Trail: Albert Dyck Lake
Location: Abbotsford
Distance from Vancouver: Approx. 1 hour
Directions with a Link to Google Map: Click here for Google map
Ages of Children Hiking: 2, 2, 4, 4
Adults: 2
Stroller Friendly: Yes
Dog Friendly: Trail-Yes. Beach-No.
Bathrooms: No
Time it took us to complete: 1.5 hours
Jelly Bean Rating: 2/5
Also known as “Molson Lake”, Albert Dyck Lake lies on the south side of Abbotsford near the airport. It’s a man-made lake that is partially devoted to motorized boats and water sports but does have a portion that’s been designated for splashing around in!
When you come into the parking lot start heading to the right. The kids wanted to go down to the beach immediately, but we told them that we had to walk for a little while first.
We walked along the wide, gravel trail until we came to a beach access spot. This isn’t much further along than where we started the walk, but we knew that it was going to be a losing battle. We headed down to the beach where the volleyball nets are.
Once we had a treat (at 10 a.m., of course), dodged a whole lot of goose poop, and poured sand in each others’ hair (the kids-not us) we convinced the kids to go check out the water sports that were happening ahead. We entirely could have seen what was going on from where we were, but we needed a way to encourage them to walk for a little while longer.
So, here’s the deal. We REALLY struggle on adventures that require our kids to walk around a body of water. They don’t want to walk around the water-they want to be IN the water.
From this point on in the trail we had a difficult time getting the kids to keep going around the Albert Dyck Lake trail. We went on a zombie hunt, tried to find the head to the headless dead bird in the grass (gross, but they found it and we needed to talk about it), and had many a race.
Finally, we arrived at a little beach where we promised the kids we’d have our lunch.
After the kids spent time not eating the lunches we packed for them *insert sigh* we headed back to the car.
Jellybean Rating summary for Albert Dyck Lake
For a 1.6 km trail Albert Dyck Lake seems very long with kids. There’s very little to keep them excited while they’re on the trail. If you’re lucky and get to see some jet skiing that may keep the kids interested, but otherwise you’re probably better off finding yourself a spot on the beach and plunking yourself down for a bit. Just be careful of the goose poop!