Paddling on the Panther River

Panther River - The Panther is a tributary of the Red Deer River, and can be run as a beginner-level river when the Red Deer is too high. Generally run when the Red Deer is between 90 - 140 cms, at which point the Panther is roughly at 20 cms. It is a relatively narrow and low volume stream with many good eddies, and it is narrow enough to permit throw-bag and other rescue scenario practice. The Panther flows quite quickly, but only has one rapid of note. The S-bend comes about 1/3 of the way into the run at a trailer campsite which has boulders on the banks. The major danger on the Panther is wood. It would be wise to scout the full run for wood before paddling with beginners on the river.

Panther River - This is a fantastic packraft trip. I did it at what would be considered low flows for the Panther/Red Deer basin and it was awesome and pretty continuous. My friends who did this at higher flows (normal spring levels) said that things were washed out so I think this trip is actually better at low flows. Expect about half of the Red Deer gauge below the confluence to come from the Panther system. We saw bison, wolves and lots of other wildlife! Good luck. Start at the trailhead to the Cascade River fire road. Head up past CR6 and 15 and then head up the fire road heading north to the Panther Basin. Shortly after the Cascade Valley you can random camp with a Parks Permit. Make sure you're out of the range though. You'll pass through some beautiful lakes which would be worth bringing fishing equipment for if you had the time. The views from the fire road are better than expected! It took 1.5 days to walk to our putin, which is the ranger cabin next to Snow Creek, Wigmore Creek and the panther. There is a waterfall upstream you may want to go check out. I know folks who started upstream in the real headwaters but it was a fair bit of packing up and portages which may not be worth. The confluence of the two creeks and the Panther keeps the walk as short as possible and ensures you'll have water in the river. Going down at low flows will be great continuous grade 2 and 3 rapids with wood hazard. Keep your eyes out and be diligent. There's lots of great places to camp. The horse trail on the side of the Panther doesn't look great. I wouldn't want to be in a situation where I had to walk out on it! It's pretty continuous. I wouldn't want to do this trip without strong paddlers. Take out can be anywhere where the forestry road meets the Panther outside of the park but the blue bridge on the Red Deer might be the best option. I would combine this with going down the full Red Deer to Cartier Creek Campground to get more out of your shuttle time. This trip took 3 days but we like walking and paddling. If you want a more chill time you can easily make this a 5-6 day trip especially if you go down the classic hardboat Red Deer runs.