Floating the Red Deer

[Anomaly85]

Hey Guys,
Going to do a day float on the Red Deer river this weekend for the first time in a 11ft inflatable, looking for some advice on which section to float and how long it will take? I'm thinking of putting in at the Highway 54 bridge and floating to the Penhold bridge, but I'm open to suggestions. Also, is it worth bringing a small motor or is the water level pretty low?

Thanks!

[jpohlic]

July 19 we put in at the Penhold bridge and took about 6 hours to get to Fort Normandeau with a 12' raft and some tubes. We rarely paddled and didn't stop for more than about 5 minutes total. The river outflow at Dickson that day was 26.8 m3/sec and the flow at Red Deer was 37 m3/sec. The water was low in spots but mostly deep enough for a motor.

[Anomaly85]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

July 19 we put in at the Penhold bridge and took about 6 hours to get to Fort Normandeau with a 12' raft and some tubes. We rarely paddled and didn't stop for more than about 5 minutes total. The river outflow at Dickson that day was 26.8 m3/sec and the flow at Red Deer was 37 m3/sec. The water was low in spots but mostly deep enough for a motor.

Thanks for the info! I think we're going to try that section next time. I think flow was around 20 m3/sec the day we went and It ended up taking us about 6.5 hours to do the Highway 54 bridge to the Penhold bridge. We stopped a lot along the way though, easily at least an hour to fish some promising looking areas.

Caught Goldeye, Pike and Walleye was an awesome day float.