Wood and Whirlpool River linkup, Canadian Rockies Packrafting

The route linking together the Wood River in BC and the Whirlpool River in AB, crossing the continental divide twice, was pioneered by the local team of Ben and Luke a decade ago. They were extremely resilient in the face of difficult mishaps which illustrated the whitewater and navigational challenges on the Wood River, an objective perhaps not paddled since. In August 2024, our team spent a week on these two rivers accessed from the upper Athabasca River, running what we could at high water. We paddled the Wood River from Fortress Lake to Jeffrey Creek, and the Whirlpool from the Kane Glacier effluence to the road bridge.