Surfing and kayaking in the Kananaskis River, in the midst of a beautiful family trail in Alberta’s Kananaskis Country
A few kilometres before the Kananaskis Visitor’s Centre on the Kananaskis Trail (Alberta Hwy 40) off Trans-Canada Highway, you pass the Canoe Meadows Campground with day use parking facility that has several picnic tables and a change room. Kananaskis Country has become my second home as it is so close to Calgary — an hour’s drive! But for some odd reason, I never paid attention to Canoe Meadows, one of the first day use facilities on the trail. Recently, while on my way back to Calgary I needed a short power nap. There was a gas station ahead at the end of Hwy 40, but instead I decided to turn into Canoe Meadows. I rested for a few minutes in the midst of the soothing sound of water from nearby. After my 10-minute nap, I walked 150 metres to a lookout point and saw the beautiful rapids of the Kananaskis River beneath me.
I never knew that from Canoe Meadows you could take a one km trail known as the Widow Maker Trail all the way to the Widow Maker day use facility. Around 1/2 way along the trail, there is a beautiful access point renowned for watersports. This is the spot where water enthusiasts engage in river surfing and whitewater kayaking. Also, coming through this area, which has been built with the support of volunteers over the last two decades, are rafters who begin their thrilling journey further upstream.
Now, watersport such as surfing, kayaking and rafting through the Kananaskis River is only possible when the gates at Barrier Dam are opened. The gates let the emerald waters of the glacier-fed artifical lake flow into the Kananaskis River, raising the river’s water level and creating exciting rapids. Of course, the primary purpose of the dam is to generate electricity for thousands living in a nearby area.
My power nap at Canoe Meadows became an excuse for me to visit the location again and again. I showed up at the Canoe Meadows a few days later. A widely travelled Australian couple, who have made Canada their home for the last few decades, informed me that the dam gates were scheduled to open at 2 pm, 45 minutes after which we would begin seeing water levels rise in the Kananaskis River. I followed the friendly couple to the Widowm Maker Trail watersport access point.
We waited and waited. After 90 minutes, we gave up. I returned home somewhat disappointed, but the couple — I apologize I never caught their names — asked me to visit the transalta website to find out about the flow times of the water at the Barrier and other dams.
I returned to the site on the following day! The water was going to be running through the dam for the entire day. I was very excited!
My Australian friends were already there and expressed immense happiness at seeing me again. The husband, with his wife proudly watching him from a raised large rock, began his surf with the upper half of his body lying flat on the surfboard. I took his photographs and video.
There were many surfers and they were all organized about their surfing turns. On-lookers like me watched in awe at the surfers’ talents. Many who were new to surfing or hadn’t practiced fell into the water almost immediately, and were carried speedily downstream in the river. As I stood there, captivated and enjoying the live show, I saw loads of rafts come through, some carrying very young children (minimum age 5 years.)
Among the surfers, was one person from Equador by the name of Eddy, who everyone told me was one of the most experienced surfers in the group. Another talented surfer told me he was the “mother of all surfers” at the location — he had been surfing in the same waters for the last 17 years and noted with gratitude that the facility was getting better and better with time, as new features were being added into the river to make surfing more exciting as well as more competitive; the river is host to tournaments. A special patch is dedicated for training.
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For the remainder of the day, after spending almost two hours at Camp Meadows, I watched big horn sheep, two grizzlies on Hwy 40 and, for the first time ever, I visited a canyon site in the Lower Kananaskis Lake with day access. I found an empty picnic table facing stunning mountains. I would say that this was the best solo-picnic in my life — because of the mountain scenery and the food I had brought with me in my little blue basket. Before I had left home, my neighbour from Morogoro, Tanzania, dropped off makai (corn) curry and two bagfulls of sweet watermelon. My basket also contained tandoori salmon and salad!
The exciting day continued with the sightings of two grizzlies on Hwy 40, one 200 metres away, walking towards me near Rock Glacier where I had stopped to see pikas. The secong grizzly that I would see later was feeding about 75 metres from the roadside, and I managed to get a few photographs from the car.
I returned home invigorated after an enthralling day in the Kananaskis. I might note that the Widow Maker Trail is very easy to do and I saw dozens of families with children as they made their way through the safe trail in both directions. Of course, Kananaskis is bear country and one should always carry bear spray!
Enjoy the photographs. They were moments of wows for me.
Date posted: June 26, 2023.
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