Friday 13th June 2008

Well we've made Athabasca in time to get to the post office. We've now packed some gear that we can do without and have sent it off the Canoe North in Hay River. We really needed to lessen the load in the canoe as we're coming up to the Grand Rapids in around three days time. The canoe needs to be lighter so it's easier to control. At the moment the canoe is hard to control because of the weight and given that we're coming up to rapids in the next few days its important to reduce the weight. We're carrying around 50L fresh water, 50kg of food (food for a month) plus our camping gear and clothing.

Tony and I must have looked pretty rough when we called into the post office as they lady there wasn't particularly helpful until we told her what we were doing. Once she knew, she was much more friendly, though she did make some comment about Tony smelling........she did add though that she actually liked the smell of smoke!! The people in Athabasca generally seem to be very nice.

When we arrived here there was thunderstorm with rain but it had cleared when we came out of the post office. Tony and I went and had an enjoyable steak meal.

We've seen a great number of moose with their calves, we even saw a mother and her calf crossing the river. The calf only got about a third of the way across and was really struggling, fortunately the mother and calf turned back to the river bank. They tried to get up the steep bank but the calf was too weak, it lay down for a rest,hopefully it got its strength back.

Thursday evening 12th June 2008

We are only about 50kms from Athabasca now and camped on a very muddy river bank.

The weather has been cool. Quickly phoned the shop (the business I have when I'm not on expeditions), Canoeing Down Under and suggested to Alaine that she brings along rubber boots. Tony and I were talking about the mud and we think Alaine will find the mud difficult to cope with, it'll be interesting to see just how she does cope.


We need to lessen the load in the canoe and we're hoping that we get to Athabasca before the post office closes so we can post some things to Hay River, things that we can do without . Alaine and Leonie are hiring a canoe from Canoe North in Hay River and so we'll take the liberty of sending stuff there. The girls (that word is used loosely) arrive in Hay River on the 8th July.

We've seen plenty of moose with their calves. deer, beaver and ducks. The water was running a bit slower yesterday (Wednesday) but picked up today (Thursday).

On the Athabasca River - Four Days On

Monday, June 9, 2008

Well we've been on the water now for four days. The weather has been cool and the water running fast. Monday 9th and we're camped on one of the number of islands/sandbars. Already we're heading towards Fort Assiniboine.The weather forecast for the next couple of days is showery with possible thunderstorms maximus reaching 13c for Tuesday and 15c for Wednesday. Thursday looking brighter with some sunny breaks and a top of 19c.

Sunday, June 8, 2008 - The Journey has begun

Sunday, June 8, 2008

THE JOURNEY HAS BEGUN

Tony and myself have received a great deal of support from my good friends Ed and Sue. These guys live in Utah where they enjoy an active life. Ed and Sue drove their RV towing a trailer from Utah to pick Tony and myself up from Vancouver. They drove us around to the various shops where we picked up our almost new but 2nd hand canoe, our Spot Messenger, our food shopping and all the other various bits and pieces we needed. They then drove us to our put in point in Jasper, Alberta. Without this truly wonderful support, our 4,000km paddle would not have started with such ease and, so Ed and Sue, my very sincere and heartfelt thanks.

Our drive to Jasper went well until we had just passed through a toll gate. I was looking out of the rear window as we passed through the gate we hit a big bump and then I saw the trailer unhitch. I said to Ed "We've lost the trailer" but in my mind I was thinking it's OK, the chains will keep the trailer attached. No sooner had I thought that when the draw bar which was sleeved came adrift and the remaining part of the trailer with the canoe shot past the RV, heading straight towards a ravine. Fortunately there was no on coming trafffic and the canoe stopped several metres beside us. We now had one slightly less than perfect canoe, it's bow and front hull have some damage. Sadly there were no plastic welders on the way to Jasper, looks like we'll be using bitumen tape (also known as plumbers tape in Australia) for our 4,000km paddle.

We arrived in Jasper on Wednesday 4th June. It's a very scenic place and definitely an abudance of wild life. We've seen moose, deer, elk, a variety of birds and several big bears!!

Thursday 5th June
Tony and I decided to do a trial run from Athabasca Falls to Jasper, approximately 28kms. We went to the Falls but it was 8kms of gorges so erring on the side of caution (because we hadn't paddled our C2 in whitewater together before), we put in past the gorges about 8kms downstream. So with Tony at the front and me at the back off we set for the next 20kms.What a paddle we had! I'd suggest that the rapids were around Grade III, with standing waves and lots if bounce. We did pretty well and even though we had our spraydeck on, the canoe got swamped. Fortunately our repair job on the bow of the canoe with the bitumen tape held well.

