Throw Back Thursday - June 11/2015

The wild horses stir up lots of controversy here in Alberta. Some say the horses should be allowed to roam free and others claim they are not part of the natural ecosystem and should be eliminated.

Millions of years ago wild horses populated this area until their eventual extinction.

In the last hundred years domesticated horses have been released into the wild. There are now several generations on the eastern slopes of the Rockies. Several herds live in the Upper Red Deer River area. On nearly every trip up to our rafting launch point we see wild horses.

Because of the logging in the area you can now see horses as there are fewer trees to shelter them. They have been forced to spread out to find shelter. With identifying marks on individual horses you can differentiate many different herds.

Once the herds were mainly located in the western part of the valley. Now there are so many that they are carving out territory as far east as the border of Crown land and private property.

In the last few years there has been well organized attempts to bring the herds under some control in numbers. Over all the 35 years I have been rafting in the valley I have seen the numbers increase and they are becoming more visible.

People have tried to catch the wild horses for many years. Some of the old outfitters found them useful as pack animals if they caught them young. Now there are groups such as WHOAS, CWH and Help the Wildies that are  adopting a few of the horses caught. Other horses are auctioned off to individuals where they live the remainder of their life under some care and comfort. The rest are sent for slaughter.

The method to catch them has changed over time. Now they use metal corrals and use salt or hay as a lure to entice the horses in. Once inside a trip wire closes a heavy door to trap them. This method decreases the stress of capture and is less likely to jeopardize the life of the horses as they struggle for freedom.

Another method was used by poachers before the number of horses or there existance became an issue. The old style that I saw was made of many logs strapped between convenient standing trees. Two long fences converged forming a V with a very small holding pen at the end. The animals would be chased in the open end of the V and driven  through the trees down to the pen.

As the fences converged the colts or any desirable horse could be separated and forced into the pen. This would have been a brutish experience for the men as well as a nasty and brutish experience for the horses. The horses would have been running into trees and hitting the fences as they tried to find an escape. Once caught, the men had to get the newly captured horses from that remote location through the bush back to the waiting trailers. This made me think it would be mainly colts that were caught.

I don’t know if this trap is still standing. It has been many years since I was there and I doubt if I could find the place now. It is a relief to hear of the more humane corrals for trapping the horses that are used now.

Throw Back Thursday - May 28/2015

Here is a Throw Back that goes even further back.

 

The lower Red Deer River is well known for its fossils in the Drumheller region. There is a world class Museum showing representations of finds local to that area in the town.

The upper Red Deer river has its own share of surprises. When you pull your raft to shore after running some rapids take a moment and look around. There are breath-taking views of the river valley framing the mountains to the west. And if you take the time to look closer there is whole new view of what life used to be like long before man.

We find history preserved among the rocks and cliffs on the shore. There are many fossils in the various strata of the rocks we traverse as we raft down the river. In some sections we see fossilized leaves exposed in the embankment by the erosion of the river. A section of shale can reveal many layers of leaves throughout it.

Another layer reveals small conical shells that are easily crushed with the fingers. They measure about 1 to 2 cms in length and are densely clustered together.

Several pieces of petrified wood and different types of corals are scattered along the shores.

There is another dimension to a wild, exciting day paddling the river. When you take a breather from the action, look around for the hidden surprises.

Throw Back Thursday - May 14/2015

It is finally raining outside today. It has been a long time since we have had any precipitation here in Central Alberta. There is hope that it is also raining or snowing in the mountains.
While digging through some old pictures I found some to share. These are of the second camp we had which we used for about 10 years.

The camp was next to the river on the flood plain. It was a beautiful park-like area of about three acres with many trees and no undergrowth. For many years cows had used this area for grazing and cleaned away the scrub brush.

Here we set up our camp of a donut hut, some teepee's, an equipment storage area and a camp kitchen. There was room for a hot tub that gave a wonderful view of the night sky. Many people would take a turn in it during the evening.

I usually got to be last after setting up our contraption of a home made heat exchanger, propane tiger torch and gas water pump. It was a marvel it worked, and it worked well. Using just river water we had to change it after every use.

There was a fire pit in the middle of the donut hut. Guests talked about their day rafting while sitting around the fire. It seems the water rose and the waves got bigger with the retelling of the days adventures.

On one occasion the river rose overnight and flooded our campsite. It's nice to have a camp on the edge of the river but there is a risk that at any time the water might rise and flood you out. After the water receded we had to go hunting for the kitchen, pots, pans and the utensils which had gotten washed away. We found most of it downstream wrapped around the trees and left on the high ground. Being at the campsite would have been a frightening experience when that rushing water hit.

After a full day people went off to their teepee's for the night. The teepee's were not always dry and you had to share it with a few spiders and other bugs. People didn't expect to have to rough it that much.

The whole experience worked its magic on people and they had a good weekend. Over the years fewer and fewer people requested the overnight trips. People seemed to only have time for a day trip with maybe a motel stay if they got too tired out by the days activities. As the overnight trips became less popular the number of cell phones increased.  There is probably a correlation there.

Now, people appreciate the rafting Center in Sundre with its indoor change room and washrooms. Conveniently located in Sundre on Highway 22 there is no more of people getting lost driving in the backwoods on the gravel roads. No risks of flash floods or marauding bears.

It is nice to be able to offer a top notch service rather than making due at the old campsite with shacks, tarps, outhouses and tents.
Still, I miss it.

