After a week of hiking around Olympic National Park, it was time to give the legs a break and work on the upper body. Time to let the blisters on my feet heal and work on new ones on my palms and fingers. The plan: to canoe the over 120km from Red Deer to Drumheller on the Red Deer River. Four days, three girls, one dog, one canoe. Heading out on July 2nd, Caroline, Michelle and I were excited to start the trip. To get us where we needed to go, we had a large canoe and paddles, GPS, a laminated map and a guide. To keep us alive we had enough water for about a day (as well as a water filter and purification tablets), a first aid kit and emergency blanket, fire starter equipment, and food, camp gear and clothing packed into drybags. Unsure how this mountain of stuff would fit in the canoe and leave enough room for the three of us and Juno (the dog), we discovered that everything fit quite well. We could have even brought some luxury goods if we had known, like chairs!
We were dropped off in Red Deer and had about 30km to paddle to our first camp spot, Trenville Park Campground. This was our only night we planned to spend in a campground as you are allowed to camp without a permit anywhere along the river that is below the high water line. For the first night we opted for a campground to see how we were doing, stock up on water, and purchase fire wood. The trek took about 5 hours in the hot Alberta sun (the forecast was sun all week and near 30 degree days), and was fairly uneventful save for some “riffles” and one class 1 rapids section that added some excitement. We managed without too much pain and the pooch did surprisingly well. At the campground, they gave us a wheelbarrow to carry our gear up from the boat to our campsite, how helpful! A warm dinner, a small fire, an accidental disturbance of a fire-ant nest and their insect counter attack, and it was bedtime.
The next day, we had an early start to tackle the longest day on the river, nearly 40km. Cool and windy in the morning, we were learning how to keep the canoe moving straight as the current and wind buffeted us around on the water. By mid morning, the sun began to come out and we welcomed the change of weather with open arms! How good it felt to relax in the warm sun. Caroline, in the middle, laid back for a nap. I did the same in the back. The canoe turned around in the water and we began drifting backward. We drifted past some other canoeists who had stopped for a break, finding it hilarious that we were passing them backwards as we napped in our boat. Why go to shore when you can take a break on the boat and keep moving? It was a funny concept, when suddenly the stern of the boat hit the bank, the front twisted around and got stuck, and the current hit the side of the boat and we filled up with some water. To make everything more dramatic, Michelle and Juno got thrown headfirst out the front. Nothing serious as the river is slow and only hip deep in the deepest sections, but I don’t think Caroline and I stopped laughing for about 10 minutes as we unpacked and drained the boat. Michelle may have thought the ordeal was a little less hilarious. The other canoe passed us with a laugh and wave as we pretended we had merely decided to clean out the canoe, although we found out later they had seen the whole fiasco!
A stop in at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Park and refill of our water and do a small hike, some swimming in the river, and we eventually made it past Tolman park where we found a beautiful spot to camp with a rocky beach and flat grassy areas to set up camp. We set up camp and made dinner, but before long noticed a foreboding wall of cloud descending upon us. We quickly packed up everything into the drybags again, stored our firewood under the canoe, and took shelter in one of our tents as the wind began to howl and the first raindrops came down. We were buffeted by this intense windy storm for an hour or so before things died down and we went to sleep.
Day 3 was another long day as we continued our trip through the beautiful badlands. Today was a hot battle against a headwind most of the way, with lots of stops to swim and snack. We stopped at another campground along the way to refill water, and began looking for campsites once we passed Morrin Bridge. We found a few spots that looked ideal from further away, but upon closer inspection we could notice cow dung on the rocky beaches and hear the cattle over the ridge. We were in ranch country now. We continue on, in hopes of a cowless spot to camp. After nearly another hour of searching downriver, we eventually found a small area that seemed bovine free. There wasn’t a whole lot of space to set up camp, but it was fine for what we needed. It was only later, after a big dinner and a roaring fire of the remainder of our firewood, that we noticed the water levels were rising. In fact, probably about a third of our beach was now under water! A little unsure of what to do, we pushed our tents up as high as we could and prayed we wouldn't be flooded out in the middle of the night. Water levels seemed fairly constant before bed, and we ended up going to sleep without incident.
The last day was a relaxed sunny paddle to Drumheller since we had done some extra distance the day before, with stops for picnics and swims. We also had some cautious jumps on a rope swing into the river that could have been a little deeper. We were picked up in Newcastle Park by Micheal, a fellow highschool friend of ours, before grabbing some icecream in Drumheller and heading home. Overall, a huge success! We averaged 30km, or about 6 hours of paddling, per day, and came out with toughened hands, sore shoulders, browned skin and big smiles!
