Perhaps this seems a dramatic way to start writing about this past river adventure but it's the honest truth.
Paddling from Fort Mcmurray to Lake Athabasca (292 Km) up till this point of the 1200 km I’ve paddle boarded on the Athabasca River has been the most challenging portion I have faced. In ranking order I would say that Poacher’s Landing to Grand Rapids (200 Km) was second and Jasper to Athabasca (663 Km) was the easiest.
Side note: There’s only one section left: Grand Rapids To Fort McMurray
Quietly, underneath the planning for this "short" section of river there was an undertone I couldn't shake. After the delay of the trip due to fire, flood and wind there was relief as I really didn't feel prepared. Summer had a late arrival and there was little time spent on my board.
Yes, it's akin to riding a bike being on a board is something that you don’t really lose the ability to do. But, it’s rusty, clunky and feels awkward…there’s no flow.
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HISTORICAL, GEOLOGICAL, TERRITORIAL
There were a few comments that stuck with me before I departed. Why would you want to paddle past that industrial disaster? There’s way better rivers in Alberta to paddle; pick something else.
I can’t disagree with the thought that perhaps there’s far more picturesque rivers to travel however that wasn’t the point. I live in Athabasca where the river flows through and out of my own curiosity it was a personal decision to see it all.
The reality of the oil sands is that it is a big industry, there is the smell of tar, dust and vehicle traffic. Paddling past Suncor's large facility the loudest part of it comes from the cannons used to deter birds. The water here looks no different than elsewhere on the river.
The negative attention the tar sands have garnered over the past decade is unfortunate, we have high standards for workers and strict environmental laws in Canada. Is it pretty? No, neither is a copper mine. As humans if we exist on Earth and plan to use any type of resource there are tradeoffs to what that entails.
Paddling past the Mildred Lake Oil Sand Project, from here on the river the amount of tar sand that exists on the water's edge and shore is extensive. What many may not realize is that tar sands are eroding into the river whether we remove it or not.
SOUL SUCKING WIND
The first day was a great one, like any trip the first day you try to settle in; you feel tightness in areas you forgot about. I was able to make it just past Fort McKay near where the barges load. 53 km on the day but it was tiring as the water became very slow as I approached camp. Since I left late at 1:30 pm from Fort McMurray I didn’t get off the river until 8 pm.
Huge barges run on this portion of the river which is unbelievable to see, they haul supplies all summer to and from Fort Chipewyan.It was fun to paddle with them briefly as I departed on the second morning.
With an overcast rainy day predicted I dressed warm with neoprene layers.
My husband and his uncle in the boat departed later and fueled up in Fort McKay. I set off and had a headwind begin to build about 8 km in. Approaching various water intakes such as Horizon, the wind escalated and even slowed the barges down. It was creating large whitecaps, which was still manageable. A couple of kilometers down I was pushing hard when I came around an island and looking ahead all I could see was a wall of sand and water. It was like a mirage my brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing.
I was closest to river left and came to a stop near a sandy island, however I realized how exposed I was here and decided to ferry across to river right. For context this is a massive river body to travel on. There are wide expanses up here often well over a half mile wide. As I started to fight a head wind hitting the river current large waves formed and it took everything I had to traverse across with a loaded board.
As I approached closer to the opposite bank I had to open the angle of my board to land on shore, meaning I was parallel to the waves and here I nearly paid the price as the 60km/hr winds nearly flipped me off my board. I was shook up. The power and ferocity of mother nature was a harsh reminder of how exposed you truly are out here. Even with a support boat a ½ hour from me I felt helpless.
Unable to move at all in this wind funnel I hunkered down on shore, wrapped myself up in a tarp to stay warm and texted my husband to see where they were. The shoreline was alive with footprints from previous inhabitants. Massive wolf tracks, bears, beavers, geese etc. And so much tar sand everywhere.
As I sat watching the world around me I looked across the river to see a young bear cub pop out on the shore I was on only twenty minutes prior. It jumped into the river, had a five minute swim along the water's edge then climbed back into the forest. It was so wonderful to observe nature unseen in its unaltered state.
The uncertainty of how long this trip would take fighting wind lingered in my mind. Ideally, I planned 5-6 days conservatively to complete this 300 km section. Now, I had no idea what to expect.
Slowly the wind subsided to a manageable one and I embarked out again but wary and tired already. I continued forward doing what I could, one paddle stroke at a time but to look down at my watch was crippling. Typically even on slow sections I can manage around a 12 min/mile and I’m pretty sure 20-25 min/mile was what I was getting paddling efficiently but steadily.
That’s the irony of wind, you have to be so efficient and careful of how much energy you expend. To be a bottle rocket shooting off all your energy quickly will get you some distance but you won’t be able to sustain it. There’s this balance of feeling effortless but making progress in these instances. It’s slow but steady.There’s few photos of this section because to stop was to be sent upriver losing precious distance.
