A family quest for Alberta whitewater

By Michael Holroyd

May long weekend in Alberta is synonymous with the first camping trip of the year. For whitewater enthusiasts for the past quarter century, it has also meant road tripping to southern Alberta for the 3-Rivers Rendezvous Kayak Festival.

Founded by Chuck Lee, the event highlights all that southwestern Alberta’s waterways have to offer - from pristine lakes for beginners to the amazing rivers and creeks for the more experienced. Whitewater kayaking is all about progression, and this corner of the world has a little of everything. The Crowsnest River offers one of the best beginner river runs anywhere with its 1,000 eddies section. The Castle River offers intermediate paddlers multiple fun rapids with surf waves, drops and classic foothills scenery. And the third river of the 3 Rivers is the Old Man River with several fun sections weaving through the Livingston Range and then out through Waldron Ranch to the Old Man Reservoir.

With adventure on the horizon, we packed up the Mitsubishi Outlander with all of our camping gear, paddles and kayaks for a weekend of fun. The second row centre pass-through was critical for our Kuma tent and paddles. Throwing four kayaks on the sturdy factory roof racks was no issue, and gave us a lot of confidence.

The journey from Calgary to Pincher Creek is one of the most beautiful roads in Alberta. Highway 22, also known as the Cowboy Trail, winds its way south through small ranching communities that have embraced the boutique experiences alongside their traditional farming and ranching roots. Arts and crafts, breweries and distilleries, and delicious food offerings abound. Filled with provisions from the shops, the road opened through range land at the foot of the Livingstone Range. The Dynamic Sound Yamaha audio system in the Outlander was a highlight for the kids as it provided an amazing soundtrack for the drive.

Switching into Gravel Mode on the Outlander’s Super All-Wheel Control system, we took a small detour through Willow Valley to get the full effect of the Livingston skyline. Eagles soared above while blue birds and deer kept us company along the road.

Once at the Castle Rodeo Grounds, more than 300 paddlers set up camp for a weekend of paddling and entertainment. The weekend is fueled with homestyle breakfasts and fantastic dinners. Evening games for kids and adults include throw rope rescue, kayak pinatas and the ever-popular kayak Jenga.

Each day, paddlers organize into informal groups and head off in search of water. The area of southwestern Alberta is surprisingly full of lakes, rivers and creeks for paddling. We admittedly have a pretty special group of youth who are running rivers here in Alberta. They’ve paddled together for many years and have gone through a progression that has allowed them to excel on rivers like the Castle, Crowsnest and Old Man: the 3-Rivers trifecta.

Most of the river accesses require off-pavement driving. From wide gravel roads to smaller potholed paths, there was lots of opportunity for the Mitsubishi Outlander to show its stuff. With Gravel Mode activated we had excellent grip on all surfaces are were able to get into the tightest river accesses with ease. The timing of the event coincides nicely with spring run-off, but does sometimes overlap with the last snowfall of the year. This year, the weather co-operated and the sun was more abundant than cloud, so we didn’t get a chance to play with the Outlander’s S-AWC Snow Mode.

On Day 1 of our adventure, one of our group had to jump into the water and rescue a baby moose that had gotten separated from its mother and washed through a rapid. It was taken back upstream and left near momma. Speaking of momma, ours had a blast running shuttle and found a beautiful field of dandelions for the Outlander to relax in.

Day 2 started with a downhill road access helped by the Descent Mode of the Outlander. The Castle River run kicks off with a great chute of Castle Falls. The youngest in our group at 12 years old, styled the line leaving many of the adults wishing they could do the same. From there the river winds its way for four hours back to the campground, where steak dinner was waiting for us.

The last day of our journey took us to the heart of the Waldron Ranch Grazing Co-operative. It’s the largest deeded piece of land in the Alberta eastern slopes and includes easements through the Nature Conservancy which helps preserve this wonderful landscape for cattle grazing and environmental protection indefinitely. The Waldron Falls access includes a fun water-filled access road that the Outlander ate up, and then it was on to paddling. The section includes more than 20 ledges that the kids played on in the dying hours of their long weekend.

Packing everything back up at the end of the weekend, it was back into the Mitsubishi Outlander’s Dynamic Sound Yamaha concert hall for the two-hour drive back to Calgary, where daily life was waiting. But the next adventure was already in the works.