Maligne Lake. 3-5 days. FW. Jasper Nat Park, Alberta.

Maligne Lake

Maligne Lake is a stunning lake in Jasper National Park, a few miles outside of the town of Jasper.  It is a popular 3-4 day trip to the end of the lake.  We took 3, but I wish we'd had 4 to spend the night at the end of the lake and finish the trail up to the glacial basin.  The pictures say it all for this lake.

Full blog with pictures: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/malignelakealberta

Logistics:

Reservations:  You need them unless you luck out and someone cancels.  Call Jasper National Park.   You pay a nightly fee while in the park.  It's not cheap.

Canoes: We brought our own canoe, but you can rent them on Maligne Lake. http://www.malignelake.com/act_canoe.html

Maps: You can buy maps in Jasper.  I used this one the Jasper & Maligne Lake map by Gem Trek which I got at a bookstore in Jasper: http://www.gemtrek.com/jaspermalignemap.html

Camps:  There are established camps.  They are in great shape and a ranger patrols the lake.

Dogs:  Not sure if they are allowed.  We saw dogs in boats.

Bears:  This is Jasper National Park.  There are bears.

Safety:  The water is very, very cold.  You don't want to flip while crossing the lake.  The lake is big and is prone to strong winds.  We were pinned for 3 hours waiting for it to die down.

Solitude:  Not so much, and there are a gazillion tour boats going by during the day.  But it is really beautiful.

Murtle Lake. 3-7 days. FW. Lower BC

Murtle Lake, BC

Full blog with pictures here: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/murtlelake
 

A beautiful non-motorized lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park.  We did a 4 day circumnavigation (95km) in August 2010.  This is the destination that I send my Seattle friends to when they want a guaranteed great lake canoe trip.  Easy access from Seattle, easy logistics, beautiful camping and swimming, no motor boats, lake big enough that multi-day trips are good and great scenery.

This lake is known for its stunning scenery but when we did it smoke was blowing in from forest fires up near Prince George.  We couldn't see a thing.  The "fog" in the pictures is smoke not fog.  Thus you will not see mountains in our pictures, but they are there!

Logistics
Canoe rental Blue River Campground (http://www.bluerivercampground.ca/) rents canoes and a whole camping package.  They have lots of info and are very helpful.  It's a good place to camp on the way in too (showers, wifi, books, supplies, local info).

Camping There are established camp sites along the way on a first-come basis.  The ones farther out are less used.  Camps have fire rings, bear bins and tables.  Many of the camps are on beaches and are quite idyllic.

Maps  The one you can print off from the Blue River Campground website (with marked campsites) is fine.

Fees $5 per night per adult.  There's a pay box at the end of the 2.5 portage.  Bring cash.

Dogs Not allowed.

Bears  Wells Gray is famous for its healthy black bear population.  We did not see fresh tracks, but folks had seen a bear in some camps on the North arm.

Fishing  We don't fish, but folks told us that Murtle Lake is well-known for good fishing.  "Everyone does well at Murtle Lake." was what we were told.

Kenai Wildlife Reserve Canoe Route. 7 days. FW. Portaging. Kenai, Alaska.

Kenai Wildlife Reserve Canoe Route

Full blog with pictures here: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/kenaiwildlifereserve
 

This is a 5-7 day canoe route south of Anchorage, AK on the Kenai peninsula. This was one of our most memorable trips. It was a real adventure. It is not one I will repeat, yet I am so glad we did it. It makes a big figure 8 through a series of small lakes (almost ponds) in a large marshy and muskog area. It has the most amazing beavers, lots of moose, and lots of bear (probably grizzly). However we didn't see any moose or bear because we were traveling with 5 kids, and it is almost impossible to see wildlife with kids because they chatter non-stop.   Note there are no views to speak of unless you get to Wonder Lake.

We did the outer loop of the figure 8, which took us into a rarely visited area.  This was our route (double click on the map to the right to zoom into it): Dog-Lure-Pot-Lonely-Kuviak-Junco-Lost-Red Squirrel-Woods-Gene-Eider-Olsjold-Wonder-Nutchatch-Lierum-Lynx-Pepper-Gene-Swanson-Campers-Berry-Redpole-Kuviak-Lonely-Pot-Lure-Dog.  Yes, 25 portages.  This is a route where you pack your stuff in a backpack because you are getting in and out a lot!

