Castle Canyon Access

Hi Pinch-O-Crow Creekers Paddling club:

Last week I talked with Chester McCrae about access to the river at the gravel pit below Castle Canyon. As most of you know this is the only decent river access below the Canyon until the Airport Road bridge. Because of this we have tried to maintain good relations with the landowners because it would stretch out a 2 hour kayak trip into 4 hours if we can't use the public road allowance to get out at this point.

Chester fenced off the road last year and seeded the river flats back to grass. He is trying his best to revegetate the land that was pretty torn up by the previous landowners.

As such he is requesting that the paddling community respect his need to control access. He is still permitting us to park at the gate and walk up from the river. But he is not allowing anyone to travel through the gate and down along the road allowance to the river. He is also asking that we be careful when parking at the gate to not block access to the roads heading away from there.

Finally Chester has requested that if you are going to be accessing the river across his property or along the road allowance that you call him on his cellphone and leave a message letting him know that you are going to be there. Chester's cellphone number is 403-327-7555. Chester and I will try to set up a meeting sometime soon to talk about public access to the river at this site and I hope to involve the MD in looking at road allowances that would give kayakers, rafters and fisherman better river access.

Thanks for your assistance in keeping a river access point available for us below the Castle Canyon.

Sincerely,

Chuck Lee
403-628-2336