Strathcona Wilderness Centre — Attraction in Alberta

Most of the the reviews here seem to be for winter activities, and they do have a lot of those, but I'm going to focus on summer instead, mainly hiking. I visited the Strathcona Wilderness Center at the end of June 2018, after having not been there in probably 20 years.

I have mixed feelings about it as a wilderness place. By doing the long-loops on both the East Trails and the West Trails, plus checking out the shore of Bennett Lake (slough), I could get in 10 km of hiking. But these outside loops sometime ran not far from local range and township roads, and while these roads are not at all busy, it still didn't really feel like I was in wilderness when I could see a road through the trees. That said, I did have a close encounter with a mother moose and her two baby moose, so that did seem like wilderness (we went our separate ways, without incident).

The trails are extremely wide, you could drive two cars past each other on them. I presume this is because of the wide track-setting done in winter. Signage is amazing, I don't think you could get lost if you tried. The grass on the trails was quite short -- I don't know if it is mowed or if it just doesn't grow much for some reason. There are lots of mature aspen and I suspect some nice fall photos could be taken here at the end of September.

I did not encounter any wet sections on any of the trails at this time of year. I also did not encounter a single other person on the 10 km of trails I hiked, so it seems hiking is not a big summer activity. I suspect the trails are used mainly in the winter. There is no fee to hike the trails in summer but I believe a fee is charged to ski or snowshoe on them in the winter.

The Centre also has picnic spot rentals, cookhouse rentals, campsite rentals and I think some bunkhouses, but I did not use any of these. There is a disc golf course that is free if you bring your own discs, or you can rent discs from the lodge.

Bennett Lake used to have canoe rentals when I was here decades ago, but the lake level has fallen so much over the years that the "lake" is now just a big slough. The Strathcona Wilderness Centre now runs its canoe training courses on nearby Islet Lake, at the Islet Lake staging area in the Blackfoot/Waskehagan area.

One important thing to note here is that this is a county-run facility and the gates are locked at 4:30 p.m. daily. So don't plan on going out there for an evening hike in the summer, and if you are there during the day, make sure you leave...

Beautiful and quiet little getaway close to the city. The trails are rated easy, moderate, or advanced, but all of them are very wide flat trails that anyone can enjoy. The only real difference is the number of hills along the trail. The easiest trails would even be wheelchair accessible if your wheelchair is equipped for going through short grass.

There are some really nice secluded walk-in campsites tucked away in the woods here, with nice big fire pits, free fire wood, lockable bins (bring your own lock), and outhouses. I'm not sure whether it would be worthwhile to camp here, though, as there isn't anything to do once you've walked all the trails (takes about 2 hours to cover them all at a relaxed pace), unless you want to just play disc golf all day or stay at the campsite...

Very easy trails, big open areas, and lots of tables. Nowhere near as busy as Elk Island. Great for families with little kids, as the short non-technical trails will let them have fun. This isn't the place to go for a long challenging hike, but that's not what this park is going for.

The only big downfall is that they close at 4:30 every day, including weekends. You can stay longer, but if you do, park at the entrance outside the front gates. Otherwise, your vehicle might get locked in.

Edited on April 21, 2022: Trails are open for walking. Most trails are still usable by XC skiiers, so I'd walk on the sides where others had walked. The snow is slushy; hills can be slippery in the slush, but they aren't icy. Definitely not ready for trail running yet, but it's good for...