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.