{"id":21751,"date":"2019-11-22T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T01:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=21751"},"modified":"2020-11-03T12:32:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T20:32:09","slug":"debating-a-first-descent-on-the-oldman-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/11\/22\/debating-a-first-descent-on-the-oldman-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Debating a First Descent on the Oldman River"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we approached a clearing at the top of another rocky peak, we once again caught a glimpse at the boulder strewn, siphon-filled rapid we were portaging. We gave up on carrying our boats kilometers ago because the bush is far too thick to navigate with a boat on your shoulder. Instead, we dragged our loaded boats behind us, as swarms of black flies nibbled every inch of exposed skin. We had spent over an hour portaging this one rapid and we had no idea how many more of these un-runnable canyons laid ahead. Any sane person would be asking, \u201cWhat on earth are we doing here?<\/em>\u201d I had never been in a place so rugged and remote.<\/p>\n

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Whitewater paddlers are fueled by the idea of \u201cfirst descents.\u201d The motivation to be the first person to explore a remote whitewater river in a far-off place is what drove us to come all the way up to Northern Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

Like any self-proclaimed expedition paddler, we\u2019ve spent hours scanning satellite images, hoping to find \u201cgold\u201d in the form of waterfalls and canyons in a place where paddlers from previous generations never thought to look. The Oldman River is exactly that. Its deep canyons and steep drops can\u2014literally\u2014be seen from space. The river lies 130 kilometers from the nearest dirt road and 800 kilometers from the nearest pavement. With that alone, it seemed unlikely that anyone would have been there before us, so off we went.<\/p>\n