Category: Canada Blog

Before we left RMH, Shaelyn from the Rocky Mountaineer came to interview us. And we made the paper! A lovely article, thanks to Danielle from the Riverside Campsite for sending it on to us. Mike’s always wanted to be described as an “adventurer”! 

We are writing from the banks Saskatchewan river, shortly before it becomes a series of dammed (m, not n – but I reserve the right to amend this at a later date) lakes. Several pounds heavier than last time we wrote and full of good memories. And short ribs. 

We had been pushing ourselves to make it to Prince Albert (no, seriously) to coincide with some friends and family who all happened to be there this week. Despite not having much of a clue what we were capable of and what the river and weather might have in store, Mike’s prediction that we could be there this weekend was spot on. 

As with so many of you, Julie had been following the blog and enjoying the stalkerish appeal of the map, but went a step further on Sunday and followed every location update so that she and her dad were on the prom in time to wave us into PA. the boat was duly loaded onto a 20ft trailer and towed back to the family farm. 

We’d been told Saskatchewan was flat, so we were thinking Cambridgeshire, but up until that point it had mostly been gentle hills rolling down to the river bank – we were aware of a big sky but also could see a little way into the farmland and oil land beyond. Until we got to the Mickelsons farm. Then we saw flat! The saying goes you can lose your dog out walking and still see it for two weeks afterwards…

The Mickelsons welcomed us, smelly and unwashed, into their home. What followed was 2 days of eating, drinking, resupplying, fishing and generally celebrating. Julie and Nick were visiting with their tiny daughter Ciciely, Jess and Jake were over with my nephews, the family had just finished seeding, and we had paddled 1100km to get there which felt like quite something. 

We (well, Mike) got given some serious, but possibly not undeserved, grief for not having caught a fish yet. The family seem to have a bit of a knack for it and undertook to fix the problem. Not long into the first excursion I hooked a pretty huge Pike. By day two we had enough for a fish fry for the whole clan. It was getting fairly late in the day and still mike hadn’t caught anything (to be honest I’m not sure we would or could have gone back to the farm at that point) when he hooked a big Walleye. Phew. 

My pike! 

Some beneficial headwinds allowed us 2 full days of rest but we couldn’t think of any more excuses so were packed off this morning. Not before we’d been given a huge portion of Jake’s short ribs, a bottle of wine and a bundle of foraged morel mushrooms for dinner tonight… 

We were met at the boat launch in PA by Ron, president of Fresh Air Experience who we had met the previous day when we were in his outdoor store (!). He’d brought some bent shaft carbon paddles for us to try out. Anyone who knows Mike knows the outcome of this… 

Soon enough we were packed up and ready to go. Queue a drive-by delivery of buttered leeks from Jess and Jake (who had a flight to catch) to go with the ribs. 

And so it happens that exactly 3 weeks after we set out on the North Saskatchewan river, and almost 1200km from the start, we have arrived at the end of the North Saskatchewan river. It saved the best til last – today’s section was fast and bumpy and more challenging than anything higher up. And it delivered us to the forks where we have yet another stunning camp site. And ribs, leeks, morels and wine.

What we have learnt:

There are fish in the river, despite Mike thinking otherwise.

They taste good!

The Mickelsons know how to catch them. 

Thanks go to: 

Nick, Julie, Cicely and Hank.

The Mickelson Clan: Phyllis and Earl; Eric, Curtis, Jackie, Jodie, Emma, Tyler,  Elizabeth and Conner. 

Jess, Jake, Flynn and Rufus.

We left heavier!

Ron Horn – who helped redress the balance!

‘Saskatchewan: you are uninspiring.’

Said by Mike just a few, admittedly slow and frustrating, miles across the line. 

Queue 2 of our best wild camp sites so far, a close encounter with a wolf, a lot of very friendly folk, a gift of groceries and some free fishing supplies and advice. Ok Saskatchewan, you’re not so bad. 

We’ve been a bit slowed and beset by head winds which are incredibly infuriating but did inspire what I think is one of my finest poems (material not appropriate for this site). In the midst of it all, however,  was the heady promise of a resupply stop in the Battlefords – two towns astride the river. Sadly the pull in was in a less than salubrious part of the park so Mike decided to stay with the boat and I was dispatched for the shopping. It looked like there was some sort of centre a few km away so off I set for the longest walk I’ve had in 2 weeks. And hottest. And probably grimmest. However, resupply was achieved and that meant beers, steak for dinner and even some wine to go with it. Whoop!

