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This past weekend, Molly, myself, Sparky, Alison, Perry, and Seth all went up to OWL Rafting, which is located just outside of Forester’s Falls near the Ottawa River. I’d been whitewater rafting once before in Alberta, but it wasn’t that hardcore; certainly not like the videos I’m always seeing with people being ejected out of their seats and into the drink. However, my Father told me that he once whitewater rafted down the Ottawa River YEARS ago (perhaps before I was born), and he said it was a blast. Seeing as how I doubt the rapids would change much in the last 30 years, I figured this was going to be a lot of fun.

I figured correctly.  

It took a while to get up there right after work on Friday (like, 1am), but once there we set up our tents, had a beer, and then went to bed. Some jokers were laughing it up and making noise which prompted some dude, who sounded pretty big, to shout at them to shut the hell up… and they quickly complied.

The guides at OWL Rafting were hilarious. Laid back, yet serious, they put everyone into a great mood as we got ready to shoot the rapids. Our boat was guided by a dude named Billy, and we quickly learned the ropes of what was necessary when he yelled out commands. The first few rapids were awesome, and got the heart pumping. As it was a perfect day, sunny and warm, a lot of splash battles were going on between the boats. Unfortunately, we were one of the smallest boats in the group, but that didn’t stop me in trying to start a few wars. I seemed to be the only one up for a splash battle in my boat, however. I was even warned by the guide of a bigger boat to pick my battles. I never learned that lesson.  

During the largest set of rapids, our boat was picked to sit on standby in case anything happened with the remaining rafts as they shot down. Sure enough, the first one attempting to go down hit the rapids sideways, and half the people were thrown out. Instantly, we lept into action, and saved three of our fellow “rafters”, with one of them hurt from a scraped leg. We also paddled after some of the gear that attempted to float down the river. One of the dudes who flew out of that boat, yet was rescued by someone else, was pretty shaken up; white as a ghost, and barfing, he was later taken to the hospital to get checked out. There was a chance he hit his head, and it’s better safe than sorry. Still, I felt bad for him as everyone was watching him, but I don’t think he was really aware of that. Poor dude.

Near the end of the trip, there was a lull where we were all jumping into the river, and trying to do this backwards flip, the name of which escapes me at the moment. My second attempt, I got about 3/4 of a flip through, and it was recorded for the video of the day, which rocked. We didn’t buy the video as we couldn’t justify $35 for perhaps 30 seconds of footage of ourselves, but it was great to see once. At the end of the rapids, we were towed back to where the pontoons were waiting. On board, they had BBQed kabobs waiting with salad, and I ate perhaps two helpings. It was SO good. The trip back to OWL took about an hour, and it was a smooth ride.

Once back, Molly and I helped them load the rafts, and then watched the video of the day. Afterwards, we went for a swim, and the water was a LOT colder than I remembered. Molly took the initiative and splashed me, so in I fully went. We swam out to the raft with the slide on it and hung out there for a bit. At one point, I made the idiotic decision to try sliding down backwards. For those of you who have ever thought that was a good idea, let me help you out and state that the backflop I performed kinda hurt. Anyway, the rest of the evening was spent hanging out at the pavilion attached to the lodge, listening to a live band that came it (yet was under appreciated unfortunately), and having some beers that Perry and Alison were kind enough to pick up.

Sunday, we woke up to the rain, which sucked, but we were leaving anyway. On the way home, we stopped off to visit Sparky and Alison’s parents and had lunch. Then, the final trip home was spent mostly sleeping for me. The weather alternated between torrents of rain, to blazing sun. Quite odd.

Would I go back to OWL Rafting again? Hell yeah! Would I recommend others go there as well? But of course! It was a great time indeed. Special thanks to Perry for setting all that up.

Sparky also had his waterproof camera with him, and took some snaps of the day. Check ‘em out here:

http://gallery.naturespocket.com/?mode=album&album=Owl+Rafting+2008

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