Back on the Road

Rain co-piloting FortSmithToEdmontonJasper

Well here we are. Rain and I are back on the road again. I met up with mom and her friend Pat in Edmonton at the West Edmonton Mall (hardest place ever to get free wifi!) the other day and we did some shopping and such around the city. We also went to Old Strathicona Area of Edmonton which is the Arts District. It was pretty nice.

Today we made the trip from Edmonton to Jasper where we are staying the night. We stopped at the hot springs on the way. They were so nice. Hot with one heck of a view!

And for those asking about Rain. She is doing great. She likes traveling and getting attention from everyone we meet. But things Rain has done so far are;

- go to the dog pound in Fort Smith
-run class 3 rapids (both swimming and on a kayak)
-stick her head off 107 foot Alexandera Falls and slip and scare the crap out of me
-free loaded the entire trip so far and not gave me any gas money!
-chased deer, mountain goats, horse flies and everyone else that moves
-lost all 8 tennis balls she had
-ate a garden hose
-had a 3 some...really....Solo (male) and Silver (female) both humped her!

Next stop for us is Kamloops! Can't wait!

Johnny

West Edmonton MallFortSmithToEdmontonJasper

Rain saying "You just made a wrong turn" FortSmithToEdmontonJasper

Mom and Pat in the hot springs in Jasper FortSmithToEdmontonJasper

Mom and Pat standing in the middle of a river in Jasper FortSmithToEdmontonJasper

Slave River Paddle Fest!

Donkey Flipping...Photo by Leif Anderson PaddleFest

Paddle Fest on the Slave River was one of the best festivals I have ever been too. It was put on by the Fort Smith Paddling Club over the August long weekend. It was great. There was food, parties and awesome events all weekend.

Some of the great events included a beach ball race where a team had to get there beach ball from one eddy to the one below. The only rules where no pulling skirts and no use of river knives. It was super fun. My team with Theo, Sonny, Christina and I and we got first place! We all won a flip flop. I got one that says "Surfer Girl" on it. It is sweet.

The other big event was the home town throw down rodeo. It was a close one. Two people from each heat made the finals making a final of 4 people with one ride to show off what you got. Shane from Golden BC finished 4th, Sean from Jasper AB finished 3rd, I finished 2nd and Leif from Colorado finish 1st with a sweet ride.

I am now continuing my journey heading to Edmonton then working towards Vancouver. I am going meet my mom in Edmonton for a visit.

I would like to thank John, Gen, Adam and Hillary for letting me stay at there place for a month and be a bum in Fort Smith. It is a great town with awesome people and one of my favorite rivers ever. Everyone should go and paddle the Slave! It is really not as far away as you think it is! You could make it in 3 and a half days of driving from Ontario.

Here are some photos from Paddle Fest and the last few days on the Slave River!

Johnny

Check out more photos from the Slave River Journal

Photo by Theo van Zyl PaddleFest

Photo by Slave River Journal PaddleFest

Photo by Slave River Journal PaddleFest

Leif going big and clean! Photo by Theo Van Zyl PaddleFest

Gen ensuring everyones safty. Photo by Leif Anderson PaddleFest

Opening Ceremony PaddleFest

Playing aroundo on the raft at Paddle Fest PaddleFest

Boaters at Paddle Fest PaddleFest

Having fun at Paddle Fest PaddleFest

Chillin' on the rocks at Paddle Fest PaddleFest

Playing at Roller Coaster PaddleFest

Leif doing a big old Helix PaddleFest

Last Week on the Slave

Finishing a blunt at Hang Over Cure WaveHangOverCure

So I have one more week left here on the Slave River in Fort Smith NWT. Which I am stoked to hit the road again but also so sad to leave. This river is amazing. I think I could paddle it all day every day and still feel like I did not get enough time on it. I will have spent about a month here and only have seen a very very very small portion of it because it is just so big. Here is at map made by Leif of most of the rapids and features! Check them out! We have also found a great German documentary of the Slave. It has some great shots of the size and is really funny. Watch it here!

