An Athabasca River Adventure

As we begin the month of March here in Jasper, it would seem that Spring is on its way and with the unseasonably warm weather Bev and Murray got out for a beautiful canoe down Athabasca River. This river travels through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jasper National Park.

The Athabasca River rises in the glaciers of Alberta’s Jasper National Park, one of the most beautiful areas of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. For 168 kilometres the river passes below spectacular snow-covered peaks, many rising more than 2,500 metres above the valley floor. Not seen by white men until the early 19th century, the river’s upper valley played a significant role in the development of the Canadian west for more than 100 years. A major fur trade route, the valley also has close connections with the surveying and mapping of western Canada, and with the building of railways and roads which have linked this country from east to west. The Athabasca is accessible by both road and rail from all major centres in Alberta and British Columbia and offers excellent canoeing, kayaking, hiking and rafting with all of the attendant services and facilities usually found in Canada’s national parks.

Because of this outstanding natural beauty, historical significance and importance for river recreation, the section of the Athabasca River within Jasper National Park has been nominated as a Canadian Heritage River.

The Athabasca River as a whole is the longest river in Alberta, winding 1,538 km through mountains, prairies, forests and muskeg to Lake Athabasca in Wood Buffalo National Park. One of the major drainage conduits for western Canada, the Athabasca originates in the Columbia Icefield, a 325 square kilometre area along the Continental Divide, and flows across three of the major physiographic regions of Canada, namely the Rocky Mountains, the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield.

The section of the Athabasca River nominated to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System is 168 km long and lies entirely within Jasper National Park. Here, the river flows swiftly through the mountains, sometimes through narrow, confined channels, with

gorges, rapids and waterfalls; other times, in wide, open, braided river channels with alluvial flats more than a kilometre wide.

It is truly unbelievable that Bev and Murray were able to travel this river in such warm weather yesterday. They were prepared to walk through the shallows, as can be necessary because of water level fluctuations, but the river was flowing fairly well and they only touched bottom in 3 places.

Starting at Old Fort Point, a very popular put-in point and pulling out at Moberly Bridge the trip proved to be absolutely stunning.