Mud Lake Explore

 I've been investigating the Seven Mile Canoe Trail here in the Palmer Wasilla area. It's a seven mile course along the Cottonwood Creek drainage that begins in Palmer at Finger Lake. At the far end of the lake there is a short portage up a little hill that leads to Cottonwood Lake. From there the traveler paddles the full length of Cottonwood Lake to the outlet creek which is once again Cottonwood Creek. There is a culvert beneath N Shoreline Drive that always sounded like a possible problem for my kayak. But the trail does follow this section of the creek to Mud Lake, a lake with no public access, except for property owners with homes on its shore. At the far end of Mud Lake, once again the waterway becomes Cottonwood Creek until it comes to a much bigger highway, called Seward Meridian Parkway. I have heard that many people choose to portage across the highway rather than negotiate that culvert. Once beyond this obstacle, one can paddle the longest section of lake, Wasilla Lake. I would love to paddle this entire route but due to fast currents along the creek, it makes the most sense to travel in the downstream direction from Finger Lake to Wasilla Lake. Traveling both ways would make for a very long trip with some serious upstream paddling. So I have been hoping to find a kayaking partner willing to do the trip while placing a car at each end. Or, perhaps someone willing to meet me at the end point and toss me and my boat out at the Finger Lake boat launch. So far, I have found no takers!

I have paddled the whole length of Finger Lake, the whole length of Cottonwood Lake, hiked the portage between the two and found the outgoing creek to Mud Lake. Due to conflicting information I have heard regarding the two culverts, I started today by driving to both culverts and walking down from the roads to check them out. The one under N Shoreline Drive looked very short and easy to negotiate. But the one under Seward Meridian looked like something well worth the extra effort of the portage across the highway. The water is high right now and moving very fast. There are also a couple of posts in the middle of the stream with the potential of tripping up a passing boat. After seeing that, I decided that I'll likely never go through that culvert. But I wanted to explore Mud Lake. Access to the creek from the dirt trail off Seward Meridian was a perfect place to put my kayak in the water. I paddled upstream for a while against fairly strong but still easy to paddle current until I reached the actual lake. I used my AllTrails iPhone app to navigate to the inlet creek from Cottonwood Lake and paddle up it until I reached the culvert. The water coming through that culvert is much stronger than the rest of the creek. I tried to paddle up through the culvert but quickly found that my paddle was too long to fit through the culvert. That made it a definite one way trip! I pulled my boat out of the water and hiked up the embankment. crossed the road and put in on the other side of the culvert. Then I floated easily through it, using my hands to guide me by touching the culvert roof. I finished paddling completely around Mud Lake and back down to the stream to my car parked off Seward Meridian Parkway. 2.6 miles total. 

So now, I have done all of the canoe trail in pieces, except for the long stretch of Wasilla Lake. Once the rain stops I think I will just put in at Wasilla Lake and paddle to Seward Meridian.  At least I know exactly how to do the trail and that there is nothing serious to fear. I'd love to spend a nice sunny day doing the whole trip. 

Mud Lake

Cottonwood Creek

Trumpeter Swans

Northshore Drive Culvert

Mud Lake

Today's Route