Cheakamus River Splash
An early morning. Annabelle, Seb, and Ray were out the door at 8:05 a.m. But that's OK; they were both awake around 6:30 a.m.!! Hooray for jet-lag!!! They met Alanna and all four went on the Canadian Rafting Company's "Cheakamus River Splash." As I didn't go with them (I did a workout with my friend, attended to some volunteer business issues, showered, etc.) I will turn you over to Ray who will describe the event:
So white water rafting in Squamish. We rolled up early in the morning to register
and fill in all the forms for Canadian Outback Rafting. They were great in terms of explaining
everything that we will need to do to get ready for the ride. So, we don wet suits, booties, helmets and
full life jackets. Our guide who will
ride with us is from Switzerland and most of the other guides are from far away
places too, here to enjoy what Squamish and Whistler have to offer. To Seb's delight, the ride to the river was in a typically Canadian (and American) yellow school bus:
 |
| The Yellow School Bus |
 |
| Standing at the river just about to climb into our individual raft with our guide and set off (unfortunately Annabelle is blocked out of the picture) |
Our first river is the Cheakamus river which comes down from Daisy Lake near Whistler so the water is a little warmer around 8C hence the wet suits. The current is quite strong and we glide off down river heading to some of the rapids that we will shoot on our two hour trip.
There are some good photos of us in various stages of
running the rapids and holding on for dear life. Our guide indicated that the highest level we
will run is a stage 3 to 4 so not crazy.
It certainly was more than I anticipated as this was a Family Float as
they refer to it in their advertising and it was a lot of fun. The smiles on the faces of both Annabelle
& Seb tell their own story and Seb was even an assistant guide for a while
instructing us in the boat to “paddle forward, peasants”.
After running a number of rapids and passing under a few
bridges and viewing the wonderful Tantalus Mountains surrounding us we join
into the Squamish river. Our guide asks
us all to put our one hand in the water and as we hit the Squamish there is a
decided change in the temperature of the water down to 3C. He then says to us to look up river and we
can view the Pemberton Ice Fields which are about 60K away and he then tells us
that the water in the Squamish was ice only 16 hours prior to us white water
rafting on it as the flow into the Squamish is directly from the ice fields
with no lakes in between to allow the water to warm up. We have a short stop on the river bank to
have some ice tea (very sweet) Annabelle couldn’t drink it as too much sugar
and a power bar before heading out again to our final destination on the
Squamish river bank. We all help carry
the raft onto the land and Seb & Annabelle
carry the paddles. It was a great
ending to a fantastic adventure. I will
leave the story about what Seb did to Alanna until he gets home and can explain
it. Seb is going to have to watch over
his shoulder whenever Alanna is around as she is very patient and will
eventually get him back (only kidding).
It was well worth the effort for all of us and it was absolutely
beautiful to enjoy the rivers and see the spectacular mountain views.
Around 1:17 p.m. I received a text from Ray which asked: "Are you maybe going to join us at the Water Shed?" When I arrived there, all four were very excited about the trip, and said it had far exceeded their expectations! Hooray!!
After "stuffing" ourselves, (you didn't hear from me that Annabelle had "poutine", nor that Seb had "chicken nuggets,"....nor that I had "yam fries"....I admit my weakness!! Remember we said that "what happens in Squamish stays in Squamish?")
After the rafting and a late lunch, the kids chilled a bit, then took "Ruffie" our neighbours' dog, for about a 4k walk down the Commuter Trail along Loggers' Lane. I think he is a "BichonFrise," so you know how cute he is!! Both Annabelle and Seb loved him. Seb was so gentle with him, softly stroking his hands along the silk-soft hair on Ruffie's back. Sadly, I missed the photo op. but will try to get a picture to give you an idea of his cuddliness. We took the "inner" trail along Loggers Lane and unfortunately had to keep moving because of little mosquitos!! Seb and I were bitten, but I think Annabelle survived. This was a trail through the forest that lies between Highway 99 and Loggers' Lane; some beautiful trees, little streams, and good surface.
When we got back I started dinner and the kids did a combination of working in the gym, writing their journals, and watching a film. Then Alanna arrived and we all had a late dinner; put the film about Pele the Brazilian football player on hold, Alanna left, and the kids went off to bed. Followed shortly after by Ray and I.
Comments
Post a Comment