Brazeau Dam

[never2late]

Took my first dry run to the dam on the 16th and met some nice quadding folks who explained the area to me. Unfortunately I did not ask the most important question. How do you get down to the bottom where the outlet from the spillway is ? I saw a truck driving down there as viewed from the top of the dam. Also I saw a lot of signs at the top of the dam on the N and S ends that clearly says no quads etc. Thanks in advance if someone could enlighten me as how to get there.

 

[kbrunlees]

there is quite a number of ways. if you are at the dam, there is a road just before the dam that will take you down to the spillway. If you are at West Canal Campground there is a road that will take you down to the spillway trail as well. You can also get to it from the East Canal camping area. It is worth the trip to go from one end to the other, and for the most part family friendly as well. Just stay out of the grey mud or your friends and family will never hear from you again!! Ride safe or ride hard!

 

[never2late]

Hey thanks a lot. All I was finding was where ATV's could not go. I did not go down the road that goes to the West and East camping areas, first mistake. Are there staging areas there as well as I understand that you can't bike or quad from a campground ?

I think I may have seen that road just before the dam and even pulled in there. I did not investigate well enough because it looked like a very short cut line with remnants of campfires. However while I was taking pictures of the dam and spillway from the dam, I saw a half ton way down there and I remember seeing him pass me earlier. This is what triggered the original question as it did not seem to have taken him very long to get there. I do appreciate your response.

 

[kbrunlees]

The unwritten rule is you can from the west canal but if you go ripping through the campsite SRD will have your ass. There is also a number of free camping areas as per the remenants of campfires.

 

[Mad Outy Max]

I have random camped many times there and can help a bit u can camp just about anywhere along the canal road or just before u reach the dam hang a left and there is a nice staging area where many people camp and stage up there is a nice road down to the spillway there u can also take the powerhouse road (20km) south to the powerhouse and stage up and camp at the powerhouse


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[never2late]

I have random camped many times there and can help a bit u can camp just about anywhere along the canal road or just before u reach the dam hang a left and there is a nice staging area where many people camp and stage up there is a nice road down to the spillway there u can also take the powerhouse road (20km) south to the powerhouse and stage up and camp at the powerhouse


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Thanks very much, you definitely did help me out. I saw the power house road but did not even think about it. Also with your help I actually Google Mapped the dam and I believe that I spotted the area that you referred to as a staging area and seems to show some trails etc that could go down to the spillway. This area would be just shy of the dam when you come from the Lodgepole side. That is exactly where I want to go and I guess that must have been how that truck got down there so fast. I owe ya.

 

[never2late]

I do appreciate your response. The grey mud reference really has stuck in my mind.

 

[Mad Outy Max]

The grey mud in the river bottom is nasty stuff and cam be bottomless


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[never2late]

Update, I finally made it to the bottom of the spillway on my trusty Drz 400, thanks to good help from all. Just did a solo day trip and oddly enough met a young guy and his family down around one of those large ponds. He had a good truck to get there. Rode a short distance Easterly on what I would describe as a gravel road that was on the South side of the old river bed. Maybe this goes all the way to the generating station. Next time I will go a bit further. Next up is the West camping area and a trail that looks like it goes to the old river bed and then a trip down to the powerhouse. I really liked it there.

 

[kbrunlees]

Did you go down the canal road or the main road up top?

 

[never2late]

Hope I understand you correctly. I did not go down the road that leads to the West and East campground that runs along side of the canal. I did stage off of the main road (620). It is on the left just before the actual start of the earthen/rock dam when coming from Drayton way. There is a long clay/gravel section which leads through an open metal gate and a nice gravel road down to the old river bottom. Hope that makes sense and that I answered you properly.