Spionkop

Mikkel on Lundbreck Falls, Alberta

A couple of weekends ago I made a trip down into the Southern part of Alberta to explore a few runs I had never done before, South Drywood and Spionkop.  This winter's massive snowpack had everything running really high so the plan was made to hit a few small volume creeks that are only runnable at medium to high flows. Just north of Waterton National Park lie three little creeks that flow from the rugged mountains of the Rockies directly out into the plains of Alberta, the North and South Drywoods and Spionkop.  I had low expectations of these runs as I'd heard they were low volume, had only a few rapids, and included a 5km hike to reach their put ins.

None of our group had ran Spionkop so we decided to start there.  Fortunately the gate was unlocked so we could drive to the put in and avoid the hike, a great start to the weekend.  The run starts directly below the snow-capped peaks that feed the creek and is so high up in the alpine that there's little wood to worry about, a welcome change from many of the creeks out here.  The run was littered with quality 4 - 18 foot ledges and a couple of very cool tight canyons.  This run far exceeded my expectations and I would recommend the run to anyone.

Sunday our gate luck ran out.  Luckily one the guys had brought a back up plan and we each found ourselves riding a minibike up the South Drywood Road balanced on a boat.  This turned out to be the highlight of the day as South Drywood held only a couple of drops and we decided to pass on the best of them,  Epipen due to too high water.  We were running out of time for North Drywwod so instead we opted for a quick huck session on the roadside Lundbreck Falls.  The high water made this particularly fun.  All in all, a great weekend of boating and camping with the boys.

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