Anyone with an interest in exploring local waterways, improving their canoe skills or hearing about a gripping river adventure would do well to attend the Blackwater Paddlers Annual General Meeting on April 30.
The meeting will be held at Best Western Tower Inn in downtown Quesnel, and the presentation will start at 7 p.m.
Ron Watteyne and John Marien have prepared a slideshow with some videos detailing their once-in-a-lifetime trip down the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories last summer.
The three-week trip saw Watteyne and Marien paddle 481 km through Nahanni National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site with four towering canyons, a breathtaking set of waterfalls twice the height of Niagara Falls and Canada’s largest tufa mound – a scalloped calcium hill created by thermal springs over many millennia.
Watteyne says that he and Marien were hoping to get a small group together, as it can be quite dangerous entering into that kind of wilderness with only one canoe, but when they were unable to, they still decided they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“We really had to be cautious,” Watteyne says.
“For any of the rapids, we took the chicken route, also called the safe route, through,” he adds. “We had to be really mindful of what we were doing out there just to be safe.”
The paddlers, who have known each other for 40 years, were 63 when they embarked upon the journey.
They had planned to do it the previous year, but Watteyne had open heart surgery to have an aortic valve replaced.
Six months of preparation went into getting ready for the trip, including a frenetic last few weeks were all their food had to be dried and all their gear checked and re-checked.
The pair made their way up to Fort Simpson on the confluence of the Liard and Mackenzie Rivers in Northwest Territories. From there, they took a 2.5-hour flight to Island Lake, where they got in their canoe and began the journey.
Watteyne says he and Marien didn’t see another soul for the first 10 days of the trip.
He would be hard pressed to say what his favourite part of the adventure was.
“I think there’s too many to name, but the four canyons are totally different from one another, and it’s spectacular scenery. You’re stuck in this river looking at canyon walls that are thousands of feet tall.”
While an excursion such as this might not be for beginners, Blackwater Paddlers can give you some of the tools to get on the right course.
They are a canoe and kayaking club that also has a voyageur canoe, the conveyance of choice for many of Canada’s earliest explorers.
Canoe lessons are on offer through the club for both flat and moving water, with the flat lessons being a prerequisite for the moving.
New this year will be an Introduction to Tripping course, which will prepare any prospective adventurer for all the eventualities they will need to consider before setting out, i.e. getting your food and gear together and watertight.
It will involve a two-day seminar and, on the following weekend, a chance to put the newly developed skills to test on a flat water trip.
The club’s first paddle is set for Mother’s Day, which falls on May 13.
Know as the annual bird paddle, participants will take their canoes and kayaks onto Dragon Lake, accompanied by Dr. Jerry McFetridge, a world renowned ornithologist (bird expert).
In past years, the club has seen upwards of 65 different species of birds.
Watteyne would recommend the club’s lessons to any families that are looking for a fun way to spend time together.
“I can’t stress enough, if you’ve got a canoe or are looking to get a canoe, take lessons.
“It’ll make your experience way more enjoyable, and you’ll most likely stay with it for a long time.”