Logistics
Getting there  We flew into Anchorage and then arranged a shuttle down to Sterling, AK.  But renting a car would have been better since it was kind of tough being stuck on the Kenai without transportation.  After the trip, we went to Homer on the bus, which runs once or twice a day.

Canoe rentals
Alaska Canoe & Campground
35292 Sterling Highway
Sterling, Alaska 99672
907-262-2331

Weigner's Backcountry Guiding
P.O. Box 709
Sterling, Alaska 99672
907-262-7840

Bears Tons.  No bins.  You need to hang.  We had no encounters but saw lots of fresh sign everywhere.

Map and guide book  There is a guide book and you can download maps from the internet.  Go here http://www.northlite.biz/Canoe/

Camps There weren't really established camps on the route but there were informal ones.  We had small tents and were happy for that since we had to fit into tiny spots sometimes.

Wildlife Beavers, beavers and more beavers.  Wolf, coyote, bear, moose and river otters.  Loads of bird life.  Lots of fish.

Dogs Not sure but it is a wildlife refuge and it has a lot of grizzly bears.  Might not be the best place for fido.

Other stuff to do  The Kenai is an outdoor lovers playground.  Definitely check out Homer.  We stayed at the funky hostel in town.  Then we took a water taxi and did a 5-day hike in the Kachemak Bay State Park.  We got dropped off at Glacier Spit, hiked to Humpy Creek then to Emerald Lake then down to the Saddle trail pick-up.  Map http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/kbay/kbytrsmp.htm  This trip wouldn't take adults 5-days.  We were hiking with a 3-yr old (4 little kids; 2 adults) and could only go 5 miles max a day; I don't recommend doing this with a 3-yr old unless you enjoy hiking with a heavy pack at a 1/2 mile an hour pace.

Desolation Sound. 3-14 days. Sea kayak. Lower BC.

Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park (sea kayaking)

Full blog with pictures here: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/desolationsound
 

Desolation Sound is a large and famous marine provincial park on the north end of the Sunshine Coast (north of Powell River, B.C.). The area is famous for its warm water and incredible sea life. The north end of the Sunshine Coast is a magical place. There is so much to do.

Our first trip was a 4-day trip into the Desolation Sound Marine Park and over to Roscoe Bay for a night.  We started in Okeover Inlet, paddled up Lancelot Inlet and camped (outside the marine park).  Next day we paddled to West Curme Island and camped.  Day 3 we paddled to Roscoe Bay.  There's a hike to a nice lake there for swimming.  Last day we paddled all the way out.  This is just one small sampling of the sea-kayaking possibilities. There are lots of nice day trips out of Lund also.  For example, paddling to Savary Island and/or the Copeland Islands.

Difficulty: If you stay in Okeover Inlet, the area is well-protected and is a good place for novices and families.  Watch the tides since there are strong currents that can really slow you down if you have to fight them.  If you leave the inlet, then you can face winds but you'll still generally have protected waters following the coast towards Prideaux Haven.  The crossing to Roscoe Bay is prone to chop and waves and you should be fairly comfortable in a kayak before heading there.

Kayaks and gear: We rented kayaks: a double (K and 7 yr old) and a triple (2 adults + 3 yr old in the middle hatch) from Powell River Sea Kayaking on Okeover Inlet.  There are lots of rental places in Desolation Sound; just search the web. 

Maps: If you just going to the Desolation Sound Marine Park, then the maps that the rental company gives you should be sufficient.  If you want a detailed marine chart ($20), you can get those in Powell River at Marine Traders by the ferry terminal.   Breakwater Books in Powell River (Alberni & Marine) has guide books.

Camping: BC Parks has recently instituted a 'designated camping' policy in Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park (read about it here http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/desolation/).  That means you are only allowed to camp in the designated camps.  Currently (2013) there are 2 developed camps for kayakers in Okeover Inlet, and 5 outside in the NE part of the park and 2 in the NW part of the park. The camps have tent pads and privies.  Not all camps have water.  You need to take something to carry water and fill up where you can.