This section is where I met the mental gremlins that nearly ended this trip. I can honestly say I’ve never had such a breakdown; irrational thinking creeps in. I have placed myself before in challenging events such as trail running ultras, half ironman triathlons etc. but this was scary.
I had thoughts that I shouldn’t be out here, there was no point to it, that my support crew was inconvenienced and didn’t even want to help me, they didn’t really care, why bother. That I was selfish doing this, putting others out here with me and on and on and on….
I hated everything, the river, my board, you name it. In these moments if my husband would have said get in the boat I would have, thankfully he knows me better. I think it shocked him to see me like this, I apologized later for my completely unacceptable behaviour.
All I could think about later is if this is what depressed people hear in their mind it is unfathomable that this is on repeat and how impossible it would feel to climb out of it.
My face says it all here at the end of the day.
Physically and mentally spent, I had covered 38 km in 8 hours of paddling. Which seemed impossible; that was all I completed for the amount of effort it took. An 87 km day in previous years seemed like a cake walk comparatively. The decision hung in the air of what the next day would bring, my response to it and whether I would continue if this persisted.
HEY SOUL SISTER
Welcome to my fake it til you make it face. I slept well and hesitantly was optimistic about the day ahead. Windy App predicted the same amount of wind for the day, as I read peoples comments online about sending good vibes for calm winds…I was still pessimistic and thought ya right that’ll work.
Off I went with wind ever so slight as always in the mornings and soon in a straight away it began to increase. Same strategy, efficient steady progress forward.
The anger started to rise at the lack of distance I was making and frustration at the river being uncooperative. At some point I just surrendered, I let it all go, if it took me longer to get to Lake Athabasca so be it.
I remember just saying to Mother Nature, I get it, I’m here at your mercy. Do what you may, bring it, I’m listening. And I kid you not, the wind stopped, an eagle came out and the day progressively got better as a downwind shifted later on pushing me forward.
This section afforded more wildlife viewing of a large bear swimming across in front of me as well as a young bear foraging on the beach beside me. Numerous eagles and birds came out to soar as the weather cleared.
I was completely at peace with the world around me, feeling a deep sense of love for everything and everyone. Tears flowed, I think I cried every day on the river at some point either from joy, rage or awe.
Completing a respectable 53 km after 10 hours we finally found a camp late in the day, this section of river became increasingly difficult to find a good camp on. No shore, too much wood at shore, no eddy to park in or too many mosquitoes created a dilemma and as my tank drained we finally found a sand bar to camp on. It was beyond a welcome site.
The only actual failure of the trip was forgetting a table to utilize in camp.
As you can see we improvised, perhaps not the ideal table but we didn’t blow ourselves up and we were able to cook supper so it was a win!
ON THE WINGS OF ANGELS
A night time bathroom break had provided a northern lights show at 2:30 am. Look at the sun cracking the horizon already! Perhaps it was an omen of what was to come.
Up early I was off making distance up with a slight downwind. Today was the day I would be coming up to a section Lenny had warned me about, notorious for brutal winds.
Lenny Hanson owner/operator of Running Bear Wilderness Adventures in Fort McMurray was my beta provider for this section of river. Having spent his whole life on the water bodies around here he literally knows the river like the back of his hand.
He also provided me with mapping used by the barges for decades. The deep channels may change slightly but he updates it with new marks to indicate where to go. Obviously the river is a dynamic environment that constantly changes however main channels typically remain as the deepest water.
Having the maps on my board in front of me provided great focus and goal setting as I travelled throughout the day. The maps were made in 8-10 km increments which was perfect as you didn’t feel as though you would never make headway. Moving onto a new page was always a great feeling.
The section I was coming up to had sharp s-bend corners, high sandstone cliffs and stunning scenery. What has always enamoured me with this river is how many different types of topography you can go through often in one day.
The weather was turning with the building of clouds all around. What people may not realize is how little I stop while out here. Pee breaks are few and far between. Eating/drinking while floating as long as there isn’t a headwind otherwise you simply lose too much ground in doing so.
I often think back in winter as to what I think about while out here. The answer: nothing and everything.
The appeal of these long endurance based paddle is that you immerse yourself completely and fully into the moment. It is a true flow state.
Reading what the river is doing, making a move to be on the right side of the water, avoiding hazards, avoiding sand bars, sheltering from wind if possible, singing songs on repeat, mantras on repeat and complete involvement in what the world around you is doing in that moment. Nothing else!
As I came around the sharp corner Lenny had warned me of, I hit a headwind that was strong however it was such a short section that it was irrelevant to the day. Paddle hard and get through, the river will bend again providing a reprieve.
Somewhere along the way I picked up an irrational fear perhaps of the wood in the water. Although maybe it was irrational, about halfway on this trip the riverbanks change with large poplars embedded in the water near the shore. As my husband goes back these with the depth finder he was in 30 ft of water with many of these dead trees impaled in the bottom still sticking 5-8 ft out of the water. They are massive hazards. They dot the shores constantly.
