A week in Kananaskis stretching ourselves

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We spent a week in early July camped at Canoe Meadows on the Kananaskis River, located between Calgary and Canmore. We caught a well needed rest in Calgary for a few days ahead of time and caught up with family and friends (plus showers, laundry and internet…).

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Hunter participated in his first weeklong kayak camp through Alberta Whitewater & Waterwerks learning how to paddle a slalom boat and continuing to progress his play boating, while also getting to hang out with a fun group of kids.

Tim and I were left to our own devices for the week (sort of – we were camped about 100 yards from all the kids so could only get so silly) and ended up paddling twice a day for five days… how do you say no when the river is right next to you and the shuttle is only a 2km walk along a nicely wooded path??? We were definitely spoiled!

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The Kananaskis River is damn controlled and you are at the mercy of the hydro company, who posts a weekly river schedule on Sunday or Monday. It truly is “empty” when the damn is closed. This is the big play boating wave called “Santa Claus” without the water flowing…

And this is Santa Claus with the river turned on!!!

In addition to play boating, river running and slalom sessions the kids also spent a half-day on river rescue skills, which ended with them swimming down the top half of the race course in their dry suits.

Overall it was a fabulous week for all of us…

  • Hunter experienced slalom boating and learned he was a natural at it. Got jazzed to participate at Nationals and met a great group of paddling kids!
  • Lee continued to push comfort zones and spent a lot of time play boating and finally got a SPIN down
  • Tim earned the chocolate bar from Coach Paul for being the only one to do 4 spins in a row on Chubbies – although he is still waiting for deliver 🙂
  • We got caught up with old friends from a lifetime ago – lots of serendipity going around…

Big thanks to all the coaches that made it so fun for the kids, while also challenging them to learn and grow. We are all looking forward to heading back to Kananaskis in August for more fun paddling and the Provincials.

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One Comment

  1. Thanks for the new post. Looks like your having a good time. New skills are being practiced and that is a very good thing. love Bob

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