Badassary

Bellis Beach Lake Campground - with canoeing and fishing in mind, I searched Google for a campsite that's not too far away from home. Since this is only going to be a weekend trip I didn't want to spend most of our time on the road. Lucky me I found Bellis Beach Lake Campground. This place has everything! (Everything we needed anyway! :) ) It was close to home (80km), pet-friendly, very affordably ($20/night), stocked with fish and best of all there were no motorized boats allowed (perfect for canoes)! It also has a day use area with access to a small sandy beach area ... and just as we thought It can't get any better, we found out upon arrival at site that the day-use area can also be used as a staging point to access some ATV trails around the site.

We spent the first day canoeing and playing in the water. We also attempted to fish. Knowing that the lake is stocked with 15,000 trout a year we were pretty optimistic. Unfortunately, the lake was pretty dead when we got there - dead I mean no fish in sight. There wasn't much fish action around and not much bites on our baits either. This lake wasn't a huge lake and with 15,000 trout every year we were bound to get at least some nibbles - or so we taught. 6pm hits and there it was, the possible reason why there were no nibbles - Pelicans! There were at least 10 of them. How are we suppose to compete with that? ... No thank you! At least we got a lot of canoeing and swimming done :) After watching the sunset and enjoying our bon fire we were off to bed.

Day 2 - After packing everything up we left the overnight campsite and moved to the day-use area where we can park and stage for our ATV adventure. This was the first time we are riding with both our dogs so I was kinda skeptical about it. We usually ride the RZR with Enzo (King Sheppard) following our trail and Momo (Mini Poodle), sitting right on my lap. This time we were all inside the RZR (lol!) ... if you saw us around you'd probably question our sanity lol.... Surprisingly, 2 adults, a 120lbs and 15 lbs dog all do fit inside comfortably. And off we went! We rode and followed the trail for a couple of hours. The trail were mostly treed which was nice especially if it's a really hot day. The trail was a little bit tight for us since we were on a side by side but it is perfect for quads. If you follow the trail it goes around the lake and provides access to the highway ditches as well. Overall I thought it was a fun and relaxing ride (highly recommend it for novice riders). If you want to see a glimpse of the trail then scroll down and play the video :)

Overall Review: 3.5/5 STARS

Campsite Recap

Things to do: Canoeing, Kayaking, ATVing, Fishing, Swimming, Hiking (which we didn't do much of)

Site Amenities: Each site has a picnic table and a fire pit with a grill. The campsite we reserved was also by the lake so we didn't need to portage with the canoe too far.

For more information, please visit: http://belliscamping.com/

Bruderheim, Alberta –

60km northeast of the city of Edmonton lays the small town of Bruderheim. If you are an Edmonton local that’s always been into the quadding or 4x4 scene, you probably know where this is. For most it’s just another small town outside the city but for some of us, it is home to one of the larger sand pits that’s most accessible from the city. Whether, you’re a ‘noob’ or an expert, the Bruderheim sand pits offer enough variety of terrains that will definitely satisfy your needs. Looking for sand, mud, muskeg, water – you name it and it’s here. Machine presence ranges from Dirt bikes to quads and side by sides, even trucks and jeeps have recently flocked the area. If you’re a family man, the area is also open for day camping. There’s a lot of fairly private sites out of traffic to ‘park’ your family while you get some riding done without worrying about you’re the little kids safety :).

This area is definitely a must see if you’re travelling this way!