The last few days have been still in the high water level although getting closer to medium. We have been surfing features called Sweet Spot (huge fast bouncy wave that is not good for my shoulder with an island right behind it fallowed by a couple holes) and Hang Over Cure which the pictures are of. Hang Over Cure is small but it is fast and hard and bouncy making it super fun.

Paddle Fest is this weekend. There are all ready 19 boaters here for it. Minus one that dislocated his shoulder today and swam pretty much all of the Mountain Portage section with one arm. Not a fun swim but he is alright and has a lot of questions for me.

Other than that nothing new really. Next week I will be heading towards Edmonton for a visit!

Johnny

Photos by Adam HangOverCure

Brown Town Wave

Looking at the sneak line at Pelican Photo by Leif Anderson browntown

The water level is coming down now! Finely! It is at 5000cms so it is now low enough for the high water features which is sweet. Yesterday we headed to the Rapids of the Drowned. Which is the only set of rapids on the Slave that are actually in the NWT. All the others are in Alberta. It also means I have been into all 4 sets of rapids now which are Cassette, Pelican, Mountain Portage and Rapids of the Drowned. Anyways here some photos of the wave. We paddled with the guys from Golden. The wave was alright. Hard to get to the top. It also had no name before so we started calling it Brown Town because it sounds better than the wave with no name.

Johnny

All the photos below are credited to John Blyth and Leif Anderson

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Slave Flood Update

Hanging out at the 60th! Randoms

Well not really much of anything exciting has been happening lately due to the crazy high water levels we are having on the river right now. They are higher now then what it was in the spring by almost 1000cms! The water has filled with sand and setiment and it down a gross chocolate milk colour,

So between now and the last update a few things have happened in point form;

-Rain got to go for her first trip to the dog pound after fallowing some kids home
-We have gone to the Playground Rapid a lot because its the only thing we know is half good
-Paddled into and ferried behind Pelican Rapid which is the biggest waves I have ever seen in my life!
-Checked the water levels to see they are still high and went back to the Playground
-Went to the Pine Lake Picnic at Wood Buffalo National Park where they had free food!
-Shaved my beard off
-Ran Mountain Portage Rapids hopping some waves would be in but the water level was too high so we played at the Playground
-Got bit by a lot of bugs including mosquitoes, horse flies, bull dogs (giant horse flies) and sand flies

And that is about it. Here are some odd and end pictures. Better ones will come with the water level dropping! And Slave River Paddle Fest coming up! It is going be awesome because the water level should drop by then!

I have also been taking a lot of photos with a sweet DSLR camera (I really want one). Check them out at Leif's Site The pictures are mostly of the waves we have found well out exploring.

Johnny

Molly's Nipple Randoms

From Randoms

From Randoms

Pre-trip Photo PicsFromTheo

Surfing the Edge (Slave version of Bussy) PicsFromTheo

The Edge again PicsFromTheo

Bouncing on Roller Coaster PicsFromTheo

Staying on the Slave

The Slave River is so incredible I have decided to stay up here for 3 weeks. After a great time with Theo I took him back to High Level AB and drove back to Fort Smith the next day. To my surprise the river has came up to spring levels by the time I got back so it will be like a new river for the next few days. I am stoked to get out on it with John and Leif to get some paddling in and go out and find some sweet waves.

The Slave River Festival called Paddle Fest is in 3 weeks so I will stay for that. It is going be great. A rodeo, extreme race and all kinds of events are planned. It is going be a great time up here and I can't wait for all the good times and stories and great photo's.

Anyways here a video Theo and I made of our time here on the Slave. Check it out. Let me know what you think! Leave some comments!

Johnny

Roller Coaster Wave Slave River

Goin' Big on Roller Coaster! rollercoaster

Yesterday Theo, Leif, Ben and I headed down Cassette Rapids in search of a wave called roller coaster. The wave was unreal. Big and fast with a huge pile. It would green out the odd time. Well a lot of the time but it was still a blast to paddle. Leif is a great guy and amazing paddler from Colorado that is up here. Check out his blog at here! He's the dude in the red Fluid boat going HUGE!

Today we are headed down Mountain Portage Rapids to surf Chico Wave! Should be a blast!

Johnny

Oh yeah...Special thanks to Theo and Leif for being some amazing photographers and letting me post the pictures they took!

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