Donut Hut

Teepee's in the park

 

Rafting and Staying in Teepee's

Searching through some of the old photos I came across one from the first few years of Otter Rafting. This photo dates back to the early 1980's.

In the beginning we offered two day trips on the weekends. We had a campsite on the south side of the river where we could set up our teepee's for the weekend and make it a camping and rafting outing. There were many late nights around the campfire and then cooking breakfast on it in the morning. It was roughing it.

Access to the campground was by the Burnt Timber Gas Plant road. This road was nearly impossible to drive on once it was wet and bad at the best of times. We ran our trips on those back woods, gravel roads and they took there toll on the vehicles. Driving your car out to Mountain Aire Lodge was a real adventure - with all the hills, trucks and dust you could get a real surprise coming around any corner. It was an adventure to suddenly see wild horses, bears or moose ambling along as you crested a rise in the road.

The campsite was located at a half way point on the length of the section were there is whitewater on the Red Deer River. We would drive up toward Mountain Aire Lodge or farther west to start the whitewater trip. Here we would launch our day trip, rafting down to end at the campsite. It was nice to lay in the teepee and look out through the smoke flaps at the starlit Sky's at night. On the second day, after packing up, we launched our rafts from the campsite and continued on down the river to Coal Camp. This way we offered two different sections of the river on a two day trip.

Looking back at this photo I see that every summer has been a real adventure. Here it looks like everyone was in the sauna finally warming up.

World Water Day - Mar 22/2014

This year’s focus is on Water and Energy. “Particular attention will be paid to identifying best practices that can make a water- and energy-efficient 'Green Industry' a reality.” I am always concerned about losing wild rivers to become a source of energy; we do have to balance this need with sources of recreation, preserving nature and the basic needs for life.

Follow the link and find out about the uneven distribution of water around the world and the resulting energies around the world. http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday

The power of water should be considered for all, both for how it is used as the basic substance of life as well as “leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy.

Happy Earth Day

Every day should be Earth Day, not just one day a year.

Living and working in the outdoors provides the constant wonder of nature and the appreciation of the changing of it. It is interesting to watch the river slowly release the ice and begin to build in volume. The trees are always late in sprouting their leaves in the foothills, so traveling from the Rafting Center to the river is like changing a season in the early spring. It is always several weeks behind.

The leaves on the trees bud, the grasses green up along the rivers edge and slowly the river valley does a catch up. As you drive up to the raft launch site, it is like going back in time to an earlier stage of the arrival of spring. One week, you can see the wildflowers blooming at the rafting take out point and a week later they are blooming at the rafting put in point.

Over the years of taking people out onto the river and guiding a raft, there is one point on the river, an actual location, that a lot of people have commented on how beautiful the area is. It is so stunning that it over-rides the excitement of being on the river and temporarily makes you stop and just look around. Then as the river carries the raft further downstream, it’s back to paddling and the adventure of the next rapid continues.

Happy earth day is just like that – we take a breath , and look around at what we have.

Now to learn how to look and appreciate every day.

Wild Horses

This spring, while riding The Bus out to raft the river, we saw a lot of evidence on the road that wild horses were about. There were several stud piles on the road – some quite large - evidence that a herd was well established in that area. This is the way for the male to mark his territory. Back when we were doing our raft guide training, on our ride to the river in the shuttle bus, we saw several herds of wild horses. They were quite easy to spot against a fresh snow fall (now THAT was a cold day on the river in late May). There were several foals in amongst them as well as the agitated stallion.

The following day while we were on the shuttle bus, we trapped a herd along the road and hemmed in by a fence – well not for long anyway! The stallion very quickly drove the mares back the way they had come while he went through the fence making his get away. These are very powerful animals and determined when cornered.

Now, it is mid-June. With all the rain lately, as well as for this Father’s Day weekend, the river will offer a very exciting day of rafting. As a bonus, the sun will be out too. We still have space available for those last minute types!!

While others are Rafting

Driving the shuttle bus for Otter Rafting Adventures and preparing the lunches is not near as exciting and glamorous as being a raft guide. But it has its rewards too. I get to spend time out in the foothills and see so many different interesting things.

While driving we see lots of deer, sometimes too close to the vehicles. Usually they are ahead of the vehicle crossing the road or grazing in the ditches. These last few trips, I’ve see a doe and fawns – always makes me feel good.

Something very unusual I saw the other day was a very large owl. Compare it to the size of the fence post it is resting on. It is a Great Gray Owl. It is the largest owl often measuring 24 to 33 inches ( 60 to 83 cms). When it took off in flight it was immense. It is considered rare and often hunts by day – glad I got to see it.

Seeing The Wild Horses of Alberta

On a rafting trip a couple weeks ago we spotted some wild horses. Wild horses in this area are not unusual but to see two separate herds in one day was a surprise.

As we were riding the shuttle bus to the put in point for the rafts we spotted the herds of wild horses alongside the road. Each group was made up of a stallion, several mares and foals. It’s easy to pick out the stallion – he’s the one stamping his foot, throwing his head up and down with his ears back and directing the herd into the bush.

We saw some foals running for their mom’s protection or just snoozing in the grass until we came along.

We see a variety of wildlife in the Red Deer River valley. It spills over from Banff National Park which borders the valley on the west side and holds the source of the Red Deer River. With limited development and unpaved roads only the venturous head out into these hills for a back to nature experience, aside from the logging and oilfield related vehicles. We hope further development takes a long time in coming here.