Northern Waters - Athabasca River

Berland Bridge to Whitecourt (Class I+)

In late August 2010, we did the 100km Berland Bridge to Whitecourt section of the Athabasca River.  This section has one optional Class I+ rapid (you actually have to go out of your way to run it) and a number of riffles.  The current is quite strong, especially in the first 30km after that the current mellows out.  The river was still quite cold but not frigid like it was near Jasper.  We did it in three fairly leisurely days. 

During our trip, the river level was less than 300 m3/s (Windfall station) and all the log jams (piles of logs) were stranded up on land.  This was nice because there are log jams at the head of every island and there are about 2 islands per kilometer on this section.  So there are log jams everywhere.  There were some trees fallen by the side of the river, but at the water levels during our trip, you would have to be skilled to maneuver your canoe into them (like back ferry on purpose into them).

We did this section as a training run while working our way up river progression from easy moving water up to Novice moving water on stronger currents.  We wanted a section (and water level) where we could work on skills with current skills that help us improve but not challenge us too much.  Though we have a lot of flat water experience and my husband and I have whitewater experience, this was the first time my daughter (12) would be paddling in the bow on a river and the the first I would be paddling stern.   This section was perfect for our objectives.  We did a lot back ferrying, forward ferrying, turning the boats in the current, and some eddy turns (there weren't many opportunities for that).  We practiced our side-slipping in the riffles and then got a chance to practice that in the one Class I rapid, which was at such low water that all the boulders were exposed.  The water was cold enough that we didn't want to flip and never felt in danger of that.  Keep in mind that we have extensive flatwater and rough water experience though limited moving water experience with the paddling configuration used on this trip (my husband and I have WW up to IV experience but on this we had our kids paddling bow).

Overall comments.  Though we did not have the warmest weather, this was a great trip.  We just loved being on the river, the sound of it, the look, the bigness....  No views per se (unlike more upstream in Jasper), but the river itself was a great view.

Logistics
Canoe rental  We had our own canoes.  But if you need to rent, note that there is no place in Jasper and rental places in BC were not keen on us taking their canoes on a river.  Instead rent in Edmonton.  MEC and Totem Outfitters rent canoes for river trips.  Book well ahead as they do get full-up.  Edmonton Canoe (http://www.edmontoncanoe.com/) does canoe rental plus shuttling.

Shuttle We arranged for a car rental from National Car Rental in Whitecourt.  The rental office is just a 15 min walk from the take-out at Riverboat Park.  Cost was $100 (Aug 2010) + gas.  Round-trip was 3.5 hrs.

Put-in About 1.5 hrs from Whitecourt.  We put-in at the Berland bridge.  Drive 43 towards Fox Creek and take the 947 road (there's a sign and it's just past losegun Creek).  The 947 road takes you 27km to the power plant on pavement, after that it is 14km on dirt to the Y in the road.  Take the right at the Y, and it's 7km to the bridge.  There are no signs whatsoever, except an unhelpful one near the power plant that says "Edson".  After the power plant (which has a huge fire-spewing tower), you stay on the main road.  You'll just have to take your best guess on what's "main".  When you make the right at the Y in the road, you'll see signs warning that a weight-limited bridge is coming up.  When we did it, the road was bumpy but fine.  After a big rain, it could definitely be tough.  Also it is a working road and there's a lot of logging.  Stay alert and be ready to pull to the side.  I printed off the Canadian topo maps for the area and that was helpful, but we still flagged down a truck to make sure we were on the right track.  The roads shown on the Paddle Alberta map were not helpful---I was glad I had the topo map.  I wished I had printed off the satellite photos from Google maps.  That would have been the best.

Camping We camped the first night by our van at Berland bridge.  There is good camping there.  Our last night, we camped at the take-out at the Riverboat Assoc. Park.  There is a sign that says they lock it at 11pm, but locals told us that wasn't the case and that it was fine to stay.  There is an RV camp nearby (10min walk) but they don't allow tents.   On the river, we just camped on islands.  It was not easy to find suitable spots; we had to check out multiple islands.  There were bear prints everywhere but they seemed less on islands with fast currents on both sides.

Map The Paddle Alberta map is great and all you need.  Definitely get that.  You can order it online (http://www.paddlealberta.org/  search a bit on their site because the page to buy is a bit hard to find).  It takes a week or two to come by mail, so order early.  We picked up our copy from the Friends of Jasper store in the Visitor Center in Jasper.  The map shows log jams, but that info was not useful as there are 10x more jams than shown.  Just expect them at every island.  But at low water (<300 m3/s at Windfall), all jams were stranded during our trip.  Riffle and rapid (one) info was accurate as was the island info.

