major issues with mosquitos, but we were fairly covered up at our site and our clothes sprayed with Deep Woods.  Ticks could be present since you’re in the woods and near tall grass near water. Always check your clothing after a walk. 

After we checked out, we went into Whitecourt for a visit to Rotary Park.  It’s a huge recreation area with soccer fields, playground, splash park, washrooms and river slides! The girls had a blast coming down on their tubes. We’ll definitely be coming back for a day trip to Rotary Park, and perhaps pay a visit to Hard Luck Canyon.