View topic - Blackstone River Trunk road to Gas Plant Bridge Help please

Hey there, new to this forum. Been on many overnight raft trips but nothing in the foothills or mountains. No canyon sections like this. Floated the Lower section of the Brazeau river and the NSR a bunch. I use a 14 foot zodiac style aquamarine raft and it’s always performed great compared to the canoes and other rafts I’ve travelled with.

I want to float and fish the Canyon section of the Blackstone River between the FTR bridge and the next bridge about 25-30km downstream. My backroad mapbook has it rated as Class 2+ in this section but I have also seen guys in the outdoorsmen forum telling others to stay out of there. I know the river up and downstream of the canyon and none of it seems dangerous but the canton is pretty inaccessible besides floating it.

I searched old threads and see that several people mention they’ve completed this stretch. Im looking for any information I can get including how many float hours, if it’s better to stay the night in the canyon or pound it all out in a day, what the worst conditions I can expect in good water are (Id only float low, clear water as fly fishing is the goal here) Is there sections I’ll have to line my raft through? And are they easily identifiable from the approach?

With my raft being a couple hundred pounds and possibly full of camping gear, a necessary portage is out of the question and enough to keep me from going.

Like I said, any info I could gather would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out. Cheers.

Hi,

Best advice I can give is to get a copy of Mark Lunds "Marks Guide for Alberta Paddlers". It has details of put in's, rapids, campsites etc. on the river. It'll also give you an idea of the flow rate and time to paddle that section.
When are you thinking of doing this? The flow rate varies greatly over the year so might be worth checking in with one of the local paddling clubs, too.

Mark Lund is President of Ceyana Canoe club in Edmonton- his contact info should be on their website. If he can't answer your questions, he'll steer you in the right direction.

Cheers! Bruce

Thanks for the advice. This book kept coming up in my searches so I ordered it the other day. Can’t wait to get a look at it.