No reason not to start our trip and so, our Three Rivers Expedition will start tomorrow, Friday 6th June 2008.
Posted by Terry Bolland at 5:41 PM 0 comments

Three Rivers Expedition

The Three Canadian Rivers Expedition, comprising of Athabasca, the Slave and the MacKenzie, a total of 4000kms, is going to be the most challenging, the most diverse, the wildest and more dangerous than any of my other three mighty American Rivers that I have completed.Although the Mississippi 4000kms, the Missouri 4000kms, and the Yukon 3500kms, were remote and had their different and difficult challenges and dangers, the Three Rivers Expedition with its big wilderness rapids, large unpredictable lakes and an untamed wilderness landscape will be truly be an amazing test of endurance and fortitude.On this trip I won't be alone, Tony Chounding and I will tackle the entire 4000km journey in a canoe meeting up with two others, Alaine Davin and Leonie Cockman at Hay River on the Great Slave Lake, at the half way mark.

The Expedition will start around the June 9th upstream of the town of Jasper in the Rocky Mountains near the Columbian Ice field and finish at the Beaufort Sea above the Arctic Circle and a stones throw from the North Pole. Our first challenge will be paddling through the stunning high mountain scenery of the Jasper National Park and down the icy cold river with demanding rapids, ledges, boulder fields, standing waves and an array of white water much of it through canyons.On the calmer sections we are sure to see an array of wildlife and pass by such sights as the high Sunwapta and Athabasca Falls, and other exquisite wilderness scenes that make up the most famous picture books. Compared with Perth it will be cold and we will feel the full brunt of the unpredictable mountain weather.As we move away from the huge mountain peaks of the Rockies and into the forested high hills the river will calm, but still run with haste. In the next 630 kms of remote paddling we will pass a couple of small towns before pausing at the historic town of Athabasca. Here, in the early days fur traders and settlers came from the town of Edmonton by cart trail and then floated down the river on barges and small boats to get to such places as Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan and the Peace River Settlement, which were in the wilderness to the north.The river downstream of Athabasca flows through a large wilderness area. For the next 400kms we will see no civilization, only wilderness and a number of grade 3 to 5 rapids, which have taken the lives of several river users. This section will be the most dangerous section that we will encounter on the whole trip, as we will not only have to paddle or portage the rapids but we are expected to come across a number of black bear that frequent these rapids.The most strenuous part of our journey though, will be trying to portage around the Grand Rapids the biggest and most dangerous on this section. This 2.0 km class 4 - 5 rapid, which can apparently be heard 5 kilometres upstream, is not easy to get around due to the formidable and difficult terrain. Here we may have to canoe the easier sections, line and lower the canoe by rope down the more intermediate sections and portage all the difficult sections. This rapid may take a day or two to complete.

Beyond the Grand Rapid we will encounter 11 grade 3 to 4+ rapids, many that are un-navigable for open canoes. Much of this stretch of river is in an inaccessible valley with very high, steep cliffs which does not give much room for the more usual portage trail, nor the chance to abort the trip. Lining, wading and lifting will be necessary to avoid the worst of the rapids.On an expedition last year 12 bears, not counting cubs, were seen in two days along this section. Two encounters were said to be pretty scary.Soon after these major rapids we will arrive at Fort McMurray. This is where for a brief moment we will leave the wilderness and enter a wilderness that has been devastated by tar sand mining. This will be the ugliest part of our journey, but we only intend to linger at Fort McMurray long enough to top up our supplies.From Fort McMurray the river widens at times to 500 metres, becomes shallow and flows smoothly and steadily towards Lake Athabasca and the small community of Fort Chipewyan. At Fort Chipewyan our journey starts on a new course as the water flows from the lake and into the 440 km Slave River. The Slave River is famous for its huge rapids where at the 160km mark, near Fort Smith, a 24 km section of class 4 - 5 whitewater begins. This section of rapids are said to be the largest section of Class 5 whitewater in North America and even bigger and longer than the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. We will definitely portage this section of rapids.After this long set of rapids we will breath easy and head further down stream towards the Great Slave Lake, where we will meet others dangers like exceptionally rough waters and high winds. The Great Slave Lake is 28 568 km2, the fifth-largest lake in North America and the tenth in the world. Here we will paddle 135kms along the lake to reach Hay River, our half way mark. Hopefully we will be on schedule and will meet Alaine and Leonie at Hay River on the 9th of July.

As our first stage of the journey comes to an end another one starts. Although all the dangerous rapids are behind us we still have another 2000 kms of treacherous river conditions of the MacKenzie ahead, including another 100 kms of exposed lake. With the group growing from two to four, there will be a change in group dynamics and different issues will pop up that we will have to deal with.Along this 2000km journey, where the summer sun never goes down, we will be very isolated passing only 8 small villages where supplies will be scarce and expensive. Carrying food and supplies for the entire journey will be important.After 4 more weeks of solid wilderness paddling, averaging 70kms a day, our biggest threat being the unpredictable weather and the occasional bear, we hope to reach the community of Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea around the 10th of August.