Headwinds are infuriating but the one benefit is that we see more wildlife on account of us approaching from downwind.  On a couple of occasions now we’ve rounded a bend to see a wolf yards away having a drink or sniffing the air. They are utterly beautiful. 

We’ve mostly been camping up on the riverbank as far from civilisation as possible but sometimes we’ve had to stay near a house or road bridge. Apart from being noisy (the trucks are constant and huge!), it feels a bit intrusive but actually anyone we’ve come across has only been kind an interested – including Rod Adams, who was hauling boats off the river late one evening and who stopped for a chat and then returned a couple of hours later with food! Bread, cheese, chocolate – we were delighted! Several other folks have stopped for a chat to find out what we are up to, give advice and warn us about things – usually the bugs! 

Speaking of which, there are a number of disadvantages a girl finds herself at in the wild, one of which is the necessary  exposure of certain regions and subsequent very displeasing mosquito bites. It was on waking early one morning to me furiously scratching my thighs that Mike shouted: ‘Tiger balm! Stat!’ You can take the boy out of the hospital… 


11 days out, 640km travelled

Haven’t fallen out…

Haven’t fallen in!

You might have noticed the dot didn’t move very much for a couple of days… some appalling weather forced us onto the bank for 24 hours to sit it out. Luckily for us we found a really friendly spot amongst some birch trees, most of which stayed upright in the storm. We made stew, played games and I finished reading the only book I brought with me… it also gave us the opportunity to improve our slinging and use the tarp.

It also gave me the chance for the wild equivalent of a gin in the bath: wine and feet in the washing up bowl! 

Note bear bangers on the floor in front of me…

After 2 nights in the same spot we both started to get itchy feet so in spite of some fairly punchy residual winds we packed up and set off. Luckily the wind was behind us which afforded us another opportunity: using the sail! I was just feeling entirely delighted with the free miles we were getting when a shout came from the back: ‘sail down sail down!!’ 3 bear cubs had tumbled out of the bush on the riverbank and were now playing by the water. Mum arrived shortly afterwards but they were all scared off by a (wait for it): beaver. Not exactly masters of stealth, the general beaver response to anything is Panic, Bellyflop, Tail-slap. I’m starting to think of them as the pheasants of the river… 

Our guide to the north Saskatchewan river said that paddlers could be caught unawares by some of the rapids higher up, the most significant ones supposedly the ‘blue rapids’. We were so unaware we’re still not entirely sure where they were… however, this stretch has had some slightly more interesting ‘surprise’ rapids (it’s supposed to be flat) which have been good fun amongst the lengthening meanders. 

We’ve been looking out for islands to camp on, on the basis there should be less ‘wildlife’ that might bother us in the night. Friday nights’ was particularly stunning – a sandy landing spot (this is the dream: otherwise river mud gets on everything), lots of driftwood, a huge flat clear area for boat and tent, and all set right in the middle of the river in a valley bowl at sunset. We remarked on how fast and deep the flow was on either side. We slept well! The morning was beautiful and we were delighted to see a bear make its way down to the water’s edge on the opposite bank; prepared to take photos when it looked like it might be fishing; then packed hastily when we saw it swim easily over to where we were, at which point it disturbed the family of moose who, it turned out, were also staying on the island…

Since then we’ve watched in amazement as 2 moose mosied across the channel in front of us to the island we were considering camping on, and were utterly gobsmacked when a mother and young moose swam the entire width of the river today (it’s a couple of hundred metres wide in places). 

Boat in the foreground, moose in the river! 

All in all, Alberta really exceeded expectations. It was utterly beautiful. But now we’ve arrived into our second province: Saskatchewan! 

Mike looking like Yosemite Sam (this comment didn’t go down all too well…)

What we’ve learnt: 

Beans take forever to cook.

Moose and bears can swim. Far. Islands not automatically safe! 

You can get Ardbeg in Canada!

Mike’s favourite bit of kit so far: gravity water filter

Cas’s favourite bits of kit: garmin and mooncup (more anon…)

Thanks this week to all the people who have messaged us – friends, family and complete strangers! It’s a real boost! 

Also to Tanya – for epic granola which has sustained us for almost 2 weeks – we want the recipe!! 

