If I fell in the Bow River now...

[JonDuke]

Let's play hypothetically for a bit...

No life jacket, and I fall into the Bow River. Possibly unconscious and drowned.

Where would/could I possibly end up? I followed it on Google maps for a bit to and it seems to end at Diefenbaker Lake, which is an 8 hour drive from here, but the river splits a few times before then.
Does anyone know if there are weirs(sic?) or anything that would stop my body from floating all the way there?

I don't know much about the river south of the zoo, so I am wondering if anyone can help. If I were suspected to have fallen in the Bow, where would be the best place to look for my body?

[1stLand]

Are you planning on committing a crime / committing suicide?

[ComixZone]

I am unsure.

[troutman]

You would not float far, and should sink to the bottom quickly.

The Bow River is part of the drainage that flows eventually into Hudson Bay.

[Ozy_Flame]

The wier is more safe now, IIRC, but you still have to be able to swim.

If you're planning to pass out and go unconscious on the Bow, please wear a life jacket.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by 1stLand

Are you planning on committing a crime / committing suicide?

It's not about him. Unfortunately it may be about a missing person.

[Derek Sutton]

Carseland Weir, Bassano Dam, I doubt you would make it beyond those two.

[JonDuke]

Originally Posted by Joborule

It's not about him. Unfortunately it may be about a missing person.

Bingo.
I'm not planning on jumping in or throwing anyone in. Just trying to help with a search this Saturday. Ground searches have proven fruitless thus far, so we are turning more focus to the water.

They want to start at Pearce Estate park and head toward 22x. I'm just wondering what the chances are that, if the body was in the water, it has gone farther than 22x

[GGG]

You would probably sink until your body became bloated and floated to the surface. i would bet you would wash up on a bank somewhere or get tangled in trees before making it all the way down the river to either of the dams.

[JonDuke]

Originally Posted by GGG

You would probably sink until your body became bloated and floated to the surface. i would bet you would wash up on a bank somewhere or get tangled in trees before making it all the way down the river to either of the dams.

Even with the current flow rate?

[GP_Matt]

Once the air is pushed out don't most people sink?

Although, I would assume that even on the bottom a body would still continue to run down the river, but not at the same speed as something that floats.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by GGG

You would probably sink until your body became bloated and floated to the surface.

I don't think that lasts too long though because the body will pop or the gas will seep out and the body sinks again. My uncle was in the SAS and he did some disaster relief in Laos I think it was and he job was to wade through the still waters and 'pop' the floating bodies with a pointy stick so they'd go back under. He mentioned then that where there was a current they'd 'pop on their own' - Cool Story Bro

[ranchlandsselling]

Ugh, I wondered about this potential when a thread popped up about a missing individual and where there were last approx.

I don't recall that young girl back in the 04, 05, 06? Floods ever being found? She was walking home on a Sunday morning for a sleepover and presumed lost in the river.

Additionally I thought they didn't find all of those rafter from Quebec that went over the weir a few years back.

Could be wrong on both accounts.

Hopefully this conversation proves moot and the individual is found.

[Coys1882]

Another anecdote. A friend of does a lot of scuba diving along the bow and he said just before the weir is a sinkhole that's about 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Inside it are shopping carts, furniture and tons of other debris. I guess there are lots of these things that bodies could fall into all along the river bed. Pair that with fallen trees and other junk littering the river bed and a body could be snagged anywhere.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

There's a weird little eddy next to one of the holes on the Inglewood golf course that's next to the Bow River. Bodies seem to always end up caught in this eddy and are found by Five-O here.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

There's a weird little eddy next to one of the holes on the Inglewood golf course that's next to the Bow River. Bodies seem to always end up caught in this eddy and are found by Five-O here.

I used to go down there all the time as a kid to scare myself by watching the whirlpools.

[Angelamc]

Pose your question on a fishing site, like flyfishcalgary.com. There are the guides who know the river and its flow better than most and come across bodies more often than they would like.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Another anecdote. A friend of does a lot of scuba diving along the bow and he said just before the weir is a sinkhole that's about 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Inside it are shopping carts.

I better go get those shopping carts

[carom]

I kayaked down the bow a few times last year from bowness to 22x. Basically anywhere where the river turns is a good place for something to get stuck along the end of a cutback. I would also look where there is no easy walking access to the bank. First places that come to mind are the east bank along montgomery, possibly the west bank across from shouldice (this area is pretty exposed), possibly the south bank down from wildwood (again fairly exposed), either side of the river (especially the east bank) in inglewood after the weir, the west bank at diamond cove after the deerfoot bridge, around mackenzie meadows (pretty exposed). After this the river narrows and picks up speed. I have never been much farther than 22x and i think after a few kms it starts to slow again.

Hope this helps.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

I don't recall that young girl back in the 04, 05, 06? Floods ever being found? She was walking home on a Sunday morning for a sleepover and presumed lost in the river.

That was 05, and she fell in the river near Bowness and was found near the Inglewood bird sanctuary. Sad story, still feel bad for her boyfriend. She didn't want to be caught out late with him, and the family blamed him for it all.