Bears We saw prints everywhere but had no encounters.  Our first camp we hung our food and the second camp was on a island without trees so we used our bear canister.

Water temperature  The water was cold, but not like near Jasper.  Near Jasper, the water is wicked cold (seriously).  On our section, it was cold but I felt manageable wearing 3mm wetsuits.  The kids and I wore shorty wetsuits.  My husband and our friend are less sensitive to cold water and did not.  We had no problem overheating wearing shorty wetsuits since the air temp was so cold during our trip. 

Difficulty These comment only apply to the 200-300 m3/s (Windfall) water level (low water) we experienced.  During our trip, Kuba and I could overpower the current in most places, though we avoided that since we were using this as a training run.  However, the river was definitely not a "moving lake".  The current moves at a good clip except after Windfall bridge where it really slows down.  We took all riffles where the waves were biggest (on purpose) and they were easy.  We were never faced with a curve where we need to back ferry into the inside of the curve (to avoid a sweeper), instead we tried to always head to the outside of the curve to find the section of faster and deepest water.  Landing in the current posed our biggest challenge (aka learning experience), except for the challenges we created for ourselves while practicing our ferries and turns in the current.

Map


Pictures

Athabasca

Map
Map
We did a 100km section halfway between Hinton and Whitecourt.
river levels.jpg
river levels.jpg
Our trip coincided with the dip in water levels during late August.  Water levels were 250-300 m3/s at the Windfall station during our trip.  Google "Athabasca water levels" to find the Alberta website with these maps.
full moon over Athabasca
full moon over Athabasca
Full moon on 08-24
Camping at Berland Bridge
Camping at Berland Bridge
Camping was good here.  2010-08-25
Berland Bridge
Berland Bridge
Just about to take off on day 1.
Loaded up
Loaded up
Everything is strapped in.
About 2km from Berland bridge
About 2km from Berland bridge

