samedi, juillet 30, 2005
it can't just be intellectual
I had a crazily productive and adventurous day. Started early with a trip to the boat store as planned, followed by a yummy breakfast at Nellie's with froo and Caia. I took Fred for an oil change, and headed to the mall for some errands. Yay, I've got a cell phone. People can call me now!
Around 1:00 we gathered here at the family commune and loaded up our gear. Because we had 4 big people and 2 little people going rafting, we ended up taking two vehicles to the launch point at Bowness Park. Parking was challenging, as usual. That's a nice park and there are always a bazillion people having company picnics, family reunions, etc. But we found two spots, unloaded and lugged our gear to a patch of grass, then began the tedious process of pumping up boats. Two 4-man boats, one 1-man boat (the "supply boat"), two inflatable pillows. Everybody got a layer of sunscreen and a personal flotation device, and we shoved off pretty quickly.
When rafting the first chunk of the ride is a little uneventful while everyone relaxes and gets into the experience. There was a thin layer of high cloud, so we weren't especially hot and didn't feel the need to test out the water immediately. Within about an hour, though, little Chris and Keri started jumping in and splashing everyone. The water took a little getting used to, but as the cloud dissipated and the sun burned hotter, we all ended up in the water for some quality swimming time.
The challenge with swimming / floating down the Bow River is paying attention to the water depth because you can be drifting rapidly along with the current and start getting bumped by the rocks on the bottom. The depth fluctuates numerous times, and to varying degrees. Twice we got caught with rapidly-approaching shallow sections where we were scrambling to get everybody back into the boats so they wouldn't end up with bruised knees. All of us probably scraped up our feet a bit - the current is so fast that you try and stand up or run along but the water drags you faster than you can manage and your feet can't keep up.
The second incident was a little scary for Kyle. He and Keri were drifting behind the boat a few feet when we noticed that our pace was increasing suddenly. I managed to swim over and haul myself into the boat after a bit of foot-scraping, then little Chris got in, but we couldn't slow down enough to wait for Keri and Kyle (it's hard to paddle against that current), so the two of them kinda got dragged through a fairly shallow section, with Keri protecting his son on his chest and letting himself get bumped along on the rocks. We managed to pull over and wait for them a little ways up, but poor little Kyle was a little shaken up. They had their life jackets on and both can swim, but it was a bit of a crazy adventure...!
I would like to point at that this incident occurred in the same river section where I capsized last year. Mom, froo and I were rafting one day and getting close to going over a big rock - I was in the one-man boat and was so focussed on not having the big boat go over the rock (we're always tied together) that I didn't even notice myself getting flipped right over. I flailed around for a minute trying to figure out which way was up, then I just put my feet under me and stood up, since the water was all of one foot deep right there. Sheesh.
It is a h-o-t day here in Calgary; they got the forecast right. I'll have some pictures from our day posted as soon as froo gets them loaded to her flickr account.
[Edit: she's quick. Here's the set.] | ¶ 11:01 p.m.
Around 1:00 we gathered here at the family commune and loaded up our gear. Because we had 4 big people and 2 little people going rafting, we ended up taking two vehicles to the launch point at Bowness Park. Parking was challenging, as usual. That's a nice park and there are always a bazillion people having company picnics, family reunions, etc. But we found two spots, unloaded and lugged our gear to a patch of grass, then began the tedious process of pumping up boats. Two 4-man boats, one 1-man boat (the "supply boat"), two inflatable pillows. Everybody got a layer of sunscreen and a personal flotation device, and we shoved off pretty quickly.
When rafting the first chunk of the ride is a little uneventful while everyone relaxes and gets into the experience. There was a thin layer of high cloud, so we weren't especially hot and didn't feel the need to test out the water immediately. Within about an hour, though, little Chris and Keri started jumping in and splashing everyone. The water took a little getting used to, but as the cloud dissipated and the sun burned hotter, we all ended up in the water for some quality swimming time.
The challenge with swimming / floating down the Bow River is paying attention to the water depth because you can be drifting rapidly along with the current and start getting bumped by the rocks on the bottom. The depth fluctuates numerous times, and to varying degrees. Twice we got caught with rapidly-approaching shallow sections where we were scrambling to get everybody back into the boats so they wouldn't end up with bruised knees. All of us probably scraped up our feet a bit - the current is so fast that you try and stand up or run along but the water drags you faster than you can manage and your feet can't keep up.
The second incident was a little scary for Kyle. He and Keri were drifting behind the boat a few feet when we noticed that our pace was increasing suddenly. I managed to swim over and haul myself into the boat after a bit of foot-scraping, then little Chris got in, but we couldn't slow down enough to wait for Keri and Kyle (it's hard to paddle against that current), so the two of them kinda got dragged through a fairly shallow section, with Keri protecting his son on his chest and letting himself get bumped along on the rocks. We managed to pull over and wait for them a little ways up, but poor little Kyle was a little shaken up. They had their life jackets on and both can swim, but it was a bit of a crazy adventure...!
I would like to point at that this incident occurred in the same river section where I capsized last year. Mom, froo and I were rafting one day and getting close to going over a big rock - I was in the one-man boat and was so focussed on not having the big boat go over the rock (we're always tied together) that I didn't even notice myself getting flipped right over. I flailed around for a minute trying to figure out which way was up, then I just put my feet under me and stood up, since the water was all of one foot deep right there. Sheesh.
It is a h-o-t day here in Calgary; they got the forecast right. I'll have some pictures from our day posted as soon as froo gets them loaded to her flickr account.
[Edit: she's quick. Here's the set.] | ¶ 11:01 p.m.
