Trip Coordinator: Carrie Cherkawski

Participants: Carrie C., Denise J., Karyn M., Kevin S., Jim B., Alan S., Jim F., Frank G., Chris O., Steve P.

Boats: 7 kayaks, 2 Canoes

Actual length: 49.5km, 6.25 hrs moving, with a total 1½ hours for breaks.

This year’s Athabasca River trip brought together a great mix of paddlers from across the club. Denise, Karyn, and Alan camped at Poachers Landing for the weekend, while Frank, Chris, and John stayed at the Lions Campground in town. Kevin over nighted at a local hotel, and I used a nearby family cabin. The remaining paddlers drove up early Saturday morning.

Trip Report – Red Deer River June 5-7, 2026

Steveville to Jenner Exhibition Grounds

We met at Dinosaur Provincial Park on the Friday, trickling in over several hours. There were 11 of us – Donna M, Stephanie J, Rob R, Frank G, Jim F, Alan S, Peter S, Siobhan M, Christine O, John B, and Eric F. 9 kayaks and one tandem canoe. Oh, and Bentley the dog!

Murtle Lake, B.C., 7-12 September 2025

Trip coordinator: Frank G.

Photos: Frank G.

I’ve always wanted to go deep into Murtle Lake to explore its north arm. In two past trips, I’ve only been in the more popular west arm with its hiking opportunities and abundance of campsites. But the north arm has eluded me. So, I set my sights on a trip in September when the weather is usually good but the crowds have thinned. First one, then three, then five other people were interested in a club trip, so we were on.

Trip Coordinators: Carrie Cherkawski

Participants: Carrie C, Denise J, Karyn M, Kevin S, Kevin W.

Estimate length: 49.2km, 7 hours including stops

Actual length: 49.5km, 6 ½ hours moving, with a total 1½ hours for breaks.

The Kevins and I met at the boat launch in Athabasca at 8 am Saturday morning.  Access to the boat launch is across from the Husky service station at the intersection of 50th Ave and 49th Street. Here, we unloaded and then, leaving Kevin W. with the boats, Kevin S and I headed with our vehicles to the take-out point at Poachers Landing where Denise and Karyn camped Friday and Saturday nights. We car pooled back to Athabasca in Karyn’s vehicle which also transported Denise and Karyn’s boats. 

Trip Coordinators: Arleen Drysdale and Brenda Noble

Since the Voyageurs had yet to do the Devon to Laurier Park trip in 2025, Brenda Noble and I decided to co-lead a trip down this stretch of river at the end of August. Despite being a last minute addition to the Voyageurs annual trip list, within a week we had assembled a manageable list of paddlers to accompany us on this trip. Included on the list were Don L. and Gene L. in their tandem canoe, as well as Paul O. and Brenda N. in their tandem canoe. In addition to the two canoes, there was Ben C., Denise J., Eric F. and myself in our solo kayaks.

Trip Coordinator: Mike Eaton

When people talk about paddling mountain lakes, thoughts usually run to Jasper to Banff corridor. There’s another set of paddling gems to be found in Kananskis Country. Lower and Upper Kananskis Lakes are reservoirs used for power generation and river stream flow control. They also offer majestic scenery without the chaos of Banff or Jasper. Although to be honest, ever since the pandemic, people have started to flock to the area.

Coordinator:  Donna McKenzie

Despite a rather rainy weather forecast, 9 brave individuals landed at Trenville Campground Friday night. None of us had ever been to Trenville before, but it’s a lovely little campground on the banks of the Red Deer River, roughly near Elnora. We had 5 campsites in a row, strung out along the river. It started to rain about 7 pm, and didn’t really quit until 1 pm on Saturday. Everything was wet! Ironically the river was running 27 cubic meters per second (cms) on Wednesday, actually causing one person to back out of the trip. By 9 pm Friday night it was already at 47 cms.

Jasper in June: 14-15 June 2025

Trip Coordinator: Frank G.
Photos: Frank G, Christine O., Taera D.

“Do these trips as soon as you can. You never know when another pandemic, insect infestation, fire or political situation will change things.”

That’s what I said while we 9 kayakers were enjoying a paddling weekend in Jasper late last June. Little did we know that a forest fire would sweep down the Athabasca Valley a month later, obliterating the western half of Jasper townsite and much of the forest along Highway 93. Fortunately, most of the businesses in the central and eastern parts of town and the campground at Snaring River were spared.

Trip Coordinator: Frank G.

Photos: Various participants

A tradition in this club is to paddle Astotin Lake in Elk Island National Park at least once early in the season before the blue-green algae clog up the waters. And it’s important to get there early before most of the weekend day trippers clog up the parking lot.