Guest Blog: Up a River Without a Paddle

Eight people cling to a thin blue rope – the only thing keeping them from being swept away from the boat and each other – as they are tossed through whirlpools and rapids. Only their blue, bobbing helmets and orange life preservers are visible. No, this is not another of Jay’s Woofer scenarios, this is a part of our trip down the Thompson River.

Jay and I arrived at Kumsheen Rafting Resort, outside of Lytton BC, on Friday night to enjoy two days of rafting. Not only did we have an awesome tent cabin (complete with propane lamp) and a great view of the trains coming and going on either side of the Thompson (which have a surprising habit of ending up in the river), but we also found that the resort had a short disc golf course (1). Our first day was spent paddle rafting down the Thompson River, which includes rapids such as Devil’s Gorge, Jaws of Death, and Devil’s Kitchen (see a pattern?) (2).

While no one was tossed out of the boat, there was plenty of swimming (including a section, described in the opening paragraph, where everyone except the guide hops out of the raft and pulls it through the rapids). The only mishap we had was when Jay dropped his paddle into the river (3). The Thompson River was also great for wildlife viewing, and we saw four very cute black bears (including a mama and two young cubs), ospreys, and bald eagles.

The second day was spent power rafting (which allowed us to run bigger rapids and run them more than once) on the Fraser River, home of Hell’s Gate, the highest volume commercially run rapid in North America. While paddle rafting was a fun and exciting ride, power rafting was great if you like to be crushed and battered by massive walls of water. If you’re thinking of 15 feet high waves cresting (and smashing) over the bow of our raft, you have a good idea of what running the Fraser Rapids was like. Fortunately, for power rafting we were all given water proof coats and pants. The effectiveness of these additional layers was, however, brought into question when, after being spat out at the end of the Sailor Bar rapid, Jay emptied a quart of water out from the interior of each of his pant legs.

After surviving our two days of whitewater, seeing two gold pans that claim to be the largest in the world (one in Alaska and one in BC), and making a very damp drive back to Seattle, Jay leaves for his NOLS course tomorrow morning, where I hope that he is able to obtain photographic evidence of a yeti.

The sister of your man without a paddle,

Carrie

Notes:
1 Sadly, we appear to have been the only ones appreciative of the disc golf course, as we were the only ones to sign up for the tournament on Saturday night. On the upside, Jay came in 1st place and I came in 2nd.
2 Jay and I don’t have pictures from rafting as both of us actually like our cameras. These pictures, courtesy of the World Wide Web, should give you some idea of our experience.
3 He claims he did this in the course of saving someone else from being tossed overboard on a rapid. That's not exactly what I thought I saw, but who am I to say?