About three weeks ago, a group of Calgary Scouts had the opportunity to do what many people have never had a chance to do — paddle the Athabasca River.
Starting July 10, at the Windfall Bridge about 30 minutes northwest of Whitecourt, a group of eight people (five scouts and three leaders) departed the shores of the Athabasca River for a five-day-canoeing adventure, ending at the Klondyke Ferry landing near Vega.
Steve Wierenga, scouter and Scouts Canada area commissioner for Southern Trails East, said most of the Scouts, 14 to 17 years old, had never been canoeing on a river before.
“As a Venturer Scout one of their goals is be able to plan their own program,” he said, adding one of the things the group, 144 Lake Bonavista Sea Scouts, were interested in doing was canoeing.
And because Wierenga is a Fort Assiniboine native, the scouts had heard a lot of stories about his trips on the Athabasca as part of the local scout troop so they asked if they could plan a trip down the Athabasca River.
“The planning was entirely up to them. We told them what night we wanted to be at the Athabasca ferry and they did the rest,” he said. “They figured it all out, from how much food they needed, emergency planning to bear awareness, and learning about what other animals they might encounter on the trip.”
Preparation for the trip actually began in January when they started to plan the logistics of the trip and in April the troop expanded their preparations by taking extensive safety training and building up their paddling stamina on Lake Bonavista, a small manmade lake in Calgary.
“It was a great trip and the kids did a wonderful job,” Wierenga said, adding despite the fact that each of the four canoes were loaded with 100 pounds of food, they managed to make good time, arriving in Fort Assiniboine (about the midway point of their trip) half-a-day early.
Due to their early arrival, they took the opportunity to take a side trip to Schuman Lake and do some trout fishing.
As for some of the highlights of the trip, Wierenga said it was difficult to narrow it down to just one thing, adding for some it might be the abundance of wildlife they encountered.
For Wierenga and his son Will, who was one of the Scouts on the trip, one of their fondest memories would be the night they camped out at Fort Assiniboine in the old Hudsons Bay Company museum, hosted by Dorothy and Clifford Utas, Will’s grandparents.
One of the weirdest part of the trip, Wierenga said is how Mother Nature provided the group with a daily reminder of what time it was.
“For some reason, every day on the trip at 2 p.m. there was a rain shower or down pour,” he said. “But due to very good preparation, everyone stayed mostly dry and in good spirits.”
