The Mistaya

Ive started to settle into life in Canmore. When there is no rafting work you can find me running along the bow river with one ear-bud in (one ear for bears, one ear for Britney Spears), biking around town on my retro burgandy "Free Spirit" bike--complete with basket--that my landlord is letting me borrow, walking around the frisbee golf course looking for my disc, chillin @ a BBQ or strapping boats to Kevin's Buick on the way to some wicked river/creek. If it wasnt for the nagging feeling that I should probably be making some money, life would be ideal.

Took a road trip into Banff National Park yesterday to paddle the beautiful Mistaya Canyon river. There has been talk of running this river for weeks...put off because it is definitely a mission! The river is two hours away and no one apparenlty knows much about it, so we had to print off a topographical map to find the put-ins and take-outs for each section and it involved ALOT of bushwacking! But yesterday everything came together and we strapped our boats to the roof of Gordon's van, threw some lawn chairs in the back for seats and we were off!
After an hour of scouting the river for logs , we paddled the upper section, skipped the middle ("death") section, then bushwacked for a bit to put in for the lower canyon section. This second section of the Mistaya is probably one of the most beautiful Ive paddled since the grand canyon.

The river and me scouting the very scary-looking middle section

Carrying my little pink boat to the lower section put-in

The lower section put-in...getting ropes ready to lower the boats in

Had a bit of excitment at the beginning of the week: was one of the first people at the scene of a nasty car accident on the side of highway 1. We were driving into work in the morning--myself, 2 other raft guides and the receptionist--when we came around a corner and saw this man wandering around in the road. At first we were like, "wtf?..." then looked to the left and saw a minivan in the ditch TOTALLY smashed up. We pulled over and ran over to the crash: inside a woman was screaming, a man was holding his head, shaking, trying to move her and an empty vodka bottle was lying on the ground. The car and the people reeked of booze (and later, my sweater would smell like booze). The windshield was shattered. The third man was wandering around shouting and swearing.

We immediatley split up--the two guides with the woman inside and me with the man. Once I got him away from the woman and sitting he started scratching at his eye and screaming that he was blind....from what I got, he was the passenger and had hit his head on the windshield. He had no idea where he was...where they were going...what had happened. He screamed at the spinal check and immediately I was on him stabilizing his Cspine. Oh shit. He kept coming in and out of consciousness--when we was awake he would thrash and punch and scream and kick and try to get up and I bounced between keeping him awake and holding him up, to using everything I could to stabilize his neck and keep him down. EMS came after what felt like a lifetime...maybe 30-45min? They called for extra help, but since it would take another 20 min for it to arrive we had to stick around. After EMS took my place, I went to stand and almost collapsed. My legs were spasming and my arms numb--I was completely exhausted. After the woman was stabilized and my man on a stretcher, the other man (who turns out was the driver) who we first saw wandering on the road passed out and landed hard on the pavement. Turns out he was hurt pretty badly too. We all helped get him on a stretcher and into the ambulance... our crew hadnt thought to check him when we first got there...crazy.

After the third man was in the ambulance, we got the okay to leave so the other guides and I piled back into the van and we were off again to work. Our boss gave us the option to cancel the trip but no no no we were okay, really. Trip on. So we showed up late to a closed base in our now muddy street clothes to a group of teed-off customers. We passed the accident on the way to the river and I think the customers got the real impact of what had happened when they saw the state of the car being pulled out of the ditch, because we all got tipped later. It turns out that we should have asked the boss if he was okay, because when we showed up to the river he had forgotten to bring the paddles! Insane morning.

Camping Trip!

What do you do when there is no work?

Staff trip!

All of us piled into the manager's van (/home) and drove to BC to camp overnight then rafted/kayaked the White River. We hit up the Lussier hot springs, drank around the campfire, rode around on the roof of the van, saw elk, a black bear, 3 black wolves and experienced sunshine, rain and hail.... LOL What a wicked trip...

