Whitewater Rafting - Heck Yes!

This weekend the hubbub and I went whitewater rafting with Esprit Whitewater. It was awesome. We got a great deal with a Groupon they had earlier this summer, and I'm so glad that we went for it. I had been rafting when I was 16 (in northern Quebec, but I don't remember which river), and could remember that I liked it (says the girl who bounced out of the boat on one of the rapids!), but that was pretty much it. Tim had never been.

We headed to basecamp (about a 2 hour drive from Ottawa) on Friday after work, set up our tent, and had dinner.

Basecamp at sunset. From sweetspot.ca

We turned in early because we needed to be up for breakfast at 7 (breakkie was pretty good), and were on a bus to the put-in at 8.30. In our briefing, the lead guide mentioned that anyone who is "thermally fragile" might want to rent a wetsuit, which I did. ("Thermally fragile," by the way, may be my new fave saying.) I'm glad I had it - the water was warm, but it was about 19 degrees out, so I think I would have been too chilly to really enjoy myself without it.

Put in. From Library Playground's Flickr

And enjoy myself I did! Our guide, Dave, was awesome, and we only had 3 other people in our raft - Dave, Tim, and Upalma (yes, two Tims and two Daves!). We made a great team, and had a blast. We only lost someone (not-guide Dave) from the boat in the rapids once, early in the day.

We totally did this.

We did this too...

We rafted two channels of the river, with a delicious lunch in the middle, and then headed back to basecamp for a bbq dinner (which was okay, but not worth the 25$ each) and another night of camping. All in all, a fantastic weekend, but I think we'll make it a day trip next time (oh, there will be a next time. Possibly in about 2 weeks...) Apparently, the Ottawa river is one of the top whitewater rafting spot in North America. I'm looking forward to trying it out in the spring - the rapids are different when the water is higher.

This is not us, but we looked like this at the end of the day. Thanks to Library Playground's Flickr.

Also, I'm mostly uninjured, but not completely unscathed (because it isn't a real adventure if you don't have something to show for it, right?). I've got a wicked bruise on the top of my right foot from where I kicked a bench, and an even more impressive bruise of unknown origin on my left ankle. Also, my right quad is killing me whenever I use it. But all in all, totally worth it.

Focus on the bruise, not the weird angle...

It's more impressive in real life.