The Klondyke Ferry is north of where I live in Airdrie, Alberta. I travelled up to Genesee, Alberta where my friend lives to bunk at his place Friday night for the night, before heading off to the ferry on Saturday. Airdrie is just a little north of Calgary, Alberta.
This trip was originally planned to be travelled by motorcycle. It was raining in Calmar, Alberta where my cousin, her friend, and I had originally planned to travel from her place to the ferry. Calmar is barely west of Leduc, Alberta. A road trip is a road trip so we went with Plan B and took her vehicle. It stopped raining halfway there and it turned to slightly chilly weather and a clear blue sky.
The east approach to the ferry is four picturesque kilometres of good gravel road that could easily be driven over with a street bike. The west side of the crossing has thirteen kilometres of rough sand and gravel road that I would not recommend taking a street bike on. I was relieved that we took a vehicle.
This area is very rural. Nice scenery.
According to the sign a ferry has been operating here since 1932. The current ferry was built in 1983.
The ferry operator seemed a bit gruff at first. He agreed to take our photos when asked. When we crossed he suggested we park on the bank and ride back since someone showed up needing to cross. So we got to cross the river three times and definitely got more than our money's worth. All ferry crossings in Alberta are free so no issues there.
The crossing is about six minutes.
The ferry operator turned out to be a nice guy. He was likely tired of dealing with all of the people heading out camping for the long weekend. The other side of the river is a very popular spot for people with ATVs and dirt bikes.
I have no idea how deep the river is. I thought it might have been on a sign somewhere. The Klondyke Ferry is nowhere near the actual Klondike. Even the spelling is different.
View of the Athabasca River at the halfway point of the crossing. This makes five out of seven ferries that I have made it to in Alberta. I hope to get to the La Crete and Shaftesbury ferries later this year.
Looks like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteTwo more ferries to go and you got yourself a nice book to publish!
ReplyDeletethat's a cooler ferry than what I have to choose from.
ReplyDeletebut its across a much bigger river, tradeoff I guess.
but what could be better than combining motorcycle and boats?
Practically nothing.
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