Riding on the raft strapped to the van's roof









































...Riding on the roof is fun! Well...until it starts to rain and hail that is.... ;)

Welcome to Man-more, AB...

Let me first say: I love Canmore.

From my experiences so far, Canmore is a small town filled with super fun, chill, outdoorsy people; mountains everywhere you look; rabbits on every lawn (apparently someone bred a whole bunch of them and then released them into the city...they are EVERYWHERE); awesome rivers, wicked trails to run on and 2 full-on frisbee golf courses. Everyday I see something new and amazing: bears, big horned sheep, a double rainbow over the mountains....Five deer ran across the frisbee golf course during our game a couple days ago!

Big horned sheep chillin on the side of the road...pic taken on the way to the cascade river put-in

The people I work with are great :) The company was super busy a few weeks ago, but there has been a lull in people signing up for rafting trips since Ive arrived (the snow last week might have turned them off a bit...) so Im still technically training and actually havent really worked for money yet. Instead of working, we go kayaking: the day after I arrived I took my little pink playboat down the lower Kicking Horse river in Golden, BC. Yesterday I paddled my first creek ever (in my little playboat LOL)--Cascade Creek--in Banff National Park. When Gordon called to invite me he said there was a bit of a hike to get to it....turns out it was 6km! The 5 of us camstrapped/tethered our boats to us full of gear and dragged them--uphill-- along the path. It took just over 2 hours, but it was totally worth it: the river was absolutely gorgeous :)

Im moving pretty slow this morning after a wicked night at the bar (that lasted until...um..5am this morning)...ugh... but am about to meet up with guys to run my second ever creek: the Pipestone! Its bigger than Cascade...we'll see how it goes.... :)

UPDATE: Decided to run the Kananakis river instead of the Pipestone. Realised while side-surfing out of control in the first hole on the river that I had not been playboating since summer 2007 and needed to work on my rusty rusty skills a bit. Dave broke his paddle in the racecourse... :(

My new home...

Life is great here :)

Paddled the lower Kicking Horse river yesterday with some of the guys from Chinook. Fun river! Was a little nervous at first since I was in my playboat and everyone else were in creekboats (sort of like me in a miata and them in Yukin XLs), but I held my own :) It was a perfect day: warm and sunny. After the paddle we hit up the local pub for pints and burgers and a bunch of guides from other companies stopped by and joined us...including Ryan!

The drive from Canmore to Golden is 2 hours of some of the most breathtakingly beautiful scenery....unreal almost. We stopped on the way back to watch a mom and baby black bear eating from the side of the road. Next time Ill bring my camera....

My new digs

I lucked out finding a wicked place for a very reasonable price--fully furnished and all inclusive! I wasnt excited about the idea of couchsurfing for 2 weeks until the room in Cody's house became available, so the morning after I arrived I did a quick internet search and found this place! Turns out I called the guy literally right after he posted it ...i was the first one to see it and took it on the spot. The guy who owns it is really nice...he has some interesting rules, but whatever...ill deal.

Two super awesome things about the house:

1) Giant backyard (with BBQ) literally ON the Bow River

2) the landlord lets me hang my kayak gear to dry in the living room...he actually suggested it so it didnt mould in the basement! Wicked!

Here are some pics of the place I took quickly...LOL this is for my family--I realise most people dont care too much about what my room looks like.... :)

My room...still unpacking! It came with a single bed, 2 dressers, bookshelf, tv dvd player and awesome view of the backyard, birdfeeder and mountains!

The kitchen...the little barfridge under the sink is all mine for food...

The view of the backyard from the kitchen window...3 wild bunnies live back there (not yet named...my vote is for Buster)

The view from the road outside the front door....I hope I never take it for granted...

The path that runs literally behind our backyard fence

....The ending of the path: Bow River

The end of the path: looking to the right

Day 2: Manitoba to Medicine Hat, AB

Day 1: the drive out west

Day 1: Toronto to Thunder Bay

4am
Alarm goes off. ugh.

