5-day canoe tour on the Athabasca River

Arriving in Edmonton, I had some time to get some things for the canoe tour. A few snacks, something to drink, an air mattress (I know, not a real man and all), and biodegradable soap for washing in the Athabasca River. Completely pointless, but more on that later. I had to do everything on foot. Once again, I noticed how little Canadians (not just Americans) are used to having pedestrians on the street. No sidewalks, everything is done by car. It is a huge country, and nothing can be done without a car. Did you know that? That's why 14-year-olds are allowed to drive here in Alberta, tractors can be driven from the age of 12. Crazy, right? I had to do my shopping in the rain, which was already a sign of things to come on the canoe tour.

The next morning, I went to breakfast (forgettable) and then to the lobby. Only retirees! Do they all want to paddle along? Even though I'm not the youngest anymore, I have definitely brought the average age down☺️. Secretly, I thought: do only retirees do these guided tours and are guys my age not so afraid and do the tour on their own.☺️ Then the guide came into the lobby to pick us up: Ian, 29 years old! That's how we can do it!👍 He had his brother Jessey, 34, with him. Aaaah! I got along great with both of them right away. When they told me that we would meet another group at the starting point, with a mix of different ages, my doubts about the retiree event were finally gone!👍

Jessey was acting as the second guide because no guides were available at Timberwolf Tours. And when Ian told me later that as a guide, all you have to do is paddle a little and organize a bit, I thought: okay, you can do both! Timberwolf Tours is run by German immigrants and I'll see if I can apply as a guide next season👍

Ian and Jessey had everything organized perfectly. Everything was taken care of and nothing was missing. This continued throughout the 5-day paddling tour. Respect! Highly recommended👍👍👍

So we drove to Hinton with the shuttle, near Jasper National Park. What a scenery! First paddling exercises on the lake in the sun, and setting up the tents at the campsite in the rain.😉 What I learned about the weather in Canada, especially while paddling: don't trust the weather forecast, the weather in Canada can change every 5 minutes, and that's exactly what happened. So the weather was basically more and more irrelevant, you just had to dress properly. We were a total of 14 participants and I immediately found my paddling partner with Florian, 26 from Bavaria👍. After the last shower before the start (wonderful!) and the first night in the tent (I had to pee but was afraid to go out and encounter a bear), we were ready to go! Without describing each day in detail: we had rain and about 12 degrees on the boat for the first 3 days. And wind. So it took some getting used to. But what we experienced in return more than made up for it. We were a really good group, 6 out of 14 were German, the rest were from the USA and Middlesbrough, England. We even had someone from Saarland with us. Greetings to Evelyn in Saarbrooklyn, it was a great trip! We were completely self-sufficient and away from civilization. All the equipment (tents, food, cooking utensils, etc.) was distributed on the boats. We got up early in the morning, looked for firewood, made a fire, and made coffee and breakfast. The same procedure for lunch and dinner. Everyone helped out and the atmosphere was great despite the weather! We always set up our camp on islands in the river. So peaceful! And you were so disconnected😍.

On day 4 and 5, the sun came out and it was directly hot. Finally, we were allowed to use sunscreen! And I went swimming in the river for the first time and did some washing. Estimated 12 degrees. Silly, it's 1:1 after you set the standard in Lake Baikal☺️

Thanks again to the guides and to the great group! Also one of my highlights, just an awesome adventure👍

Back in the hotel in Edmonton, Florian offered me to share a hotel room with him. Deal! It only cost me $10 and I was able to do my laundry, which was necessary☺️.

The German group then went to the West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in the world. Crazy and ridiculous at the same time, we had dinner there and had a good evening.

The next adventure awaited me in Calgary.