Newcastle Beach has become a popular place for locals and visitors, but last Thursday, it looked like a construction site on the west end of the boat launch.
In fact, it was the conclusion of a family adventure on the high seas– well, the Red Deer River.
The Smith family of Camrose spent three days on the river on a homemade raft, christened the G.O.A.T. boat (Greatest Of All Time). Julie Smith, the matriarch of the family, tells the Mail her husband Gary hatched the idea of putting together a raft.
“Gary got the idea of a river raft float from some friends of ours that had done it on a bit of a smaller scale,” she said, and the idea took shape. “All year Gary collected free lumber from Home Hardware and repurposed worn-out furniture from friends of ours and the city’s kick-it-to-the-curb weekends.”
The plastic barrels used as floats came from his brother, who scavenged them from his job, and this left Gary only needing to purchase a bit of hardware and plywood. He assembled the boat in the garage, and in the end, it was a double-decker raft equipped with tarpaulin walls to use at night as a sleeping area. It was outfitted with a table, camp stove, homemade flag, hammock and storage.
The boat was disassembled, trailered, reassembled and launched, untested, from Tolman Bridge on Tuesday, July 9. On board were Julie and Gary, as well as their daughters,
Paige, 16 and Shelby, 14. Their eldest Avery, 19, was unable to go on the the three-day cruise.
The family spent the days lazing onboard, swimming, fishing and enjoying the scenery.
“I’ve lived in Alberta my whole life and never been able to experience those views. It was breathtaking. Our daughter Shelby even celebrated her 14th birthday aboard the ship! We made good time, and the raft floated very smoothly. We enjoyed meeting other canoe groups as we passed each other on the river.”
At night, they would beach, make dinner, set up their walls and bed down. They enjoyed great weather for the trip, and landed on Newcastle Beach on Thursday afternoon.
“It was a perfect place to dock and celebrate our successful trip. We worked as a family to disassemble the craft and load it back into the trailer. We were met with lots of friendly people on the beach as we worked. After all our hard work, we stopped for some McDonald’s and then drove home,” said Julie. “We really appreciated Drumheller for being a great end point to our adventurous journey. It was a great time to spend bonding with our family, away from technology and the busy lives we have the rest of the year. We hope to go again next year!