4:30am
Finally get out of bed. Athough Ive done it MANY times before, it takes a few tries to strap my kayak to my car. Once I actually end up strapping the kayak to itself.
I question whether I am safe to drive and should go back to bed.
(Decide to make a cup of coffee instead...)

5am
On the road! It is apparently too early for morning shows, so all stations are playing music! Yes! The first station I flip on plays my favourite song. I smile all the way to the highway.

5:20am
Merge onto the highway. Start getting a really bad feeling when my foot is literally on the floor but my car is accelerating like it is pushing through jello. Hm. I guess a kayak on the roof + my entire life in the car is making me a little...um...slower. I realise for the first time that I might not be able to drive as fast as planned. I also wonder how all of this will affect my gas mileage...

5:25am
My car finally reaches 100 km/h. Mental note to self: dont stop if you can help it....car might not make it to 100 again....

Awesome sunrise from the 400...the sun reflected off the mist from the farmer's fields made it look like a lake of gold....pictures never do it justice...

7am
Gas and McMuffin break in Parrysound. The McDonalds here smells like butter....ummmm....

10am
In Sudbury! Lost all radio stations, aside from the CBC. I turn the radio off.

11:30 am
Lunch break at Serpent River...sandwiches on the rocks by the water. I lay down on the rocks in the sun and take a nap (and wake up covered in blackflies)

2pm
Saute St. Marie! Work out a Goodlife Fitness, shower and hit up the Walmart for chocolate milk. When returning to my car notice that someone has scratched up the bumper...again! Exact same spot as before! Geez. Glad that I have a beater car and decide that I will never buy a new car ever. Figure that everything I own is a little bit broken and that that is okay.

4pm+
The drive from Saute St. Marie to Thunder Bay is INCREDIBLE. I am alone on the highway, the windows rolled down, driving fast and barefoot through a road lined with rock cliffs, lakes and endless trees. I stop and watch a big bull moose with a huge rack on the side of the road for awhile. Later have to stop for a giant black bear crossing the road. I pull over at every "scenic" roadstop. It is sunny and the air is fresh and smells like pine trees and I seriously consider moving out here in the fall... I stop at a couple rivers with sweet rapids and wish I had my paddle (it somehow disappeared from my mom's garage in the past 2 weeks...or I left it in Ottawa at the take-out last time I was paddling...either way will have to buy a new one when I get to Canmore :( )

Some of the scenic stops along the way...

Make it to Lake Superior Provincial Park as the sun is setting....the honor system payment makes me smile. The place is pretty much deserted so I have my pick of the hundreds of sites. I set my tent up on the beach right beside the water, make a sandwich and watch the sunset. It is breezy and cool and beautiful and I wish that I could share this with someone but at the same time enjoy the silence of being alone. I read for a bit on the beach, then fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

2am
Wake up to INSANE wind. There is a crazy windstorm and I am totally unprotected on the beach! Move my tent to the trees and sit inside holding the sides up and hoping that my fly doesnt blow away! I am not too worried because the tent is already broken from the summer I lived in it at Wilderness Tours. When i was at work a twister hit the resort and my tent was blown almost 1/4 km into the woods...with a full mattress inside and 3 milk crates full of clothes! (Luckily it got stuck on a tree ot else it would have been gone) It didnt break, but the poles jut out at crazy angles...LOL it takes a good 20 min to set up now because it only sits one way. The tent braves the storm but I dont really get anymore sleep.
I read the book a friend gave me before leaving, "The Tao is silent." (thanks Matt W. :)

4am
I make a mental list of things I will buy when I have a real job:
-a new tent that is wicked and not from Canadian Tire...hmmm....the Mountain Hardwear one ryan has....man that is such a nice tent....
-whisper lite stove
-paco pad
-nice, quality camping pots
-nice chess set
-top end snowboard boots
-a new kayak (why not? Im wishing right)
-drysuit
-oh oh a watershed drysac backpack...and a new camera. A nice one.

6am
Packed up and back on the road, passing deer on the way out of the park. Perfect.

...Next stop: Whiteshell National Park, Mantioba.