July 18 - Whitewater Rafting: Kicking Horse River (BC)

Today, against my mother's better judgement, we went white water rafting! Dad and myself had gone before, which seemed like eons ago, but mom and Jennie never had the thrill of experiencing glacial-fed white water slapping them in the faces while frantically white-knuckle paddling with their hearts thumping in their throats. Surprisingly mom did not need a lot of convincing as she so elegantly told me on the phone before I arrived in Canada, "If God wanted me to die that day it will not matter if I am in a raft or not!" I love her logic - now I know that I can convince her to do anything!! :)

We chose to go with Glacier Raft Company - the longest running white water rafting company on the Kicking Horse.


This is a schematic of the route that we took. For the most part we navigated Class 2 and 3 rapids. The Lower Canyon was especially sweet as we had an 11 minute run over class 4 rapids. Those 11 minutes felt like 2!

This is out boat in the Upper Canyon. I am on the front left; Jennie is on the front right. Wearing the red helmet in the back is our guide Pat.

It looks like we survived! Now you can see mom behind me and Dad behind Jennie.

We stopped halfway for a steak BBQ on the river. Please note the sweet, sweet "Farmer John" wetsuits that we get to wear.

This is where the trip really got fun. Pat told us that the #1 rule about White Water rafting pictures is to look cool when they are being taken. I am now sitting at the back, doing my best to "look cool".

My sister sent me this comment when she saw the pics - "ha ha!those are great! david wins the "best poser in extreme conditions award."

Still lookin' cool...but where did everybody else go?!

Thumbs up all the way...sweet! (What happened to the main man sitting up front in the boat?..That does not look cool at all!)


We finished the day unscathed with an ice cold Kokanee beer and headed back to Calgary.

The best part of this day was sitting in the back of the boat watching Jennie's and my parent's reactions. Jennie had a big smile on her face the whole time, mom looked like she made a few "deposits" in her wet-suit, and dad's face when the cold water hit him head-on was priceless!

Good times!