Inside a hidden gem: Peaceful Valley Day Lodge
‘I think people are quite surprised. It’s an amazing oasis'
Peaceful Valley Day Lodge, 100 kilometres southwest of Edmonton near Pigeon Lake, overlooks the picturesque Battle River Valley.
"This spot here is extremely special within the Alberta Parks system," says Graham Wylde, a visitor experience co-ordinator with Alberta Parks.
"I think people are quite surprised. It's an amazing oasis."
Wylde says few people know the lodge exists.
The day-use facility is not open to the general public. Instead, it has been set aside for groups of seniors, persons with disabilities and those who are terminally ill. Reservations are required. Visitors don't pay fees.
The volunteer-run lodge is part of the Peaceful Valley provincial recreation area. Besides the lodge and its open-air decks, it also features two kilometres of wheelchair-accessible trails.
In the 1980s, Edmonton siblings Robert (Bob) and Kathleen (Kay) Wark were out for a drive, stopping at garage sales on their hunt for an antique bathtub for their cabin, when they stumbled across the property for sale.
"They were just taken with the beauty of the site, the wildflowers and the amazing views," says Wylde.
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The Warks purchased the 12-hectare property but were uncertain what to do with it.
At the time, Kay was volunteering in an Edmonton hospital and felt that seniors in long-term care didn't have enough opportunities to get out of the city and into nature.
The family approached the provincial government with the vision for a lodge. They entered into an agreement and established a trust fund to run the space free of taxpayers' dollars.
The day lodge opened in the 1990s and since then, according to Wylde, upwards of 90 groups with 2,500 individuals have enjoyed the space for free every year.
"This is really something," says Adele Dahrouge, a senior from River Ridge Retirement Residence in St. Albert who recently enjoyed a barbecue, golf-cart tour and birdwatching at the lodge.
The 81-year old is terminally ill with cancer. She says doctors gave her three to six months to live but that was nearly two years ago.
"So far the big C hasn't caught up with me, so I'm enjoying every minute of this," she says. "It's nice to see the people in wheelchairs who are a little bit more closed in than I am to be out here."
With his wife Holle, Hans Hahn has volunteered on the advisory board of Peaceful Valley for the past four years.
"[Visitors] do enjoy being out here and we try to keep it up as more and more people get to know about it," Hahn says.
He says reservations fill up quickly for the bookings from mid-May to the end of September.
In 2013 an additional 32 hectares, including the ridge to the valley below, was acquired by the Peaceful Valley Trust Fund.
Hahn says they're looking at expanding to include a second lodge, more trails and picnic sites.
He says the demand is there and believes it will only grow.
"If you look at the population in Alberta, we're all getting older."
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