3 Rivers Whitewater Rendezvous (May Long Weekend)
Its hard to believe that this will be the 10th RUNNING OF THE RIVERS down here in southwest Alberta this year. The Pinch-o-Crow Creekers are hosting the 10th annual WW Rendezvous on May 16-17-18-19, 2008 again this year down in the "Centre of Adventure". We will be organizing and leading trips on the Castle, Crowsnest and Oldman Rivers. There will also be chances to go paddle Cameron Creek and the Carbondale, Elk, Wigwam, Highwood, Waterton or Belly Rivers while you are down here. Only three days and too many rivers to paddle.
There will be opportunities for beginner groups to get on the water and paddle easier stretches as well as more advanced trips. We have something special planned for this year, including more sun, less snow and lots of water for all you big wave fans. Okay seriously – its always been fun and it will be fun this year too!
This year’s ww demo boats will be on site for you to try out from Aquabatics and Undercurrents and some sea kayaks are coming as well from High \Level Canoe and Kayak.
Camping is going to be the same as last year. We will be at the Castle River Rodeo Grounds. You may remember it as the takeout for the Upper Castle River run. It is centrally located and easy to find off Highway 507 between Lundbreck/Burmis and Beaver Mines, just south of Highway 3. This site is well sheltered with flush toilets and a great camp kitchen.
Drive west on Highway 3 past Lundbreck Falls till you come to Highway 507. Turn south and head towards Beaver Mines and Castle Mountain Ski Resort. Drive 8 km south, after you cross the Castle River at the top of the hill turn east to the Castle River Rodeo Grounds. The road swings back down to the river and we are camped right there.
We will again offer a bbq-burger and fixings dinner for Saturday night and the Sunday night we will have a chili dinner. There will be vege-burgers and a vege-chili for those who want it. Please let us know in advance so that we can order enough for you. We are again hosting a full breakfast each morning. Cost is included in the package.Prizes will be drawn for during the weekend.
We are building a package price for the weekend. This price includes all entries, 3 nights camping, 2 suppers and 3 breakfasts, prizes.
Paddlers - Adult/Junior $70.00
Non-Paddlers $50.00
Non-Paddling Children (under 12) $15.00
Toddlers (5 and under) Free
Families of 3 $115.00
of 4 $125.00
of 5 or more $135 + $10 for each additional adult/junior
Please pre-register this year to help us with figuring out how much food to prepare. If you want to set aside a camping spot with your friends I would appreciate knowing that in advance so we can pencil you in and rope a spot off for your group.There is no need to prepay, we'll collect when you get here.
Trips planned for Advanced and Novice
Saturday
Castle Falls to Rodeo grounds - Advanced
Crowsnest River - Novice
Castle Canyon - Advanced
Lee Lake - Novice
Elk - Advanced
Sunday
Castle Canyon to Reservoir - Advanced
Castle R Rodeo to Canyon - Novice
Carbondale River - Advanced
Crowsnest River - Novice
Upper Oldman - Advanced
Waterton Lake - Novice
Elk - Advanced
Monday
Oldman River Gap to Oldman River Dennis Ranch - Advanced
Dennis Ranch to Bob Creek - Novice
So we are building on our very successful long weekend event. In 2007 we had 137 paddlers down here, so it was a great gathering and still with so many locations there was lots of space for everyone. We hope to see you down here and look forward to paddling with you. Please pass this message along to your club members and friends.
For those of you with friends or family not paddling, there is some great hikes, mtn biking, Castle Mtn is rumored to open for the weekend??, great historic sites (\Frank Slide, Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and the Bar U Ranch) close by, flyfishing, shopping and even some cowboy adventures if you want something totally different.
Chuck Lee: Pinch-O-Crow Creekers Box 162, Lundbreck, Alberta
403-628-2336 evenings
403-632-9598 cell
P.S. If you are a brand new novice paddler, still dry behind the ears, and would like a 3 day lake and river beginner kayak course. We are making special arrangements for you this year. There will be an additional $100 cost to the weekend for you, which is a great deal for 3 days all inclusive, camping, meals, equipment and instruction. Contact me if you are interested. THIS HAS TO BE PRE-REGISTERED AND PREPAID.
If you have any further questions please contact Janson by email: orckalethbridge@gmail.com
11 comments:
there are some members that are curious to see who is going to the 3 rivers rondevous! so if you could please, please, please leave your name and contact info on the comment section of the blog site under the 3 rivers blog at... www.orckalethbridge.blogspot.com ... if you don't want to leave your information on the blogsite, email me so I can pass along your info for a possible car pool... orckalethbridge@gmail.com ...
thanks,
Janson
If we get some rotten weather, i.e. snow/rain, then I will be there for one of the days. Because of this unfortunate lack of commitment, I won't be much good for rides. Hope to make it, but that means lousy weather for paddling in... If I don't see you there, have a great time.
