View topic - Where Are You Paddling This 2009 May Long Weekend?

Last year (2008) I talked about paddling the NSask from Nordegg to Rocky Mtn House on the May long weekend, but ended up paddling the Blackstone under very high water conditions. We did paddle the Nordegg-Rocky run later in the summer.

This year I am again planning a May long weekend paddling trip from Nordegg-Rocky. The biggest issue (for me anyway) with this route is that it is difficult to talk a friend or family member to do the 4hr drive (1 way) to leave a vehicle at the take-out and shuttle us to the put-in. I think that this year I will drop off the canoes and gear at the put-in and then drive back to Rocky where I will hire a taxi to take me back out. I inquired about this last year with the taxi service in Rocky and they said it would cost about $100.

Anyone else planning some May long weekend paddling in Alberta this year?

regards
dave

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Dave W
"Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing" - Henry David Thoreau

I'll be finishing Guide school on the Kananaskis river over the May Long weekend.
If they get the gate back in it's track so they can turn the river back on

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I'll think of something cool to put here later. . .

Poplar Lake off Tilden Lake between North Bay and Temagami. Close by, light traffic, haven't been in years, easy. At least that the plan so far...

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"That's all I have to say about that..." (Forest Gump)

lower mad
jim

St. Lawrence...after the wedding..I hate weddings so this will salvage the weekend

hahaha, we got dumped on with over a foot of heavy wet snow that put a stop to all plans. It's starting to melt now but temps are still low and more snow is called for Monday.

On the bright side, i bushwhacked / postholed for over an hour this afternoon to a small creek that was full of walleye. My father and I soon had our limit so at least there's a silver lining.

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We managed to get a good day of paddling in this long weekend from Horberg to Rocky Mountain House on the N. Sask. River. Weather was good. Still a lot of ice on the banks from the winter. Water was very cold. We didn't have to test out the wetsuits we wore, but were glad to have them on. Here is a couple pics.





cheers
dave

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Dave W
"Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing" - Henry David Thoreau

I had been planning a 3 nighter in Woodland Caribou but Friday morning the snow started and we ended up with 30cm.
Check out the depth on the seats of the chairs


The highway was closed seeing as all the ploughs had been taken off the road quite a while ago. Travel 70km up a logging road would have been nothing short of impossible.

I attempted to leave Saturday but the snow was still too deep on the unploughed logging road for my summer tires. It was the wet snow that packs down into ice the minute you drive on it and I did not feeling like spending the weekend trying to get my truck out the ditch in the middle of nowhere.

So Sunday arrived and we thought we should try it again. Up the Suffle Lake road we go. Not far in we decided to stop and try our luck fishing on Flat Lake. It looked too good to pass up. No luck with the fishing but it was a nice paddle.

Cold enough that the ice was forming at the shore line



Some Bear tracks in the snow left behind from the snow storm.


All loaded up (sort of) and ready to go. Finally


It was pretty windy and we paddled into a head wind out of the put in. Up around the bend and then to a campsite to stop for lunch around 3pm. This is when we discovered it. We somehow left the kitchen bag back at the put in. Crap!!! We did a little fishing, ate some food and took a few photos of the area.



It was not too hard to figure out that we couldn't comfortably spend the night without the pack. It contained the stove, water filter, pots and pans, dishes, and all things kitchen. In a desperate situation we could have made it, but who wanted the undue hardship? We decided to paddle back for the pack.

The wind was getting stronger and the sky darker, there was a storm blowing in. The last km was a little harry. The wind was blowing on our backs but the waves were getting a bit big and tossing the canoe around. Dumping was not an option. Not sure f it was because the wind was funneling to the bottom end of the lake or what but trying to land the canoe was chaotic. I simply couldn't imagine turning around and making another 5km paddle into that wind. It was already 5:30.

So we portaged the stuff back along the very very wet trail back to the truck and headed back home. Everything is still packed for next weekend though.

Still smiling after all that.

I guess I managed to do a day trip paddle in Woodland Caribou

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