Mission: Running scared, father flashback and creeking in Alberta

By Billy Harris

Looks kinda Juicy, bellowed Scott Findel over the roar of the highway. Jordy Mac yell’s back, "should we even put our gear and just hike up an look, its pretty high? Scott says, "I say if we hike up there we better bring our boats, or we will chicken out completely and go drink beer at Patch’s place and wait for the girls, me I wana paddle.

Carly and the girls were on their own creeking mission jingling their anti bear bells through the woods, (which sound a lot like dinner bells if you ask me) east of us in Banff national park. My thought at Scott’s comment at the time was "not a great premise to run a juicy river but what do I know I am from the east of Canada I get no say what so ever and my fragile ego woun’t let me back out anyway especially because I am an "easterner". "Onterrible" as the Albertans call my province and Ontario considered by most Albertans as a drain on a perfectly good western economy. In many cases they are right, farming in Ontario unlike Alberta has been accurately described, "like, standing in a cold wind ripping up twenty dollar bills and tossing them in the air". Beside all the east west banter, we hiked along the rivers edge a goat path actually, peering down from 60 or 70 feet up it didn’t look all that bad at all I thought. The roar was loud but that was just the canyon walls bouncing sound around… right. Good size holes but nothing we can’t punch or boof. (NOTE) Never make a decision on any river from 70 feet above!

I remember feeling this kinda fear a long time ago. I done something stupid to my brother and ran from my punishment. In my sprint I could sense the motion of mass moving through the air, not mine but something else, something bigger. I looked over my shoulder and dad was hot on my heels. I knew then, like I did now that I really deserved the butt whooping I was going to get and looking over my shoulder, pounding ground in green rubber boots behind me was my dad insuring that I got what I dissevered in a timely manner. At the time what I was more in shock of was the speed and power. The river did the same thing,. Old Bill as we refer to him stands 6 foot 3 inches 230 pounds, back then of angry farmer, eating up ground in his TOUGH DUCK brand overalls and closing fast. I remember the sound of the crome pinch snap style buttons clicking together in my ear, as he got real closer and closer. I was 12 years old or so at the time and he might as well have been KING frickin KONG the way he was stomping and closing up the space between us. I had had a fight with my brother rob and had done something really stupid and instead of taking my licks for it I ran. Dad made chase. That same fear of speed and power was all around me 25 seconds into the gorge, in the middle of the entire raging experience Scott ducked into a cave and I followed him in. he said, "good luck explaining how you feel right now in your little blog, are your scared?" I say "hell yes I am, it didn’t look this big from up top". Scott, "now were scared together," and produced a big friendly Albertan smile that said. ‘That’s for taxing our oil profits you eastern rat’ Jordy pulled into the eddy beaming from ear to ear, Scott nodded at him and edged out of the swirlering cave we were in and disappeared in the mountains of water screaming by. We were on some creek in Banff called Red Earth Creek and it had my panties in a tight little bunch. The guidebook by Stuart Smith was pretty descriptive. "A small tight remote creek that runs over a tight boulder bed in an incredible canyon with lots of falls and stops and drops. A "whitewater Carnival" of sorts. (Canadian Rockies whtiewater guide) by stuart smith

Well the canyon has been run before but now its been run at just below 7 on the gauge. Stuart’s a old skool guy, the photos all show dancers, and I don’t know how they made it alive in a dancer. The volume was ridiculous, the holes were massive and the wood was placed perfectly to get by but enough to make you a wee bit tense at the thought. It was fantastic run, one of the best experiences I have had out here. The people a amazing and kind, Undercurrents lent us a punk rocker boat for the month for carly. Who does that?? All in all it’s the first time in my life I have not wanted to go back to the Ottawa river. The place is worth checking out, for real.

I have been doing Clinics with the young Team Albert Kayak Club. A JR development program that should be a model for every small town in Canada or the USA. Slalom training, freestyle training river rescue, you name it these kids get it. Did a Clinic for Under Currents a Jackson kayak dealer in Alberta paddled with the entire staff and owner Tony down the Kan doing clinics and talking about the 07 lines for this year and the improvements on the designs.
So after a bunch of days on that program I started creeking the new Rocker, my wife Carly in the Punk Rocker. Cataract Creek was the first stop, and a nice warm up for her and I. Beautiful 25 footer to start the run into a great little gorge. Carly, new to creeking paddling a wicked 15-foot waterfall called Zig Zag. Its always tense getting a new creek boat, your never sure how the boat will work until you get right into it. It boofed great, punched holes well and awesome for resurfacing. Basically uneventful. Now some might have a problem with an uneventful boat, not me. I hate surprises and got none at all, and I found a hatch in the front to put all my junk.

Well we are headed up to Rock Mountain House, east of red deer. Alberta has a huge close knit paddling community of paddlers and festivals. So off we go.

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