Athabasca
Name:
Athabasca River
Section:
Below the Falls to Whirlpool Confluence
How the Get there:
Once you have arrived in Jasper take highway 93 south towards banff. About 10-15 minutes down the road on the right had side you should see road signs for highway 93A and athabasca falls. Turn right and you are at the start point for Athabasca falls.
What to Expect:
The roughly two to three hour trip down the high volume Athabasca has its white-water moments but is mostly a wide slow moving river. The most fun your going to have if your seeking high waves and white-water is right after the Athabasca Falls. There is a little section that has a lot of big waves and can take your for a ride. When Kayakalberta did this river we put in right after the falls. You can hike down to the put in quite easily – but be prepared to get a lot of looks, the Athabasca falls is a pretty big tourist attraction and there are usually a few tourist buses stopped there at a given moment. I would rate the athabasca river as a grade I/II river. My recommendation (if your new to kayaking) would be to try the Athabasca and test your bracing skills and rolling capabilities in this high volume river. After the rapids at the bottom of Athabasca falls the river flows through its valley and offers some class 2 rapids but is mostly a sceneric float, which mainly follows Highway 93, untill it splits away and meets up with whirlpool. Kayakalberta took out at the “meeting of the waters”. If you find that Athabasca was an easy river for you the Whirlpool River is about 5-10 minutes of a drive away and offers more continuous white-water kayaking. See Whirlpool for more information.