Wayward dock and boats found 300 km downstream from Edmonton

A dock spotted floating away down the North Saskatchewan River on Monday after massive rainfall over the weekend has been found.

The dock is owned by the Edmonton Rowing Club, which has a boathouse and boat launch in Buena Vista Park in the west end.

The entire dock, plus five metal boats chained to it, broke free from the shore on Monday when the river rose more than 1.5 metres and the streamflow doubled in speed from the day prior.

It was spotted floating downstream amid plenty of other debris pulled in from the shoreline, which is being monitored by Edmonton firefighters, before it left city limits — presumably to never be seen again.

That is, until a group of outdoorsmen filming a TV show came across it several hundred kilometres downstream.

Spruce Grove-based fishing guide Lunkers Fishing Adventures and the crew from the TV show Fishing the Wild West were out on the river on Tuesday when they came across the dock — still intact — with all of the boats still attached to it.

“It is believed they are over 300 river kilometers from home,” Fishing the Wild West said in a post about the discovery.

Most of the banged-up boats were full of silty water and the dock was a little worse for wear.

It appears the dock got stuck along the shoreline near Two Hills, which is about 120 road kilometres east of Edmonton.

A member of Lunkers Fishing Adventures then headed upstream and found several boats belonging to the Edmonton Dragon Boat Recreation Club.

Global News reached out to the Edmonton Rowing Club for more info. This story will be updated if a response is received.