Pinch O-Crow River Rendezvous

Castle Canyon (III)

May 22nd 2004

Waking to 5 inches of wet snow on my truck, I thought for sure that the rendezvous would be cancelled. Once I left the confines of my warm, dry bed and after drinking my hot cup of coffee, I managed to recover what was left of my Jeep Cherokee from the late spring storm. My father-in-law Doug Tillett, my friend Royce Williams and I then made our way to the Castle Rodeo Grounds Campground near Burmis. Here, at the compound would be the beginning of a really wonderful set of days on the rivers of Southern Alberta.

After stuffing my face with pancakes and eggs, we met up with event organizer Chuck Lee. Chuck welcomed us with open arms, and reassured us that the event was still on! It wasn't long until we met up with some of the members of the Northwest Voyageurs Canoe & Kayak Club in Edmonton. Royce and I arranged to paddle with this wacky paddling crew. With nearly 5 inches of snow on the ground, these die hard kayakers had to don their suits in the freezing cold weather. Needless to say, we had a relaxed start to the weekend.

We all arranged to paddle the Castle Canyon down from the bridge, a class III section with a lot of playspots and river features to practice stern squirts and the like. The crew, albeit frozen to a pale blue, true to the sport, squeezed into their playboats and headed on downstream. This section, although short was just perfect for the start of the weekend as we were all hoping to have better weather for the rest of the weekend.

After chipping my wetsuit off, Royce, Doug and I headed up to see Five Alive on the Carbondale in hopes of paddling it for tomorrow. The water level was great, the best I have seen it in 3 or 4 years. We need to paddle this river this weekend!!! After scouting the drops we headed back to Blairmore over Lynx Pass which received over a foot of snow overnight!! We also experienced an eerie visual of a landscape scoured by fire and blanketed by a cool layer of wet snow. Trees with the bark blown off, creeks choked with downfall, and groundcover reminiscent of a coal pile showed evidence of one of Alberta's worst forest fires in history. A must drive for anyone who wishes to see the tailings of one of nature's fiercest forces.

Castle Falls Section (IV)

May 23rd 2004

Fortunately for Royce and I, I happen to have a father in law who lives only 15 minutes from the Rodeo Grounds. TRANSLATION: We get to sleep in warm beds and dry out our gear when it is snowing outside. Yep, once again a cold start to the day...worse than Saturday. When we arrived at the compound groups were already on the way to organizing a trip down the Wigwam River in BC where it was supposedly warmer. HEY, we came to paddle in Southern Alberta, and that's where we are staying. I don't blame them I guess, I would want to paddle in sunny weather as well if I was sleeping under a semi-collapsed tent and trying to get into frozen neoprene.

The Voyageurs were keen to go down the Castle Falls section which, was run by an intermediate group yesterday. During the drive to the falls we encountered over a foot of snow on the ground. Luckily Doug's truck is a 4X4 because we definitely needed it! Once at the falls, Royce and I decided that the run down the falls would be an exciting start to the day...and it sure was!

After a few swims from our fellow Medicine Hat paddler, we ended up having to intervene for an impending hypothermic situation. (We've all been there before!) After an active rewarming session, we disrobed our comrade and relinquished our warm sweaters and drytops in the name of the river god...Blue Balls, the god of the wee willy! I thought I'd never see another spray top again until today. Needless to say the flat water finish to this section was painful.

Oh ya, the rapids were fun too!

Carbondale River (III+ -IV)

May 24th 2004

Oh my GOD..I can see the sky! Today is going to be a great day! Once again we all converged at the compound after a little breaky, and organized a trip to go down the Carbondale. After leaving digital color photos of the rapids, some of the advanced boaters were drooling at the thought of a trip so close to the campground. Nine of us trundled up the dirt road to the confluence of Lost Creek. After setting up the shuttle we started the bumpy ride down the creek bed. Paddling through the heart of the forest fire left a landscape unparalleled by any other I have ever experienced. A few sweepers blocked our progress, but were easy to get around. After a few class II drops we paddled under the first bridge on the Carbondale, signaling the start of the main section of rapids.

Entrance rapid was our first objective, which saw many different lines through the series of ledges and flat holes. The train of colored crafts then headed downstream to Five Alive. The succession of 5 distinct drops into calm pools provided a nice change from bumping along the creek bed. Many of us stopped at the last drop, which had a log on river left, to paddle it again. Continuing downstream the confluence of Lynx Creek provided enough water to prevent us from plastic welding our hulls after the trip. A few small Class II+ III ledges led to the final objective in a narrow canyon cleft.

Shawn from Aquabatics, in his Liquidlogic Huck, leisurely punched the small holes leading into the canyon while the rest of us watched from the safety of an eddy on river left. Suddenly Shawn dropped out of sight with his paddle blade flailing in the air as if he was fighting a good high brace. The rest of us shuttered like the bar flies in the Canadian Club commercial where the soccer player gets kicked in the jewels...oooooh! Well, needless to say we all clambered out of our boats to see what all the commotion was. We observed a big pourover, which ended in a nasty foaming hole. River right had a clean line leading into a pillow wave off of the right canyon wall. Straight forward..only if you kept on your line. Everyone made it through without too much difficulty, which signaled the end of a sweet trip on an elusive little river. The lower drop is scoutable from the bridge takeout and should be looked at to make sure there are no logs across the drop.

Ahh, the end of a sweet little weekend. Royce and I would like to thank all of the paddlers we ended up paddling with this weekend. Thanks to Chuck Lee for hosting a great event and for keeping a lighthearted attitude regarding the weather conditions...good on ya Chuck. Thanks to Doug Tillett for opening his home to us and for being the best shuttle jockey a son in law could ever ask for. I might name my first born after you. Well, it's off to the Kan to get trashed in Santa Claus...let's just hope it's not a precursor to the weather!

Here's to looking forward to next year's event down in Pincher Creek.

Eric Albert

Click here to check out an article from the Pincher Creek Echo.