Maiden voyage from Pinehouse to Missinipe

Ross and I ventured out to the industrial outskirts of Saskatoon to pick up one of the brand new Clipper Whitewater II’s. The boat was carefully wrapped in seemingly endless layers of cardboard, bubble wrap, and tape. Sizing up the sleek boat on the floor of the shipping depot, I was eager to take it out for its maiden voyage. So, over the first week of September, Steph and I were joined by a pair of first-class people, who happen to be great paddlers, for a six day trip from Pinehouse to Missinipe Saskatchewan along the Churchill “River”. In reality, the Churchill is a convoluted series of lakes joined together by fast water. Paddling the boat was a true delight, and the warm, sunny weather and near-constant tail wind weren’t too bad either. The boat performed well in choppy water: tracking straight and keeping the bowman relatively dry. We were pleased with its performance in Class III rapids. The boat responded well and took on minimal amounts of water, even without a spray deck. The boat’s light weight and deep dish yoke made it easy to portage.  The wildlife provided unending entertainment: we were continuously blown away by the beautiful scenery and the abundance of bald and golden eagles. It seemed like a pair was waiting for us at the end of each crossing. We had an amusing encounter with a group of curious otters too. In the evening we settled into hospitably tiered campsites that offered beautiful views of the sunset. Other highlights included cranberry coated brie cheese, dried egg bagel sandwiches, big bear rock, and seeing a full-double rainbow! After I came back I had tan lines from my sunglasses and my smile lines. In all ways, this was a wonderful maiden voyage for the Clipper. <Nathalie>

Scouting Howse Pass along the David Thompson Trail

I’ve recently returned from an exploratory trip with Shane and a handful of our friends to the historical David Thompson Trail that crosses the continental divide through the Howse Pass. Since we had heard that the quality of the trail may be questionable, we had hoped to check the feasibility of portaging canoes along it next year. During our previous trip to British Columbia in May, we had approached the David Thompson trailhead from Blaeberry road but our time constraints and hatchback meant that we couldn’t quite make it all the way to the trailhead. This time, we chose to approach the historical portage on foot starting from Mystaya Canyon in Banff National Park. The first portion of the trail was in very good condition, however, the quality of the trail decreased rapidly as we passed the park boundary. This trail, that runs parallel to the Howse River, was thoroughly rutted, overgrown, and blocked by plenty of deadfall. We greatly improved our speed when we abandoned the trail altogether and walked along the river’s gravel banks. Although the water level at the time in the Howse River was much higher than we anticipate it will be in May 2011, the main channel appeared as though it would be passable in canoes. The landscape will fly by next year riding down the swift current. Based on this exploratory trip we anticipate that crossing the continental divide at this location will be challenging, but manageable. It will involve biking up the Blaeberry logging road with carts, lining or portaging the boats up the gravelly shore of the Blaeberry River, dragging our canoes ~10 km along the poorly maintained trail, and paddling or lining the boats down the Howse River to its confluence with the North Saskatchewan River. We also had the chance to assess some gear on the hiking trip. We confirmed that having topographic data displayed on the GPS is very convenient, but best combined with 1:250,000 scale paper maps for planning routes on a larger scale. The silty water in the Howse River plugged our MSR MiniWaterWorks EX consistently after as a little 1 L, however, we think that we could resolve this issue with a pre-filter such as the MSR SweetWater Silt Stopper. All in all, it was a great hike – have a look at some of the highlights posted to Flickr. <Nathalie>

Meeting with the Canadian Heritage Rivers System

When planning for the Cross Canada Canoe Odyssey was in its infancy, the crew decided that we should try to use any publicity we could generate to benefit a cause we were passionate about.  As paddling junkies and outdoor enthusiasts, we have a great appreciation for the water-bodies that we are able to enjoy every time we get on the water.  Naturally, we are very supportive of groups that work with Canadians to conserve water bodies and ensure their sustainable stewardship.  We also feel that the heritage aspects of Canadian rivers are very important.  Two groups in particular came to mind that we had collectively been ‘fans’ of:  The Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Canadian Heritage River System (CHRS) – both of whom work tirelessly to conserve Canada’s rivers.  The CHRS is Canada’s national river conservation program working to ensure the sustainable management of some of the most important rivers in Canada.  The Nature Conservancy of Canada works to protect ecologically significant lands, many of which are water bodies. There are other groups that do similarly fantastic work and we applaud them for it, but we chose to limit our scope to just two organizations.

