Sat, May 22 2010, Sun, May 23 2010, Mon, May 24 2010 - Whitewater Rafting-Spring HIGH WATER - Ottawa river (View Original Event Details)
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Our adventure started at Downsview on Saturday morning. Our first challenger was to fit 21 people and gear into 5 cars (since one of the participant/driver was missing. That’s a first timer, $300 NO SHOW!). Of the 5 remaining cars only 4 make it to Owl Rafting by 3:30pm. Shannon is on the phone explaining that her car has broken down in a small town of Denbigh (which is about 100 km short of our destination. So we unload my car and drive back down the road to pick up Shannon’s carpool. We left her car with a local mechanic and all made it to Owl by supper time. BBQ steak with all the fixings and a cold Steamwhistle beer (actual 2) sure was good! THE CABINS. Theorically we had 24 people signed up for the trip and 4 cabins rented. Each cabin sleeps 6. There are 2 bunk beads. The bottom bunk sleeps two and the top sleeps one. My biggest organizational challenge was to figure out who was sleeping in which cabin. I sent out a survey (the week before the trip) with a few questions about preferences and gained a lot of insight. Her are my observations. Most the women in the group wanted a females only cabin. Which was ok, but they all wanted the top bunk. I suggested they draw straws or something to decide who was were. We named this cabin “GIRLS WANT TO BE ON TOP”. Most of the guys in the group answered the question that did not care who they sleep with (“very flexible”). Lacy and Phil decided to upgrade to their own cabin. Stephen decided to sleep on the porch the first night. Kristen who started in cabin #3 could not sleep with the loud music so she moved to cabin #13?. Some how George also ended up in cabin #13 (not clearly explained how this happened??? But what-a-move George!). My cabin was ok if you disregard the person sawing wood underwater all night. Well we made it thought the night let the real adventure begin. DAY 2, SUNDAY starts with a good breakfast. Our day of high adventure rafting starts at the OWL resort with a trip leader briefing that reviews the day activities. We collect our helmet, lifejacket, wetsuit and paddle, and then jump on the bus for a short shuttle to the river put-in. Here we meet our guide who gives on-water instructions that teach us how to paddle and work together. Our group was divided up more or less by cabins on two 12 man rafts. Once everyone has received a safety briefing, we descend down our first rapid, the legendary McCoy’s! There is always time for some surfing, which is where we take our rafts back up into the whitewater for a “Thunder Dunk”. This leaves us totally wet and anticipating more rapids and drops! The water temperature was reported to be a nice 16C. Barely justify the wetsuits we had on. But by the end of the day I was glad I had it on. After the “Butchers Knife”, we stop for a river snack to give us energy to challenge the second half that features Hair and the Mighty Coliseum. At our snack break we challenge our fears and partake in some cliff jumping into the fast flowing river below. We finish the day with tube jumping and diving as we float across Muskrat Lake. After the last rapid, we meet our pontoon boats for a return BBQ cruise across the lake to the OWL Resort. While we are returning to OWL base, our video kayaker that followed our whole trip zooms ahead to edit a video of the day’s adventure. This was ready for the après rafting presentation hosted by the guides. We have a little free time to use the facilities many activities (kayaks, canoes, beach, frisbee golf, volleyball) or just sit around enjoying the view across the river to Quebec. Some went back to the cabins for a little nap. Our BBQ steak supper was great again! You can’t get better than apple crisp topped with ice cream for dessert after a fun day. Some of us stayed out and partied and some of use hit the hay. And one of us sleep in the sauna (sorry never got down to the details on this one?). However he stated he was dehydrated the next day (go figure!) It’s MONDAY and we’re taking it to the next level! SportRaft and SportYak’s? We’re down to 21 people now that survived Sunday more or less in tack. You got to pace yourselves. Only the strong survival my adventures! The sportraft seats about 7 people. It’s a small version of the 12 man raft. The waves are now looking much bigger in this small raft. We had 10 of our group split up on 2 sportrafts. The remaining 11 of use, signed up for a “near death experience” in the sportyak. The sportyak are 2 person inflatable kayaks about 1 meter wide and 4 meters long. Got some great photos of yaks going over 1 meter high ledges and trying to surf. The high point of the sportyak was surviving the Hair rapids. These were a set of multiple holes and standing waves that swallowed the whole sportyak’s. Since we were an odd number of people, Ali was solo. He was 2 yaks in from of Ines and me. He was popping a wheelie in every hole and coming out the other side looking like a flag pole. It was an impressive sight. And he made it thought the whole rapid. Well done Ali! We finish off with Coliseum, Dog leg, Blacks. We jump in the water to cool down and float through Muskrat, Mice, and Bruces rapids. We raft up with all the rafts and got pulled by motor boat down the river to meet up with the pontoon boat. On the way Shannon and Cosmin had an exciting moment when their yak turned into a submarine for a few seconds. Solving the weight distribution issue, we were moving again towards our BBQ lunch on the pontoon boat. Back at Owl it’s time to cram 20 into 4 cars. Shannon has found a ride with one of the Owl staffers. As I write this posting , Shannon is in Denbigh waiting for her car to be fixed. 2010 05 25 , 2 pm. See you soon Gary
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