Animals:  No bear problems that we heard of and the outfitters said they stored food in the kayaks, which they wouldn't do if there were many black bears about.  There is a wolf pack living on Cortes Island and one in the Lancelot Inlet area.  There haven't been problems for people, but they do attack dogs.  So be careful if you bring Fido and keep it on leash during the day and in your tent at night.  During our 2013 circumnavigation of W Redonda to the north, we spent one night near the opening to Lancelot Inlet and we had our dog with us.  The wolves visited us during the night---presumably after our dog.  We all had a tense hour from 2-3am while the wolves howled outside our tent and we crouched inside with paddles ready for a fight.

Clearwater-Azure Lakes. 3-5 days. FW. Lower BC.

Clearwater-Azure Lakes

This trip is in Wells Gray Prov. Park which is in British Columbia just west of Jasper Provincial Park. The trip to the Azure Lake and Rainbow Falls takes you 20km up Clearwater Lake, up the Clearwater River and into the less visited and beautiful Azure Lake. Azure Lake is in the Cariboo Mountains while Clearwater is more in the foothills. The mountains rise dramatically out of Azure and many waterfalls drop right into the lake. It reminded us of Isaac Lake on the Bowron Loop. The Rainbow Falls are at the far east end of Azure Lake and the camp has a wonderful white sand beach. This would be a nice place to spend an extra day if you have time.

This is a beautiful trip, but be aware that Clearwater Lake is quite popular and has powerboat traffic. So Clearwater Lake does not feel isolated at all. However Clearwater has many many sandy beaches, so it is a nice place for the kids. Azure Lake feels much more remote and has much less traffic since it takes 2 days paddling to get there. Unfortunately, it does get regular boat traffic from the day trips that Clearwater Lake Tours does to Rainbow Falls. However, the most regular boat traffic (3-4 times a day) were the park rangers. That was a bit much and did not help the ambiance. That said, it was a fun trip and is a good non-wilderness trip for someone just getting into canoe-tripping.

Logistics:
Rent canoes lake side from Clearwater Lake Tours (CLT)
In 2009, canoe rental was $200 for a week + $1/person/day CLT fee
Park fee was $5/adult/night (Make sure to take your receipt because the rangers will come by on the water and check.)

Maps:
No need for detailed maps for this trip. You can use the one on the BC Parks website or if you rent from CLT, they will give you a map.

Camp info:
The camps are very nice with sandy beaches, tables, fire rings, bear bins, and privies. The camps are well marked with red square markers.
Diver's Bluff -- nice swimming, tent spots in woods close together, lots of day traffic from boaters. There is a long trail that leaves the camp and goes up to a viewpoint.  Here's our notes on camps from our trip:
Bay View -- nice beach with camping on either side of point (so can be secluded even with another party)
Huckleberry Beach -- nice beach, seems popular so is probably nice
Ivor's -- canoe only, small beach, has creek to explore
Archer Creek -- smaller beach, nice tent spots up in woods but all spots fairly close togther (no seclusion)
Barella Creek -- would be mosquito haven if bugs are out, nice beach, tents spots in woods are a bit muggy
Indian Point -- didn't see it
Four and a Half Mile -- nice beach, morning sun, had parties every day we passed it so might be popular
Osprey -- canoe only, small beach, 3 tent spots, dark in the morning but it's a nice secluded spot
Rainbow Falls -- beautiful! huge beach, many spots, lots of opportunities for seclusion, shelter (old cabin). The falls are a 5min walk from camp.

Clearwater River:
We did our trip in late August when the river was quite low. With the help of my 11-yr old in the bow, I was able to paddle upriver without working too hard but I did get tired. We paddled up until we could sneak by on the left and then crossed the river back right above the portage and dropped back down to the portage. We didn't know it at the time, but it would have been easy to continue up river and avoid the portage. The boats stay in the main channel on the left, but there is a small channel on the right that we could have used. There might have been a little lining of the boats, but I think it would have been easier than the portage -- at least when we were there. At higher, faster water, this might not be the case. But you might want to walk along the bank up river before committing to the portage. On the way back, we dropped the kids at the portage and Karel and I paddled the canoes with me in the bow and Karel in the stern. In retrospect, we could have gone down the river just fine with the kids. The current wasn't too strong and the snags were cleared. Obviously conditions change year to year and week to week, but I would suggest taking some time to scout up river before doing the portage. Even if you do the portage on the way up, you'll know what the river is like in case you want to paddle it on the way out (as we did). Note that in addition to it being low (and slow) water during our trip, there were very few boats on the river. If there is a lot of boat traffic, the river might be dangerous for canoes to go down.

