White Water Wickedness

Rafting on the Ottawa (not us but this is where we were)
Originally uploaded by Rgscarter.

Earlier this week we got a call from Natasha who asked, "Did we want to go white-water rafting this weekend." Sure, I said, sounds awesome - and it was (Laura, unfortunately, had to work and missed out). Natasha, Matt, Mark, and Danielle picked me up in Kingston and we headed to Ottawa, where we stayed overnight at Matt's cousin's place. Early the next morning we piled again into Mark’s trusty Toyota and headed for Quebec. We joined up with Esprit Rafting at a skeezy small-town bar and were taken to the mighty Ottawa River. After learning all we would need to know about safety (first and foremost ‘Don’t Panic' or as they like to say BeCoolBeCoolBeCool) and then getting our gear on, we were all set.

With our intrepid guide Bob, and the guide-along-for-the-ride Slater, the five of us made our way out into the River which, thanks to the crazy amount of rain we got the day before, was running high and fast. We were eased into it, going down the smaller middle channel of the river first. We got to know how to move the boat and how to hold on for dear life when things got nutty and then we went down our first set of rapids. The first one wasn’t too tough but it gave me a bit of a rush. Over the day, when we approached the rapids I would get a bit anxious, but not nervous, and my heart would start pounding. We would go over and be told when to start paddling hard and it was really exhilarating. We were prepared for a bigger challenge which came in the form of a set of rapids called “Elevator Shaft” which featured, as you might imagine, quite a large drop. While I thought at the time that I just might fall in, we managed to keep it together and all stay in the boat. In fact, we didn’t dump the entire day – which is something I think we are all quite proud of.

"Dianne's Furious Daisies" + Bob (with thanks to Natasha for the image)

Bob told us about the natural history, geology, and some interesting tidbits about the area, including about the Shriner’s War, the reclaiming of old logs from the riverbeds, and the location of Neil Young’s cottage (for the record, born in Toronto on November 12, 1945, spent the first years of his life in Omimi, Ontario, and then moved to Winnipeg when his parents divorced.)

We ate a great lunch after finishing the run of the middle channel and then were bussed back to where we started up the river to do the faster, longer, main channel. This part featured a bunch of pretty crazy rapids, culminating in the raft-bashing monster called “The Coliseum,” which featured three very large, nasty waves. Our raft was the first to go through and we managed to get everything right and pull through. The same can’t be said for five of the other rafts in our group some of whom had rather spectacular flips. After we made it through we went around and tried to pick up the folks who fell out of their boats and then made our way down the river to the pick-up spot, swimming a bit of the way in the flat water.

Once we got to Esprit’s main camp, we sorted out our tenting arrangements, hung out on the beach by the river, had a few Blues, and played with the owner’s dogs. Dinner, served from the barbeque on the patio, was absolutely great and we then spent the better part of the rest of the evening by the bonfire on the beach just hanging out, discussing the nature of marsh mallows
Mallow of the Marshes

(as you can see from the links, they traditionally are made from the plant, although gelatin has replaced it for commercial production. I couldn’t find reference to the shortage but I am pretty sure I didn’t dream it up) and all kinds of things.

After a hard day rafting and sleeping in less than luxurious (but dry and convenient) circumstances we woke up tired and sore but were greeted to a Sunday brunch that couldn’t be beat and then headed back to Kingston. The trip was absolutely awesome. The views were gorgeous, the rafting wicked, and the company was excellent. I have to thank Natasha for extending the invite my way, to Mark for his expert driving, and to everyone for making it a superfun time. Hopefully we can make this an annual thing.
rgsc.