View topic - What river should we choose for canoeing in Canada?

Hello there!
I am Norwegian and live in Oslo and plan to take my two kids (now 15 and 18) on a canoetrip in Canada or Alaska in 2012 or 2013.
You guys have so many rivers, so I was hoping for some helpt to narrow the selection and advice of what to choose, so I do not have to reads horrors of webpages / books / magazines....

These are our requirements and background:
- We have done some canoe trips, but mainly on flatwater. We will therefore prefere a quiet and kind river, as it is not so much the whitewater experience we are seeking, but more being out there (however, we will practice some "rapids" before this trip, so rivers with moderate fast flowing streches are ok).
- We are experienced in the wilderness, when it comes to tents, making camps, etc. We have all the equipment and experience neccessary for long, hard and also cold trips in Norwegian woods and mountains. What we do not have is experience with bears...
- we are aiming for something like a 10-12 day pluss/minus trip
- not too populated... we seek the solitude and the wilderness
- proximity to airport with fairly good connections (that is fairly easy travel from London, Frankfurt, Paris, Copenhagen or similar in Europe)

Anyone that can suggest a river or parts of a river that will suite our needs and experience?
Any place maybe where we could attend a course or hire an instructor for some rapids, and then afterwards move on to a wilderness experience from the same place?

Thanx!
Audun Wk
Oslo Norway

Moving this thread to the General Discussion forum.

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I'm out of bed and I made it to the keyboard....what more do you want?

Hi, Audun,




For all of Canada, there will be hundreds of rivers to choose from... perhaps you can narrow things down by contacting outfitters near cities you can fly to. They'll have knowledge of the best rivers for your needs - this one in Thunder Bay, for instance, instruction and route advice provided.

http://www.wabakimi.com/kayakshop.html

There will also be river descriptions in the routes folder here, once you've settled on an area within Canada.... good luck!

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I think FT is on the right track, your trip will likely be determined by where you can fly into from Europe. North America is a big place, and easily getting to the wilderness via commercial airline is either expensive or time consuming. There are only a small number of major city airports (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal) that you might expect to fly international to in Canada from Europe (you might even fly first to the US), then you will have to fly one of the domestic carriers to another hub (say Winnipeg), and for example to Thunder Bay or a more remote city, it might even involve a third flight segment. Even once you get to Thunder Bay you are 3+ hours from a place where you can begin your trip. You likely would have to rely on a rental car, or an outfitter shuttle for this last trip. The other issue you will need to coordinate is a shuttle. In 10-12 days you might cover 150-200 miles of river, due to roads not always making shuttles for a trip this long easy, you might have to drive 500 miles to do a shuttle, or ride a train, or use a floatplane to get to either the put-in the take-out of both.

So I would strongly suggest you look at where you can get via airlines for the time and money you are willing to spend, and then pick an outfitter in that area that can pick you up at the airport, rent you gear, and pick you up after the trip. Once you decide where in Canda you will fly into, then people from that area can help direct you go trips of the nature you are looking for.

PK

Perhaps the following thread will be of interest.
http://myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=35253

EDIT: I believe that Ric of Churchill River Canoe Outfitters runs courses as well as offering outfitting services.

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If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. (AJ)

Hi -

Well, although I have not paddled there myself, I will suggest the Yukon, based in Whitehorse.

You can fly direct from Europe in the summer to Whitehorse from Germany (Condor) or Switzerland (Eidelweiss). (Actually, there are a lot more than 3 Canadian cities you can fly to directly from Europe.)

There are outfitters there (Google Kanoe People or Up North Adventures) who can rent you the equipment you need, offer you a lesson and advice, and help you plan a guided or unguided trip to meet your needs. That area can offer trips from novice level to highly advanced, and some of the easier (Yukon, Big Salmon, Teslin) can be done with road shuttles, greatly reducing costs.

There are posts in the Yukon forum on this site describing such trips and people’s experience with local outfitters.

I must say that you are the first Norwegian I have seen post here who does not feel obliged to follow Helge Ingstadt’s footsteps down the Snowdrift River. If you wanted to do that, it would be most easily accessed from Yellowknife NWT (Europe to Edmonton, Edmonton to Yellowknife) but would require charter aircraft to access the river, and the cost would be significant. There are a number of Norwegian websites dealing with the Snowdrift River, and it’s calm centre section is certainly suitable for the kind of trip you are seeking. I could provide you with information on the Snowdrift.

Good luck with your planning.

-jmc

Yeah I agree with JMC that the Yukon is a good choice. Whitehorse is really well suited to your description of what you want. You can fly into Whitehorse and without driving elsewhere you can arrange rentals & shuttles right out of town, this is kind of rare in Canada. Also many of the nearby river trips are in the category of 'easy' and you have many river choices within a 8-14 day range. Also most of these rivers lack any portaging, you can just cruise and camp.

A few rivers as examples: Big Salmon, Yukon, Nisutlin river, Teslin, Pelly. These are all relatively nearby Whitehorse and fit within the range of skill & time you described. And you won't be struggling with awkward logistics to get to the river start point/end point.

You'd likely see other paddlers on these trips as the Yukon gets lots of adventurers in the summer and the practicality of trips out of this area makes it somewhat popular by wilderness standards (lots of Europeans compared to other canoeing areas of Canada), but I wouldn't describe the rivers as lacking solitude in anyway, just you might see some fellow canoeists past by some days.

j.

A few people have suggested the Yukon and I couldn't agree more - sounds like exactly what you may be looking for. We did the Teslin River to Carmacks (on the Yukon River) last year and it was totally amazing (I have a trip report on here: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.a ... C_ID=37004). We spent 9 days paddling (you could spend less time if you wanted to paddle faster and not stop at all the interesting historic sites). You could also continue on the Yukon River from Carmacks to Dawson after resupplying (getting showers and greasy burgers!) in Carmacks. We used Kanoe People for shuttling and they can help you with all your outfitting/guiding needs. We loved the area so much that we plan to go back in 2013 and paddle the Big Salmon River and then continue on the Yukon River all the way to Dawson

If you go pick up a copy of Robert Service poetry to read on the river .... brings some of the history of the area to life. Any questions? You can send me a PM and I'll answer as best I can.

Cheers!

Just to pile on to the advice already given -- a Yukon river out of Whitehorse would be a great choice. I just got back from a trip on the Snake (definite not what you are looking for as a choice of rivers), but Whitehorse is a great base for those starting from Europe. Rivers already recommended make sense.

Just one more tip. If you decide to use Whitehorse as a base and think you might want to rent a car during your stay, make a reservation in advance. I had hoped to use a extra day to take a drive, but found that there wasn't a car left if town. Oh, another thing -- the Yukon Brewery tour is worth the visit.