Long weekend for sinking in Alberta?

[stevensenechal]

There are many wonderful spots very near Calgary, particularly in the Elbow Valley near Bragg Creek. If you extend your range to about two hours from the city you get to include the Badlands and Dinosuar Provincial Park not to mention Banff and Kananaskis parks. My footprints are everywhere, frozen now and perfectly preserved to mark my territory The Badlands would be sinkable right now though full neoprene armor would be a must and the Red Deer River frigid for cleanup. Since I prefer as least neck deep, you won't catch me in the icy slop right now so have at er.......

[Nessie]

I don't know how much experience you have regarding to deep sinking, but my personal advice would be: There are easier times to find out you are badly stuck in the middle of nowhere than in the mid of february.

That is why I am soooooo against boots (sorry, bootloving men!) in cold weather. Bare feet slip out of nearly everything like snakes shed skin. Boots, especially heavy boots with thick flat soles -- they get stuck in almost nothing! Footwear needs to be as light and thin as you can get away with. You need it to protect your waders, for sure, but you do not want to find that you simply can't get your foot out of that mud on the bottom...and whatever you wear, if the mud has really got a grip on it, you might have no choice but to let the mud keep it, let it slip off your foot, and crawl your whole body to safety.

And while I know some guys who wear them, I will not buy a pair of waders where the boots are built right in...I can't slip out of 'em in an emergency.

Nessie

[Nessie]

Instead of spending $150+ on new waders to go on the trip this weekend I think I'll be waiting until I can find some used ones then, or until it gets warmer.

Well, this is kind of funny...I just found this on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Remington-Nylon-Sto ... 1c10112fad

These are exactly the things I'm wearing in the poison sumac video on YouTube. You can see the Remington logo on them.

I remember this package. I bought them at a novelty store that sells odd surplus stuff that has nothing to do with hunting or fishing...and because they had some of these in a small size, I grabbed 'em. I've had them for a couple years now and no leaks! I shoulda got two, or three, while I was at it!

I distinctly remember, though, that the store I bought them from did not charge anywhere near this much. I can't remember for sure but I think it was under $10.

But if you're looking to not spend $150, this ain't bad. Wait a minute...it's got a bid history...well, I guess you got to bid!

Nessie

[jack c]

Nessie - smart approach with the right gear. Have you ever gone deep enough in chest waders to overflow the tops of those? That might be a difficult spot to overcome, that much water weight cascading inside the waders.

[bart1997]

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[lafin]

Any specifics on where I might be able to find these locations in spring so I don't need to keep on driving out to BC or way up north?

There are many wonderful spots very near Calgary, particularly in the Elbow Valley near Bragg Creek. If you extend your range to about two hours from the city you get to include the Badlands and Dinosuar Provincial Park not to mention Banff and Kananaskis parks. My footprints are everywhere, frozen now and perfectly preserved to mark my territory The Badlands would be sinkable right now though full neoprene armor would be a must and the Red Deer River frigid for cleanup. Since I prefer as least neck deep, you won't catch me in the icy slop right now so have at er.......

[Billie Bonce]

This (fictional) Youtube video shows, how my favorite places look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-76yKdWpOE

This is the best bog I've seen in movies.

[Nessie]

Nessie - smart approach with the right gear. Have you ever gone deep enough in chest waders to overflow the tops of those? That might be a difficult spot to overcome, that much water weight cascading inside the waders.

Not yet. And I don't plan to!

Fortunately, in good mud without water on top, the buoyancy point for me seems to be below that point anyway. But what you can't get out of the bog, leave there. Just slide out of them and get to your car as fast as you can, and turn the heat up!

(By the way, it's a good idea to consider this before you're actually in the mud. Oh, yeah, I don't have booted waders so -- how hard is it to pull your feet out of those in half a second?)

A true environmentalist would retrieve them later since they don't belong in Nature but at the time you're in trouble, I don't care if they were the $150 kind. They ain't worth your life.

I also hightly doubt that their presence in the mud constitutes a death sentence for the entire pond.

You might wanna try to go back later, though, anyway. Sometime. If humans find them, they might wonder where the body is.

Nessie