We have arrived! 10 days after leaving Athabasca we paddled into Fort McMurray in scorching weather after an extremely trying week moving through big rapids, plagues of insects, and bear encounters. We have been very fortunate with the weather, having only one day of heavy rain and such strong winds we were forced off the river …
Well, we have arrived in the town of Athabasca 1 week after leaving Whitecourt. Leaving Whitecourt was entertaining as it snowed whilst we were packing the canoe – we were dreading the weather to come after that! It was a cold and hard first day with high winds buffeting us and high waves – sometimes …
We arrived in Whitecourt late last night and set up on the outskirts. The trip from Jasper started off rather brutally, with both Jasper Lake and Brule Lake being so shallow we lost the current and had to drag, haul, heave and lift the fully loaded canoe (around 160kg) through thick mud and deep sand, …
February has been a busy month. We have been out training whenever possible, but the main project has been food. We have 2 dehydrators, both of which have been running 24hrs a day, 7 days a week in an attempt to have all the food prepared by the end of the month. We almost made it. …
We decided on Big Bend campsite as our first camp of the year. The idea is to pack a trail to Athabasca Crossing and perhaps beyond to make our Stage I of the Exped a little easier.
It took us 3 hours to traverse 6km
! When we arrived to park at Sunwapta Falls there was nothing but a wall of snow where the carpark usually is – 30mins later we had dug out a parking spot and were ready to hit the trail. There was already a track and we were hopeful this would continue for a while but it did not. The trail ended around 300m into the hike so was not too helpful. It has been warm recently so the snow was powder and deep! Even with snowshoes we were sinking up to 4ft with each step. Very tough – really got the legs working.
The weather was great all day which helped and it was quite warm. Once we reached the campsite we spent another 30mins digging down to the ice covering the ground so we could put the tipi up. Once the tipi was up we set up the stove and collected the wood. Unfortunately, I did not set up the stove correctly so it went out like clockwork after 2hrs. A real pain! During the night I eventually gave up relighting it until the morning. We had invested in a pair of sleeping bags that can be zipped together which makes a real difference to the warmth in the bag during colder nights. I believe the temperature was in the range of -10°C to -15°C. Tallak loves the cold so no problems for him.
Big Bend is a wonderful site. Situated at a point where the Athabasca River curves around a piece of land jutting out (where the campsite is) there is a wall of mountains on 2 sides of you and a wonderful view to the front. 3 valleys meet a few km before the campsite which makes the view nothing short o
f spectacular. The only problem with the site is wind. With 3 valleys all funnelling wind towards you it can get very cold and unpleasant to be outside. A small price to pay.
The following day was again sunny and relatively warm. The hike out was much easier as we had been brutalised packing a trail the day before so could reap the reward today. Only 2hrs for the 6km.
The Athabasca River was completely frozen by the campsite, and we will be camping at Big Bend regularly until the start of the Expedition to keep an eye on the progress of the river and to make sure we can put a canoe on it.
After we drove back to Jasper we had a very healthy and desperately craved for A&W to reward ourselves for the last couple of days’ effort!
The Athabasca River varies between frozen and unfrozen so we have stayed off the water since November. This brings the trip closer as the next time we put the canoe back in the water will be very shortly before the expedition begins. We are about to start preparing our food for the journey, we are currently …
A few weeks ago we started really thinking on the return trip and looking at alternatives. After such an adventure by boat, I was not so keen to be flying back. It appears such an abrupt end to a big journey. It is also rather expensive. We decided that to continue the adventure and return …