After a day of mountain yesterdayToday, we're taking to the water. Western Canada is known for its beautiful mountains, but it's also a world-famous place for white-water enthusiasts. To check this out, we're going rafting on the Kicking Horse River.
Rafting kicking horse
Kickiing Horse, from Banff, means waking up very early. The river is in British Columbia, not Alberta, so there was a bit of a drive and the activity started relatively early.
This is not our first time on this trip, so everything goes smoothly and we arrive on time at Glacier Raft Company. There are lots of people. It's a bit of a factory, which is something common to rafting places, you'll rarely be alone. Everything is superbly organized and after re<cu instructions everyone boards the beautiful yellow school buses heading for the river.
Along the way, the guide explains the day's activities and shows us the river we'll be descending below. Once we've reached the start of the descent, a final safety briefing and we're off in the boats.
The river is far from being at its maximum level, but that doesn't prevent some nice rapids in places. It should be noted, however, that this is a river where "you must not fall".
When rafting, you'll often find two types of river: those where you don't risk much by falling into the water, and those where you really should avoid it. For example, if you're a fan of the Rivière Rouge near Montreal, this is a river where you can fall in without any problems, and the guides will often "purposely" tip the boat over so that everyone can swim a little. On kicking Horse, at least in the conditions we had, the guide will do everything to make sure nobody goes overboard. Two rooms, two atmospheres, but in both cases you'll have a lot of fun!
Rapids follow, class 3 and even class 4, before we arrive at the first stop where we are treated to a nice little barbecue. People doing one run stop here. You know us, we took two runs for twice the fun.
Once we've finished eating, we're back on board for the rest of the river.
It's a really nice descent, and I'd be curious to do it again with a higher water level.
I recommend it, even for first-time rafters. The fact that you're not allowed to fall takes away, in my opinion, the greatest fear and risk associated with rafting. I should point out, though, that just because you don't fall in the water doesn't mean you won't get wet, especially in the front rows.
Wildlife tour in Banff
We dry off, change clothes and get back on the long road to Banff.
We decided to try our luck one last time with a wildlife tour, this time to Banff. The first one had sold us such a dream that we hoped the second attempt was just bad luck.
This time the tour is by bus with a very, very energetic guide, almost too much so after a day's rafting.
I won't beat about the bush. It was another failure. We hardly saw anything. So the first time was a fluke?
We can't say that the guide didn't go out of her way to try and find us some wildlife. Unfortunately, you can never predict whether it will be there or not.
To make up for this, we were able to discover some very beautiful landscapes, notably the Vermilion Lakes.
No fooling around tonight. Tomorrow is my last day in the west and we want to do the "Cirque Peak" hike, which again requires not getting up too late.
See you tomorrow.
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