The musty smell of a boys’ locker room greeted us as soon as we stepped onto the big yellow school bus. It’s a smell that brings back childhood memories of spending the majority of my days in a hockey rink, whether for my ringette practices and games or for my brother and his hockey. But this wasn’t a rink, it was a yellow school bus in a parking lot surrounded by the mountains of Jasper National Park. The back was stocked with wet suits and water booties of all sizes and everyone had eager looks on their face. After spending the previous day lounging at Lake Annette, this yellow school bus was about to take us to the starting point of our whitewater rafting expedition.
The bus ride was full of ups, downs and windy turns before finally coming to a stop. It didn’t take long before everyone was decked out in wetsuits, life jackets and booties. A quick photo was taken and then we headed down to the rushing water of the Athabasca River.
We spent about an hour floating down 13km of water. We only did a Class II level as we had a few nervous nellies and my younger cousin on board and although there were a few long stretches of too-calm waters for my liking, there were a few rapids that had some of us laughing, some paddling frantically, and others screaming as the water rushed up and over us all.
We chose to go rafting with Jasper Rafting Adventures and everyone agreed that they had a fantastic experience. For $64.00 per person, you get a 3-hour round trip and one of the Jasper Rafting Adventures staff takes photos throughout the ride that you can choose to purchase. If you decide that you want to check out this company, you can check out their website here or go personally and find them on Connaught Drive in the town of Jasper.
Our guide, Andre, was born and raised in Jasper. Whatever question we shot at him, he had an answer. Funny, reassuring, and knowledgeable about the area, Andre made sure that everyone in the raft felt safe, comfortable, and provided us with interesting fun facts about everything that we were looking at. By the time our rafting adventure came to an end, we all agreed that we would do it again but next time we want rougher waters!