About 2km from Berland bridge
About 2km from Berland bridge

About 5km from Berland bridge
About 5km from Berland bridge
2010-08-25, Day 1
About 5km from Berland bridge
About 5km from Berland bridge
2010-08-25, Day 1
About 5km from Berland bridge
About 5km from Berland bridge
2010-08-25
About 5km from Berland bridge
About 5km from Berland bridge
Lunch break 2010-08-25.  This is in a side channel.
About 15km from Berland bridge
About 15km from Berland bridge
At the low water levels during our trip, the log jams were stranded.  Every island had piles of logs like this.  2010-08-25
About 15km from Berland bridge
About 15km from Berland bridge
Below high water, the shore looked like this everywhere.  To camp we had to find spots above the high water mark.  2010-08-25
Bobcat print (I think)
Bobcat print (I think)
2010-08-25
About 15km from Berland bridge
About 15km from Berland bridge
Lunch break. 2010-08-25
Aerial fight between eagle and hawk
Aerial fight between eagle and hawk
2010-08-25
About 20km from Berland bridge
About 20km from Berland bridge
2010-08-25
About 25km from Berland bridge
About 25km from Berland bridge
Note all our pictures are from calm water since I couldn't pull out the camera when I needed to be steering.  2010-08-25
About 25km from Berland bridge
About 25km from Berland bridge
Where are we? 2010-08-25
About 30km from Berland bridge
About 30km from Berland bridge
2010-08-25
Camp 1, 3km from 947 bridge
Camp 1, 3km from 947 bridge
2nd island after the 947 bridge. 2010-08-25
Camp 1, 3km from 947 bridge
Camp 1, 3km from 947 bridge
Nice camp on this island.  The tent is a fisherman's tent (empty).  Dart board was there.  It was a nice location but there is some kind of industrial/logging? area nearby (north of this island) and they work round the clock.  It was loud enough that I could have used ear plugs at times.  It sounded like bulldozers moving stuff, stuff being dumped, and then there was the beep-beep-beep from trucks backing up.  2010-08-25
View from camp 1
View from camp 1
Morning of day 2, 2010-08-26
Paddle Alberta map leads the way
Paddle Alberta map leads the way
Morning, day 2, 2010-08-26
About 5km from 947 bridge
About 5km from 947 bridge
Day 2, 2010-08-26
Stranded log piles
Stranded log piles
These were on every island but few were along the side of the river.  All were stranded at the water levels during our trip.  2010-08-26
Stranded log piles
Stranded log piles
Day 2, 2010-08-26
About 15km from 947 bridge
About 15km from 947 bridge
Day 2, 2010-08-26
About 15km from 947 bridge
About 15km from 947 bridge
Day 2, 2010-08-26
About 15km from 947 bridge
About 15km from 947 bridge
On island.  Bear prints were all over but we had no encounters. 2010-08-26
About 15km from 947 bridge
About 15km from 947 bridge
Taking a break on an island, day 2.  2010-08-26
Stones below high water
Stones below high water
Camping below high water would not be ideal. 2010-08-26
About 20km from 947 bridge
About 20km from 947 bridge
Storm is coming. Day 2. 2010-08-26
Just below Windfall bridge
Just below Windfall bridge
The storm is on us and moments later is begins to dump.  5pm day 2. 2010-08-26
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
We rigged tarps to stay dry.  It was really dumping and was quite cold. 2010-08-26
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
Hot tea while waiting out the storm. 2010-08-26
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
Camp 2, 5km from Windfall bridge
Our little camp in the willows.  No trees here so we used our bear canister for our food.  2010-08-26
Wolf prints
Wolf prints
Lots of wolf prints on this island. 2010-08-27
Elk prints
Elk prints
Still at camp 2. 2010-08-27
About 10km from Windfall bridge
About 10km from Windfall bridge
Day 3, the wind is hauling and we are flying!  We are going about twice our normal speed.  Fortunately it is a tail wind.  In a couple places it is a side wind and we have to be very careful as it blows us to the side of the river.  Once time we have to land and line the boats until we can get shelter from the side wind.  The wind is so strong that we can't control the boats so we must find the wind-sheltered spots on the river. 2010-08-27
About 20km from Windfall bridge
About 20km from Windfall bridge
The clouds are dark but it doesn't rain.  2010-08-27
About 20km from Windfall bridge
About 20km from Windfall bridge
Above Two Creek.  2010-08-27
About 20km from Windfall bridge
About 20km from Windfall bridge
This is what the trees that had fallen on the side looked like during our trip.  2010-08-27
Paddle on the Athabasca
Paddle on the Athabasca
2010-08-27
About 25km from Windfall bridge
About 25km from Windfall bridge
River is pretty slow on this section but we are flying due to the wind. Just above the Whitecourt bridge there are some submerged snags in the water.  Just below this picture is the only place we run into snags actually in the main channel.  We have no trouble avoiding them but must be careful as the wind is swirling and if it comes from the side, it will blow us into stuff.  2010-08-27
The first Whitecourt bridge
The first Whitecourt bridge
About 1pm on day 3.  We traveled 30+km in 3hrs (with a break).  2010-08-27
First Whitecourt bridge.
First Whitecourt bridge.
2010-08-27
Second Whitecourt bridge (hwy 43)
Second Whitecourt bridge (hwy 43)
The take-out is just past the 2nd bridge.  2010-08-27
Second Whitecourt bridge (hwy 43)
Second Whitecourt bridge (hwy 43)
2010-08-27
Just about the McLeod River confluence
Just about the McLeod River confluence
The take-out is opposite those cranes in the background. 2010-08-27
End of the trip!
End of the trip!
Taken at the take-out at the Riverboat Park.  That's the McLeod River behind us and the Athabasca River is just our of the picture on the left.  the Millar Western Pulp and Saw mill is behind us.  2010-08-27
Riverboat Park
Riverboat Park
We spent the night here in the covered area and in the van.  There is a porta-potty but no running water.  Its 5min (or 15min walk) to the car rental place (National) and gas station/convenience store from here.  2010-08-27
IMG_7779.JPG
IMG_7779.JPG
IMG_7779.JPG 2010-08-27
Taken from Disaster Point.
Taken from Disaster Point.
The rest of the pictures are from inside Jasper NP during our drive home.  From Disaster Point just downstream of Jasper Lake.
From Disaster Point.
From Disaster Point.
From Disaster Point downstream of Jasper Lake in Jasper NP.
From bridge above Jasper Lake
From bridge above Jasper Lake
2010-08-28
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
2010-08-28
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
2010-08-28
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
From picnic area downstream from Jasper.
2010-08-28

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5/21/2013 8:04:53 PM