The North Saskatchewan river rises in the Rocky Mountains at the Saskatchewan Glacier and travels 1287km until it joins the South Saskatchewan River. From here it becomes the Saskatchewan River, flowing a further 550km before emptying into Lake Winnipeg. 

At its upper reaches the Saskatchewan was a glacier blue torrent, tumbling over rocks through forest and forming huge blue lakes.
Where we joined it the sandy silty sides had turned it a muddier green and it was already a pretty bloody big river by our standards! Canyon-y and often quite fast flowing on the bends it would then open out into wider shingly braided sections where route choice was more important and avoiding logjams, shallows and sweepers became key. We learnt a lot about manoeuvring and just how manoeuvreable the fully laden canoe is on these stretches.

As the river was joined by more tributaries it became wider and slower, but often still with high sided banks full of families of swallows. We saw one of these banks calve off just north of Edmonton, leaving a fair few homeless for the night and we suspect raising the infant mortality rate this year… not long prior to this Cas may have wondered out loud if we should paddle so close to the banks in case of collapse and we have adjusted our method appropriately since… 

All the bird life increased with the slower meandering river, though it was replaced by a colony of nudists on the approach to the city… Apparently this is not uncommon in Canada… We also saw many folk panning for, we presume, gold, using both manual and generator/water pump methods. It did take us a little while to work out what the contraptions by the river were for. 

Edmonton was a pleasant surprise. Despite being known as the oil capital of Alberta the river bank was maintained parkland almost throughout. Cas took some time to enjoy it (i.e. babysat the boat) whilst Mike was dispatched to MEC to increase our solar charging capacity (still buying toys…). 

We needn’t have been worried about big-city commercial river traffic, as the only things we encountered were small pleasure boats and some students floating down in a paddling pool. 

We started to see our first pelicans just after Edmonton and survived a fairly gruelling day of headwinds and industrial scenery to get back out into the countryside shortly after Fort Saskatchewan. The river here narrows to pass through beautiful valleys of deciduous woodland, bordering the huge areas of farmland beyond. Here we saw our first coyote and wolf. Then our second, third and fourth wolf and the bear they appeared to be watching take a bath. Also a water snake (?), a million mosquitos (many squashed) and many fishes (none caught…).

This morning was momentous – the river turned east. We are now actually heading across the country, and are camped riverside expecting to have to wait out our first storm. 

We’ve begun! 

We had a stunning drive through the Rockies, stopped briefly at Lake Louise and Banff and even caught a glimpse of the Saskatchewan at its source as it bored through rocks and ravines (Mike says not paddleable, I say more practice!). After a couple of days in Rocky Mountain House sorting cars and kit (again), getting last fresh supplies and even making time for an interview with a local paper it was time to set off. Just one midnight phone job interview and we could go! (Cue apocalyptic rain, wolves howling, moose calling and bears woofing in the background…)

This is the midsection of the boat with our 2 big bags lashed in place. 

We decided to try and find an island in the river for our first night wild camping and 30 km downstream we thought we’d found the place. On closer inspection a multitude of animal tracks from the small to the terrifying persuaded us to move on… but we found another island just beyond, made a fire and camped in the beech trees. 

Would you camp here? Well we did! 

We’ve now had 5 days on the river and made it past Edmonton to Fort Saskatchewan – about 340km downstream from our starting point at RMH. We’re making use of proper campgrounds where we can and wild camping everywhere else. Cooking on a fire mostly and filtering water from the river. 

What we’ve discovered so far:

Dry firewood is in abundance and we’re getting pretty good at starting and cooking on an open fire.

Slinging food from trees is great in principle but quite a lot trickier in practice…

Cougars may just be even more scary than bears.

Who we’ve seen:

Bald eagles, golden eagles, falcons, pelicans, loony ducks and many other birds we can’t name yet.

Many beavers, and their handiwork.

A moose!

A bobcat.

Mosquitos flies and fishes!

Who we’ve heard… 

Bears, wolves, coyotes, cats and one bird that has accompanied us the whole way singing the first few notes of the snowman… as have we!

Thanks go to:

Jess and Jake for our brilliant week at Sunwolf

Johan and Daniela At Riverview campground

Simon for running errands back home – we owe you!

The staff at MEC Edmonton (pass a city without a trip to MEC?)

The lovely people at the Lions site for all their help getting us up the riverbank