TrailCafe: Canoe Trip Reports


Introduction

Canoeing, It is a re-discovered pleasure in my life. Why has Canoeing really taken the top spot in my activities? Canoeing has many elements to it that combine to make it a fantastic outing. It is an activity that can be enjoyed right away, with family outings to the lake. Providing the ability to get away from the rat rat race. Be it is fishing, or exploring the bays of a lake, pushing your skill in white water, or a lazy float down a river, it has the makings of a great trip.

Canoing has a nice learining curve, allowing for skills progression, and enjoyment for years as the canoest moves from relaxing paddles out on a lake, to tripping down rivers, and the thrill of extream white water paddeling.

Below you will find the Canoe trips that I have done, they were originally entered for my own benifit. They tend to be some what poorly written, but may be a reasonable resource. I tried to define each trip so that a user can find the start and takeout, as well as a indication of the skill level required for the trip. After that is the trip report from the days paddle.

At the bottom of the page you will find a "links" section to other resources, particualarily thouse that provide information in my neck of the woods. I am currenlty setting up an online trip entry capability. Hopefully others will be interesting in adding reports of the trips they have been on.

Trip Reports

CANADA

Alberta

Alberta is my home, thus the bulk of my trips are here. I've got enough trip reports now that I've broken out Alberta to some sub regions that I haunt. Most of my paddles are in South Western part of the province, in or near Calgary.

Kananaskis Area

Sometimes it is hard to justify driving to Banff, when Kananaskis is closer, and has fewer tourists. Espcially on days I forget my park pass.

Calgary vicinity

My home town.

Central Alberta

  • N. Saskachewan R Hornburg to Rocky Mtn House Day Trip on Grade II River into Rocky Mtn House Alberta.
  • N. Saskachewan R, Nordeg to Rocky Mtn House (May 2006). A three day trip from Nordeg to Rocky Mountain house.
  • Red Deer River Content Bridge to Dry Island buffolow Jump Prov park : (5-July-2008)A two day canoe paddle on the Red Deer River, from Content Bridge to Dry Island Buffalo Jump. This is a slow section of grade 1 river, with only one grade I (reported II at some levels) rapid in it. The scenery transitions from park land to the beginning of the bad lands. We traveled 50km in 5 hrs moving time. Split evenly between two days. Water level is fairly high: about 120 m3/s where normal average is about 55 m3/s, this means we have a faster than normal river flow rate. Adding to this we have good back wind on day one. No wind on day two, overall we made considerably better time than suggested by our trip planning resources.

    • Title: Red_Deer_River_Content_Bridge_to_Dry_Island_buffolow_Jump_Prov_park
    • Country: CANADA
    • Province: Alberta
    • LocationRoute: Red Deer River

Rest of Alberta

  • Lake_Louise_to_Castle_Mtn_Jcn : (23-July-2006) The Bow River running through Banff National Park in Calgary. Class II, with the rapids near the start of the run, finishing of with a easy paddle for the second 2/3rds of the run.

North West Territories

10 Day trip Nahanni River, Nahanni National Park

Rest of Canada

MEXICO

No trip reports entered for the rest of Mexico

USA


Submitted Articles gallerys, etc related to canoeing

  • Gallery from the Canmore Canoe Course Days 1 and 2. Taken June 2005, Bow River in Banff National Park.
  • Gallery from the Canmore Canoe Course Days 3 and 4. Taken June 2005, Vermilion (sp?) River in BC (I think), and and Bow River in Banff.

Links to Canoe Resources and groups

Links related to the differnet trails are now captured in a single "Links" page.

Books worth reading on Canoeing and Kayak touring

I've moved these references to the "misc" page.

Notes and Disclaimer

All descriptions, and classifications of the river are provided as a rough guide. They must not be taken as absolute. Rivers change over time, they change with flow rate, and grading by one author will often not match the grade given by another even if run on the same day.

Ultimatly all paddlers must take full responsibility for their own safety. This means not running rapids beyond your ability, staying alert and scouting rapids, ensuring you have appropreate equipment and skill for the trip type, and conditions.

Reader input

I hope to get others in the area to add trip reports for this site. In the future I will have a 'form' that may be filled in that would automatically generate the trip report. however that could take years. In the mean time, if you know HTML, then feel free to write up a trip report and send it in, I can unzip it with any pictures onto my site, and link it in. If interested, you can send it to me at


Main page | Hiking | Canoeing | Seakayaking | X-Country Skiing | Other Trips | Other Stuff |