Now that planning has reached a sort of adolescent stage, we are starting to actually put action to our ideas. We have started our dialogue with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Canadian Heritage Rivers System to find out how our expedition can benefit them. While recently in Ottawa attending an academic conference, Nathalie and I had the privilege of meeting with representatives of the Canadian Heritage Rivers System from Parks Canada. We entered the meeting with one question in mind:  How could our expedition benefit the CHRS?  I was taken aback by how supportive the people we met with were. They were full of questions concerning the trip and offered to introduce us to media contacts they had in the paddling world. Their communications expertise will be exceptionally beneficial in generating publicity for the expedition. We will acknowledge the CHRS during interaction with the media and do what we can to help make the Canadian Heritage Rivers System better known to Canadians. The meeting left me inspired and feeling as though the CHRS was certainly a program I could believe in. I would encourage everyone to learn more about the Canadian Heritage Rivers System, find out about the Heritage Rivers in their area, and enjoy them. Canada’s rivers are a treasure.  As Canadians, we should work collectively to conserve and protect them for the enjoyment of future generations. <Ross>

Confirming a route through the Shadows of Giants

On the afternoon of Friday, May 14, 2010, Nathalie and I set out from Saskatoon, SK collecting Stephanie and Shane in Regina and Calgary respectively. The next morning we found ourselves below the shining Okanagan sun standing on the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR), just west of Summerland, B.C.  We were at the end of a prospective 230km portage from the Fraser River to Lake Okanagan.  The trail was one of four major portages that will be the key to the 2011 Canadian Canoe Odyssey, our passages to the ceiling of the continent, from which we can follow the waters East across Canada.  The KVR looks perfectly suited to our plans.  The second portage visit was at the north end of Shuswap Lake in the vicinity of the village of Seymour Arm.  We turned north from the Trans Canada Highway a couple of kilometers east of Craigellachie, B.C. on the Perry River Road, a remote logging road winding through the valley of the Perry River.  Unfortunately, after 38 km and just kilometers from our destination, our progress was halted by the remnants of an avalanche, a dense snow bank approximately three meters high and five meters across.  Although we could not reach the intended trail over the Petipiece Pass through the Monashee Mountains, we could see that the plan we had set for ourselves was unrealistic.  The mountains were steep and at this time of year even the saddle of the mountains were still inundated with snow.  There will be no passage through the Petipiece Pass.  Fortunately, an alternative route lay between Sicamous, B.C. and Revelstoke, B.C. via the Eagle River and portage. Using this route will not greatly change the overall route.  From Revelstoke we will paddle north to Mica Dam and Lake Kinabasket, as we would have otherwise.  Our final mountain portage, and the final stop on our weekend trip was up the Blaeberry River on the trail of David Thompson through Howse Pass.  Through this pass we will move from the Columbia River watershed into the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan.  From our initial inspection, the trail looks good, reports of deadfall along the pass may slow progress but we were more or less pleased with the path and its prospects for taking us across the Continental Divide.  I can only imagine one year from now, the relief that will come once we cross that hill, the North Saskatchewan will be a welcome sight after our five week long ascent through British Columbia.  In the aftermath of this past weekend, I am left with a feeling of dreams beginning to come into reality.  With every bit of planning we do, confirmation of our route and conversations with sponsors, our goal seems more attainable.  It seems like we are well on our way. <Ross>