This amazing and secluded little sand island is in the middle of the Athabasca River just past 12 mile bridge near Morro Peak. I have been there twice now and both trips were very different.
Trip #1 - August 2019
My boyfriend (Sam) and Finn (the dog) and I canoed from 12 mile bridge which is just before the bridge before Morro Peak / Slabs trailhead. This was only the third time Finn had been in a canoe so we wanted to make the journey as short as possible. It only took us one hour to get to the island. I didn’t know what to look for but Parks Canada have placed a large yellow tent sign at the southern end of the island. There was meant to be another tent that had already reserved a campground. We settled in and by 9pm when we still had the island to ourselves then we figured that the other group wasn’t turning up.
This was the first time that Sam, Finn and I shared my little 2 person MSR Hubba Hubba. It was extremely squished. Clearly 2 girls and 2 dogs fit better than the 3 of us.
The paddle out was very cruising and the most challenging bit is trying to find the small channels in Jasper Lake so that you can paddle in as far as you possible can towards the car. We left two cars at each trail head so we didn’t have to hitchhike to get back to the car.
Trip #2 - August 2020
I had just got back from an 8 day hike and I had royally screwed my feet so I was no strict no walking orders. So a rafting trip down the athab was exactly what the doctor ordered. My friends has organised for two whole rafts to paddle from Old Fort Point to the island for a little island getaway.
Matthew is actually a raft guide so he was in charge of us for the 3 hour trip down the river. We made sure that he had plenty of refreshments and we picked up fire wood along the way. We had a second smaller raft that had another 3 friends in it. We were leap frogging each other the entire trip.
Three of us went swimming in the athab once we were there. The persoid meteor shower was on while we were there. We all laid on the beach and watched the shower, i felt like i kept on missing lots of stars though.
Viv made blueberry and choco pancakes. Also here's a tip don't use warm water to make the pancake batter.
The paddle out was very chill and Matt got us as close as humanly possible to the shore.
Two different trips, one a relaxed trip with my lil fam and the other a booze cruise friend fest.
For any reservations in Jasper National Park head to the reservations system to check for availability.