Portage:
The portage is short (1/2 km) but is not suitable for canoe carts due to the steps along the trail (see photos).

Bears:
Wells Gray is known for its healthy black bear population, however we saw no sign of bear (scat or tracks) during our trip. The park provides bear bins at all the camps.

Dogs:
Dogs are allowed though BC Parks discourages them.  We had our dog with us but we kept her leashed as she is an avid hunter.

My thoughts:
This is a good first-timers canoe trip.  The logistics are easy, the portage short and the river short.  You can easily make the trip shorter or longer.  However, this is not a "wilderness" trip.  There is quite a lot of boat traffic, even on Azure.  Best to go in the shoulder season (September) to avoid the crowds if you can.

Broken Islands, NW Vancouver Island, sea-kayaking, 3-8 days, beginner-intermediate

Broken Islands (sea kayak)

The Broken Group Islands off the west coast of Vancouver Island are a very popular sea-kayaking destination because of the sheltered paddling opportunities, phenomenal scenery, and wildlife viewing opportunities. There are many possible trips. We took a boat out to Dodd Island to start a 5-day trip:  Dodd-Turret-Clarke-Effingham-Gibralter.

For info, just do some google searches.  It is very popular and a number of places rent kayaks and do shuttles to the islands.  Some people paddle in, but we had small kids with us and didn't want to do big crossings with them.   Note, the Broken Group can get excessively busy because it is incredibly beautiful and it's full of charismatic animals.  We saw humback whales, Steller sea lions, sea otters, and incredible invertebrate sea life.  And the camps are gorgeous.  And it's a group of islands so the waters are protected and it's a good place for novice sea kayakers and families.  So if you are looking for solitude, you will have to time your visit for the off-season (note the weather will probably be bad in the off-season).

Bowron Lakes. 5-8 days. FW + Class I river. Portaging. Central BC.

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit

We made this trip in late August, 23-30. It is a 116km circuit to the west of Jasper National Park in British Columbia. The circuit is world-famous among canoers. The circuit is generally done in 5-8 days, and we took 8. It features mostly lake paddling with a few easy portages between lakes; however, it does have one river section on the Cariboo River. It has one class II rapid, but that can be portaged around (in fact you have to go out of your way to run the rapid). This is classified as a wilderness route, but I would put wilderness in quotes. Unless you go in late-fall or early-spring, you will see people every day. All the campsites are designated and are developed with fire rings, tent platforms and pit toilets. Some sites have cooking structures and on each big lake there is at least one public cabin for drying out and such.

In a nutshell: Very beautiful and classic canoe route. Don't expect solitude in high season (June-August).

Getting there:
It is a 10 hr drive from Seattle to Quesnel (south of Prince George). From Quesnel, it is another 2 hrs east to the Bowron Lakes Provencial Park.

Canoe rental:
There are a couple big lodges that do most of the rentals. They have good canoes and canoe carts (wheels). The two lodges are Becker Lodge and Bowron Lake Lodge. We rented with Bowron Lake Lodge. The canoes from this lodge were fine but their wheels were very heavy (like 25+ lbs) -- albeit indestructable. Next time, I'd try Becker Lodge which has lighter wheels and the same types of canoes. If you canoe much at all, I strongly suggest buying your own good paddle. Rental paddles are always heavy and not very nice. My light wooden bent-shaft paddle was highly coveted by all paddlers in my boat.

Reservations:
If your are a group of 6 or fewer, you can try the drop-in spots. Each day, there are 4 spots for drop-ins. These are lottery distributed, I think. Otherwise, you can get a reservation and if you are a group of 7+, you must have a reservation. Search for Bowron Lakes online and you'll quickly find the reservation info. It is very easy to do over the phone. You need to get reservations well in advance. I made reservations in March and there was only 1 group spot available in the 2-week window we had for doing the trip. Being a group had its pluses and minuses. The minus was that we were assigned a schedule (7 nights) and were required to stay at our designated group site each night. The pluses were that a) we had a big reserved site all to ourselves and didn't have to compete for sites, b) we were forced to slow down a bit and take 8 days instead of 6 that we might have otherwise, c) the groups sites were generally away from others and quite nicely situated.