I am interested in attending but do not have a vehicle (presently) capable of carrying a boat. Therefore if anyone is going and would be able to give me a ride (or simply take a boat for me) I would appreciate it. Alternately if anyone has a set of roof racks for a car with gutters they would be willing to lend that would help as well.
Also since I am new to kayaking and have limited access to equipment I was wondering if anyone had extra equipment they would be willing to loan.
Please let me know at aaglover (at) gmail (dot) com if you can help me with either of these things.
Thanks,
Aaron
I am going to be down in Montana this May Long, but anyone from ORCKA that goes to the Pincher Creek paddling weekend please take pictures and email them to me with some highlighted stories so we can post them when its all done!!!
Hey everyone, I'm going to be there this weekend. My friend Andy Davies and cousin Corry Milner are also going to be there.
I talked to Aaron Glover (see comment above), he was going to catch a ride with us, but now it looks like he might be coming out later in the weekend.
I never really confirmed before now, but I did just leave a message with Chuck Lee for the three of us.
If anyone is concerned about not being registered in time for the weekend here is another way to contact Chuck Lee:
chucklee@toughcountry.net
have fun paddling!!!
Di & I had a nice, warm-up paddle on the Crowsnest yesterday - it came up a fair bit over the day and has continued to rise. Flows on the weekend should be ideal on all foothills rivers. We'll head up again on Sat. and may see some of you up there.
Reservoirs, and especially the Waterton and St. Mary, are super low so downstream releases would be unlikely unless we get some good rains in the next few weeks.
Enjoy the excellent weather and good flows!
Stew & Di
Hope everybody enjoyed the high flows and great weather. We had some pretty mild runs with good surf.
Some interesting video of the 'Lundbreck Lemmings Leap' in the Calpaddle blog - linked in the right column of the home-page for this blog.
Lots more water to come down and rain in the forecast.
Stew
I had a great time on the weekend. The food was excellent and the rivers were even better. Those of you that missed it, really MISSED IT! There's always next year.
Running the Lundbreck Falls.
(I'm sure the video is more exciting than my photos, but still).
Jeff what runs did you hit?
We hit the Upper Crowsnest on Saturday.
They had talked up the couple of drops that turned out to be not really a big deal at all, and after a long fairly mild section, I was worried that the river was a bit of a waste of time, but then the last section of the river picked up and there were a lot of fun little waves to play in, one after another. Overall, a good first run for the year.
The next day we ran the Castle River from just below Castle Falls down to the campground. I, unfortunately, left my PFD back at camp so I had to race to get it and then hurry back up to the put-in before the last group left. Luckily I caught a bunch of kayakers just leaving the area and was able to boat with them. Unluckily they were a big group and slightly less experienced and therefore were doing things a LOT slower than I wanted. I sped ahead carefully and quickly caught up with group after group and it turned out my paddling friends were not that far ahead after all. So it was also a great run.
Later that afternoon we worked in another run on the Castle, down the canyon and take-out at the gravel pit. The water was nice and high and since we had someone volunteer to pick us up we didn't waste much time with shuttling. The canyon was really rushing and even though it was only a short 45 minute run, it was probably my favourite of the weekend. The water was way bigger than the time I did it with Stu (I think that was summer 2007).
The final run was down the Old Man in the section known as The Gap. The Old Man up there is nothing like the trickle of water we have running through Lethbridge. The river was angry that day, my friends.
Actually, it was a really nice ride. Lot's of big waves and a FREAKING HUGE class V waterfall which we portaged. Some of the guys from Aquabatics considered running it, but in the end, they all decided it wasn't worth the risk.
I had opened my plug to drain some incidental water out and forgot to plug it back in. When we got back onto the water just below the falls, one of the guys ran into trouble and had to eject. At that same moment, I realized my boat was taking on water. Oops.
It was a bit stressful but I was able to paddle to shore and the other guys were a big help in getting the swimmer to the shore with all his gear and a only a couple bumps and bruises on his legs.
My boat seemed to be sitting a little low after that, but I couldn't figure out why, I think I must be due for a new boat that has more buoyancy. That purchase will have to wait until at least next year though.
All in all, a great run, and a great trip. And also a great opportunity to meet other boaters from Alberta.
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