The weather on the May long weekend was pretty mixed so I decided to try a quick paddle on the river during one of the brief sunny periods. I put in at Emily Murphy Park, paddled upstream for 45 minutes (maybe 2km), and then floated back down.
The good part of this paddle is it is super convenient. I can be standing the river about 12 minutes after I lock my front door. The downside is that access continues to suck. You can park with 50 feet of the water but you have to skid your boat down and up and steep and muddy bank or try your luck climbing down the rocks by the dock piling.
I went up the inside of the turn, trying to avoid both the current and the wind (and holy was it gusty at times!). There was still some ice to be found in the shadow of the bank.
Overall, a lovely paddle. I then hung out by the outflow of the Mackenzie Ravine and watched two of the eight-person boats get ready to race (Canary versus Edmonton).
On the way back (on the sunnier, outside of the turn), I saw these two geese with 9 or 10 goslings between them.
There were a couple of canoes and the fire boat on the river. But mostly it was just me. Lots of volume and pretty mucky with the rains. No sign of the spring melt yet.
Hopefully the weather will be good enough next week to go out of town and try somewhere new. I also have a work trip that takes me south so I'm hoping to try a few new lakes on the way there and back.
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