Maps and books:
No need for detailed maps for this trip. You can use the one given to you when you make your reservations. There is a good guide book for the route: THE BOWRON LAKES A Guide to Paddling British Columbia's Wilderness Canoe Circuit  Link to website for guide book
Camps:
Get the guide book. It describes all the camps. Also in our photo album you'll see pictures of some of the camps.

What skill level is required:
Although most of the paddling is lakes, you need some decent paddling skills and a healthy dose of common sense. 1) Flipping in many of the lakes would be bad since they are cold (like the temp of the ocean here in WA). 2) You must paddle the Cariboo River. The river has a handful of class 1+ spots although it is mostly gentle. Although the river is not hard, it is wicked cold (MUCH colder than the ocean in WA) and there are snags all over and a few tight bends to negotiate. Flipping would be bad news -- however that said, the river is not wide and you would quickly make it to shore but sans gear and hypothermic. This route sees a lot of beginners and we saw 2 recent flips; 1 was from the night before and we helped collect their gear. There is a radio at the end of the river and a ranger boat that does rescues. We saw both boat and helicopter rescues during our week on the circuit.

Weather and bugs:
This route gets a lot of rain and wind. Every trip report I saw described paddling in the rain with wind. However, we really lucked out as we often had glassy water even in the afternoon. But normally the wind kicks up every day at around 2-3pm, so if you can manage to get an early start, you will avoid most of the choppy water. It rained about every day on our trip, but we rarely paddled in the rain and had plenty of blue sky. This area is known for bugs, but by late-August when we did the route, they were all gone and we rarely saw mosquitoes. If you come earlier in the summer, be prepared.

Portage:
There are lots of portages, but they are all maintained for canoe carts.

Bears:
BC Parks is rather paranoid about bears in this area, so I suspect that they do have some (black) bear problems. We saw no bears but other parties did see some. We saw tracks near one camp which was on a creek. All camps have bear bins.

Dogs:
Not allowed.

My thoughts:
Bowron Lakes is a "must-do" trip because of its stunning setting, variety, and circular loop.  However it is not a trip that I will repeat unless I'm taking friends from overseas (who I want to make sure have "wow" experience) or am going in the shoulder season (September).  For me, there were just too many people, too much regulation (needed due to too many people), and too many rangers.  Even when there was no one around, it was clear from the campsites that this area gets a lot of use.  The camps were in great shape, but just clearly lots of people go through them.  I prefer trips where we are more "out there", where the portages are rough, the camps rough, and no cabins or fire grates.  However, those precise features of the Bowron are what attract others and don't get me wrong, the trip is stunning, really stunning.

Athabasca River. 4 days. Class I+. Alberta

Athabasca River, Berland Bridge to Whitecourt (Class I+)

Go here to the main blog: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/athabascariver

In late August 2010, we did the 100km Berland Bridge to Whitecourt section of the Athabasca River.  This section has one optional Class I+ rapid (you actually have to go out of your way to run it) and a number of riffles.  The current is quite strong, especially in the first 30km after that the current mellows out.  The river was still quite cold but not frigid like it was near Jasper.  We did it in three fairly leisurely days. 

During our trip, the river level was less than 300 m3/s (Windfall station) and all the log jams (piles of logs) were stranded up on land.  This was nice because there are log jams at the head of every island and there are about 2 islands per kilometer on this section.  So there are log jams everywhere.  There were some trees fallen by the side of the river, but at the water levels during our trip, you would have to be skilled to maneuver your canoe into them (like back ferry on purpose into them).

We did this section as a training run while working our way up river progression from easy moving water up to Novice moving water on stronger currents.  We wanted a section (and water level) where we could work on skills with current skills that help us improve but not challenge us too much.  Though we have a lot of flat water experience and my husband and I have whitewater experience, this was the first time my daughter (12) would be paddling in the bow on a river and the the first I would be paddling stern.   This section was perfect for our objectives.  We did a lot back ferrying, forward ferrying, turning the boats in the current, and some eddy turns (there weren't many opportunities for that).  We practiced our side-slipping in the riffles and then got a chance to practice that in the one Class I rapid, which was at such low water that all the boulders were exposed.  The water was cold enough that we didn't want to flip and never felt in danger of that.  Keep in mind that we have extensive flatwater and rough water experience though limited moving water experience with the paddling configuration used on this trip (my husband and I have WW up to IV experience but on this we had our kids paddling bow).

