Canoe Trip on the North Saskatchewan

[cheese&quackers]

Hi All,

A couple years ago I went on two different overnight canoe trips with school near Fort McMurray. One along the Clearwater and one up the Athabasca.

I am interested in doing one on the North Saskatchewan (probably not till next summer as this summer has already run away from me), and was looking for any tips or information people had about the river.

Originally I was thinking of going from a boat launch inside Edmonton (possibly Emily Murphy park by the University) and ending up near Waskatenau where HWY 831 crosses the river (since I have family near there that would be able to pick me up).

Thanks in advance,

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Good to go. 3-4 days.

[Smokinyotes]

Down stream from Edmonton is pretty boring and flat. My wife went from Rocky to Berrymoor last weekend in two days.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Down stream from Edmonton is pretty boring and flat. My wife went from Rocky to Berrymoor last weekend in two days.

Rocky to Berrymoor is a beautiful intermediate stretch of the river. Faster than below Berrymoor.

Drayton to Devon is more leisurely and is rated intermediate/novice. I've done this reach a few times and always had an enjoyable 3 day paddle. Devon downstream to the border is rated for novice paddlers.

One thing to consider with canoeing the NSR for a few days is try to plan when the long term weather is stable. A flood can come down the valley pretty quick and turn a novice section of the river into class 1 waters full of debris in hours. The river has been known to rise 1 foot an hour during a flood.

There's a book called,"Mark’s Guide for Alberta Paddlers 2nd Ed.". It has good info on paddling the NSR and around Alberta. Also, there are maps of each reach of the river...Called "Trekkers River Maps".

You can buy the book and maps here. There's maps for several places in Alberta to paddle.
https://paddlealberta.org/product-category/maps/

[V_1]

Paddle Alberta web site has maps of all stretches of NSR and some other popular rivers with tips, etc.

And yes if you are into it you'll thank yourseft for getting your copy of Mark's guide.