Even for a bathroom break there is no safe place to pull over where the current wouldn’t push you into them. Perhaps being by myself made me more hyper aware of how fast you could end up in a predicament. Yes, there was a jet boat with me but it now becomes a serious situation for all of us if something goes wrong.
The wind, oh the wind picked up again and as you tire it becomes harder to push against a crosswind that is constantly driving you to shore; into deadly hazards.
There was a lot of dismissal from others about how easy this section is, it’s a beginner river etc. True, there are no rapids but honestly the wind and wood out here can add up to equal disaster if you don’t have the skills to maneuver them. Any waterbody has risk.
What was surprising is how busy the river is up here, it is a lifeline for people living in Fort Chipewyan and there are very few recreational boaters. That in itself helped me feel safer. They were always friendly and if something seemed off they would stop to make sure everything was ok. You take care of each other up here.
Making camp on an island with many willows and not ideal camp after 67 km was a welcome end to a great day of mileage making. Downwinds for most of the day pushed me forward as though I was riding on angel's wings. I went to bed grateful for this.
I GOT THIS!
What continues to amaze me when I do these long paddles is that the impossible is possible. There are so many times when you feel defeated, unable to go on, wonder why you’re here, if it will ever end and yet if you simply put your paddle in the water and repeat it eventually happens.
The weather was perfect, pushing me quickly to the Fletcher Channel easily by 12:30 pm a little over 5 hours after starting that morning. Completing 39 km by lunch, a great feat considering how big and slow the water gets as you approach the delta.
I was still feeling guilt that my support crew had hung out on the river with me for five days by this point. It’s not that riveting floating, fishing and reading on the water, they are as tired as I am at the end of a day. We met at the fork of where the Fletcher Channel started, there was a lot of wood in it and it was narrow. Knowing how many people travelled this section I was worried I would be in the way and get hit by a boat.
Considering getting in the boat to save all of us time there was something that simply did not allow me to get off my board. In true explorer fashion I said let me see how it is around the corner. What seemed like a small channel soon opened up into a glorious beautiful Northern Alberta version of the bayou. This area of water is the world's largest inland delta, there’s a lot of water up here.
With no real shoreline and willows galore as you progressed the only real thriving animals up here are the beavers, so many beavers. It became a fun game to slap my paddle before they slapped their tails. This also meant that there was nowhere to camp. As we entered this channel I was aware it was all the way to the lake.
As you can see in this picture there the shore is uninviting and impossible to pitch a tent on.
Paddling, paddling, paddling. I felt great, the weather was spectacular, a calm wind and the feeling that we would make the lake spurred me faster forward. I couldn't remember from the mapping on my Garmin how far it was. The maps I used previously didn’t cover this channel so I was blind in one sense.
Irony is being literally in the middle of nowhere and having cell service. On the river in the far reaches of Northeastern Alberta I had enough service to look at mapping! There was better service here than my own home. 15 miles was my guess of what I had left, however that distance came and went but I persevered on.
Slowly over time the skies began to build around us, I was singing along to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline on my phone loving life. The sun was shining knowing I was touching Lake Athabasca soon was intoxicating. Soon would be two hours later. To be fair over an 11 hour day that is fairly soon.
The skies darkened and my husband mentioned that we could drop a pin and return to this exact location tomorrow. I looked at him like he had two heads…I was two miles from the lake there was no way in hell I was stopping.
The only way I would have stopped was lightning. If I saw lightning and heard thunder close by I would get off the water.
Mother Nature I believe wanted to make sure I knew who still was in control as the winds picked up dropping me to my knees as I approached the lake. Then the wind storm subsided and I was able to stand back up as I touched Lake Athabasca. It looked like the ocean.
Deflating and putting my gear in the boat as quickly as possible we still had the threat of a thunderstorm behind us. Also the consideration many boats have flipped in this delta from winds driving them onto the sand bars that surround it. It is no joke being on this lake.
We drove across towards Fort Chipewyan and all of us had our first glimpse of The Canadian Shield. I was enamoured immediately by its beauty. With it being well into the evening by now we found a sheltered area to stay. With a fish to fillet they had caught earlier in the day and camp to set up there was still lots to do.
I can honestly say I wasn’t much help, there wasn’t much left in the tank. 73.5 km done over 11 ½ hours of paddling on the last day had drained me completely. My soul was full but the body was finished. The evening was stunning; it was calm after the storm.
This guy right here took care of me, always made me feel safe and has supported me through all of this crazy adventure. I’m pretty sure 23 years ago when we got married neither of us could imagine the places we would go!
After five days of being on the move I was so excited to sleep in, relax and enjoy this part of Alberta few people ever get to see.
Happy paddling!
Sending You Love n SUP,
Lisa Stocking
Paddle Canada River 1 SUP Instructor
CANRVRSUP Collective Instructor
@love_nsup
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