Aluoette River: Canoeing, paddle boarding and a little swim

This weekend parks started to open up and we were itching to get out of town for a bit. However, with none of the local provincial parks opening up and the advice to still stay local, we settled for a new to us river within Metro Vancouver, the Alouette River. It turned out to not be a settle after all. 

We put in at the Harrison Road crossing. The parking lot was busy, but we still managed to get a spot, and it wasn't long before we were on the water. It was just after low tide, and we paddled up stream without much effort. We spend 3 hours exploring up one of the North arms. We were almost stopped by a log across the river, but Christian insisted on pulling it free. I was a little worried that it was going to capsize a boat down river from us, or get stuck downriver trapping us up river. Luckily neither of these things happened, and Christian declared his sense of adventure for-filled. I guess expectations are low these days. Eventually we were stopped by the combination of the river narrowing and the flow increasing, so we turned around. 

Planning the log removal

A little further down the river we deployed the paddle board. Christian and the the big girls took the paddle board, I took the back of the canoe and Miriam got the front and baby duty. It was a warm day, so the girls enjoyed sitting on the board with their feet in the water. N still insisted on wearing her leggings and a now water filled boots. Eventually F wanted to try out the board by herself and N denied to get back in the canoe, so we tied the board to the canoe and towed them for a bit. As predicted it wasn't long before N went in. I could reach her from the back of the canoe, so she wasn't in for long, but she was definitely surprised and upset. However, if you asked her an hour later about it, she would happily tell you that she went swimming in the river. 

We towed F the rest of the way back on the paddle board. She was having a blast. She was playing and yelling with joy... so much for the peaceful river experience. The paddle back took us another three hours. It was already passed dinner time, but I still decided to bike back. I got to do all the nice trails along the river and through Colony Farm before I got a flat tire and had to take the bus home. Luckily I brought my compass card, a mask and hand sanitizer just in case.

View from the Pitt River bridge