I lucked out, winning two passes at Inglewood Sunfest to go
with Alpine Rafting in Golden, BC. I thought, why not, let’s do this and booked
it right away! So a big thank you
to Inglewood Sunfest for tickets!
These passes were not some family river run either, thank
goodness, cause I am kind of a thrill
junkie. My girlfriend Ginna and I signed up for the Kicking Horse RiverChallenge. I appreciated starting our day on the family run portion so we had a
chance to get comfortable with all the “moves”, i.e. “Hold On!”, “Forward Right”, etc.
I will plug Alpine Rafting here for an amazing experience.
The guides were so great; they were funny, explained everything so well. Lunch was great, too; unexpected to have
such a great BBQ lunch spread included. When I go back, it’ll be with AlpineRafting (www.alpinerafting.com).
Ginna and I were put in the raft with the head guide, Ryan. He was our own personal tour guide who really knew his surroundings, had extensive knowledge of rafting in general and of the river; he had all the stories, the history of our surroundings, the geology, and so much more. Let alone, ladies, he was a total cutie. (Actually a lot of the guides were.)
So on to the ride… loved it. I anticipated it to be scarier than it was. However, maybe it’s a good thing it wasn’t because my hands were so sore from paddling so hard for the last long stretch of constant rapids. Paddling through the rapids is serious work out (well for those of us who don’t work out at all.)
Then there was the final stretch, calm waters… in the raft. We had the option to jump out and get your swim on. Let’s say I am SOOOO glad I never fell out the entire trip and had an accidental swimming experience in another part of the river. I jumped out for the swim; I was all over the idea. Thought it would be an easy fun ride as he said it would be. I have swum a deep distance in the ocean plenty of times back in PEI. I love the water. Everyone else in the boat enjoyed it. For me, it ended up being a moment of the scariest shit ever! The feeling of drowning is not a comfortable feeling at all. He had warned us how our body might feel; he had explained how to react to it all beforehand, and thank goodness he did. My body did just as he said it would and I had to remind myself of how to control the situation. Number one rule from the beginning “Save Yourself”.
Why was it so scary? Well I rolled out of the boat and immediately sank under the water. Then as I swam to the surface I felt the strong current pulling me along. I barely had my head up and then a wave crashed down on my face pushing me back down. My mouth was wide open and filled with water. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and there was nothing to grab. No moment to just say “hold on, let me catch my breath.” Think of a scene from a surfing movie like Blue Crush, where the rider falls off and is caught under the waves, can’t catch her breath, struggling to swim. When you come up for air your body panics so much that it feels like it has shut down and you can’t swim. Thank goodness for my life jacket. Ryan had explained, when you feel like you can’t swim, just put your feet in front of you, knees up, and just lay back and float. So I did. I started to regain my senses and began to calm down although I was still struggling to breathe because I had swallowed too much water. Everything we had been taught came in real handy and I got back to the boat. All good.
It was an amazing day! And I highly recommend it.
FOR THE RECORD: I am not trying to scare anyone off from ever trying it. It just happened to be how I caught the water. Ginna was scared the entire trip, but the swim for her, she loved it. It was simple and easy. Go figure. Me the tough girl, “swimming will be no problem”, and I’m the baby in the end.
Absolutely a winning check off my bucket list. What’s next?
What is on your bucket list?
Here are some photos from our trip. All photos courtesy of Alpine Rafting, because we couldn't bring cameras on the trip ourselves I am very grateful that they take photos for us.
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| Ryan our the guide (center in the back), Myself far back on the left, and Ginna is far back on the right. |