Overall comments.  Though we did not have the warmest weather, this was a great trip.  We just loved being on the river, the sound of it, the look, the bigness....  No views per se (unlike more upstream in Jasper), but the river itself was a great view.

Logistics
Canoe rental  We had our own canoes.  But if you need to rent, note that there is no place in Jasper and rental places in BC were not keen on us taking their canoes on a river.  Instead rent in Edmonton.  MEC and Totem Outfitters rent canoes for river trips.  Book well ahead as they do get full-up.  Edmonton Canoe (http://www.edmontoncanoe.com/) does canoe rental plus shuttling.

Shuttle We arranged for a car rental from National Car Rental in Whitecourt.  The rental office is just a 15 min walk from the take-out at Riverboat Park.  Cost was $100 (Aug 2010) + gas.  Round-trip was 3.5 hrs.

Put-in About 1.5 hrs from Whitecourt.  We put-in at the Berland bridge.  Drive 43 towards Fox Creek and take the 947 road (there's a sign and it's just past losegun Creek).  The 947 road takes you 27km to the power plant on pavement, after that it is 14km on dirt to the Y in the road.  Take the right at the Y, and it's 7km to the bridge.  There are no signs whatsoever, except an unhelpful one near the power plant that says "Edson".  After the power plant (which has a huge fire-spewing tower), you stay on the main road.  You'll just have to take your best guess on what's "main".  When you make the right at the Y in the road, you'll see signs warning that a weight-limited bridge is coming up.  When we did it, the road was bumpy but fine.  After a big rain, it could definitely be tough.  Also it is a working road and there's a lot of logging.  Stay alert and be ready to pull to the side.  I printed off the Canadian topo maps for the area and that was helpful, but we still flagged down a truck to make sure we were on the right track.  The roads shown on the Paddle Alberta map were not helpful---I was glad I had the topo map.  I wished I had printed off the satellite photos from Google maps.  That would have been the best.

Camping We camped the first night by our van at Berland bridge.  There is good camping there.  Our last night, we camped at the take-out at the Riverboat Assoc. Park.  There is a sign that says they lock it at 11pm, but locals told us that wasn't the case and that it was fine to stay.  There is an RV camp nearby (10min walk) but they don't allow tents.   On the river, we just camped on islands.  It was not easy to find suitable spots; we had to check out multiple islands.  There were bear prints everywhere but they seemed less on islands with fast currents on both sides.

Map The Paddle Alberta map is great and all you need.  Definitely get that.  You can order it online (http://www.paddlealberta.org/  search a bit on their site because the page to buy is a bit hard to find).  It takes a week or two to come by mail, so order early.  We picked up our copy from the Friends of Jasper store in the Visitor Center in Jasper.  The map shows log jams, but that info was not useful as there are 10x more jams than shown.  Just expect them at every island.  But at low water (<300 m3/s at Windfall), all jams were stranded during our trip.  Riffle and rapid (one) info was accurate as was the island info.

Bears We saw prints everywhere but had no encounters.  Our first camp we hung our food and the second camp was on a island without trees so we used our bear canister.

Water temperature  The water was cold, but not like near Jasper.  Near Jasper, the water is wicked cold (seriously).  On our section, it was cold but I felt manageable wearing 3mm wetsuits.  The kids and I wore shorty wetsuits.  My husband and our friend are less sensitive to cold water and did not.  We had no problem overheating wearing shorty wetsuits since the air temp was so cold during our trip. 

Difficulty These comment only apply to the 200-300 m3/s (Windfall) water level (low water) we experienced.  During our trip, Kuba and I could overpower the current in most places, though we avoided that since we were using this as a training run.  However, the river was definitely not a "moving lake".  The current moves at a good clip except after Windfall bridge where it really slows down.  We took all riffles where the waves were biggest (on purpose) and they were easy.  We were never faced with a curve where we need to back ferry into the inside of the curve (to avoid a sweeper), instead we tried to always head to the outside of the curve to find the section of faster and deepest water.  Landing in the current posed our biggest challenge (aka learning experience), except for the challenges we created for ourselves while practicing our ferries and turns in the current.