Gardiner Dam to Outlook on the South Saskatchewan River makes an excellent day trip, for even the novice paddler. 

 Everything about the trip is pretty straightforward:

• We left from the east bank of the end of the Gardiner spillway. The water was calm and the beach accessible. 

• Access to the beach comes from a road just past the spillway on the east side. You head past the power station and end at the very end of the spillway. There’s a trail going back but you can also turnaround (including with a trailer, like we did), and head back on the gravel. 

• We did our trip in early May. The Alberta melt waters don’t come in until late June, so the river was quite low—a condition exacerbated by drought in the area.

• You can find the daily outflow data from the Sask Water Security Agency here.

•  While we never had to get out and portage, we did run aground in numerous spots. It was necessary to stay on a constant lookout for the deep channel (usually around 1-2.5m). This task was made easier by the calm conditions, allowing you to generally spot the faster (and thus deeper) water. 

• The result, as shown by our GPS tracks below, mean we rarely travelled in a straight line, meandering every now and then to avoid the low water. 

• Neoprene paddling gloves will save your paddle head (and keep your hands from freezing) as you work to get yourself unstuck.

• There are plenty of islands and sandbars, so you’ll never find yourself short a place to spot. I recommend bringing camp chairs, though. They’re a bit of comfort a kayak easily affords, and they’ll help keep the sand of you (and out of your boat).

• The route is covered in the ‘South Saskatchewan River - 4’ topo map, which I got from GoTrekkers. 

• The Meewasin Valley authority has come up with an incredible guide to the trip (all the way past Saskatoon, in fact). A great—and often fascinating—read. 

• It’s always a great sight when the Outlook train bridge rolls into view. (Maybe some day we’ll be able to go on it again…)

• I’ve uploaded this trip onto the GoPaddling app. 

• I encourage anyone interested to take advantage. There’s nothing like being on the water in your own backyard.