North America Travels

Aug. 22nd, Kicking Horse Adventures and Emerald Lake

Another day with good weather and a blue sky. Getting up wasn't much of a problem given the support from CP Rail. The train horns were already active early. It was time for Anna's long awaited birthday gift: White water rafting on the Kicking Horse River. I managed to book a ride this very morning. Figuring out which tour to book was a bit of a problem. Initially I booked an early morning "family ride". After getting to the raft operator and inquiring further and a quick determination by the sales person that Anna looked "old" enough our tour was lengthened (with plenty cash exchanged) and included now a lengthy "tough part" aside from the initial family run as well as a BBQ half-way. The only regret I have is that we did not have Hansis rugged camera with us. Plenty of people had rugged waterproof cameras with them and some had GoPro's. The rafting company also offered to extend the "tough part" with an "ultra-tough part" after we arrived at the end but I opted out of that: I felt we had spent enough money and also that the "tough part" was "tough" enough. We had at that time already spent 4 hours on the Kicking Horse not including the BBQ break. The Kicking Horse River descends in the 2nd half from the Yoho Park border to Golden even faster compared to the section we had just done. From talking with the rafting guides it appears the highest water levels are in June, to the point that the "ultra-tough" portion is only opened up sometime in mid to late July.

The Kicking Horse river is supposedly the top white water rafting river in North America. I tend to believe that claim given how many companies operate in Golden and having seen the river. Golden feels like one of these cool in the middle of nowhere places that offer plenty of activities in the summer and in the winter while not being overly touristy. Its only draw back is maybe that CP rail takes a large portion of the valley (a bit similar to Jasper and Banff, but in Jasper the valley is much wider while in Banff the railway is more distanced from the town).

The whole crowd before boarding 6 zodiacs

On our way. Margaret is standing in the background. Tobi sits before her. I am 3rd from the canoe front on the left with Anna standing behind me

Sitting in the front is a tricky business. Plenty of water exposure. Also it is difficult to squeeze your feet properly in to stay balanced

Our raft operator was "Wet'n and Wild". There are 6 or 7 companies offering Kicking Horse tours. The reason I ended up with WaW was that they offered a "family tour" while the other emphasized "true white water rafting" experiences. But ultimately we did upgrade to the "tough" package.

Embarking on the 2nd half of the trip after the BBQ.

And yes. The "tough" section offered plenty more of white water compared to the family section. But I have to say even the family section offered plenty of action. To the point that the mom who was in front of me in the "family section" asked me if I was willing to swap with her into the 2nd position from the front.

Action on the Kicking Horse

More action on the Kicking Horse

Even more action with a bit of water

Final picture of the action series

After our rafting adventure we drove the 50km up to Fields to book our permits for the next days at the Yoho National Park visitor centre. My first intent to see if we could get into a first-come-first serve queue for Lake O'Hara was a bummer. But we were able to book 2 nights in Yoho valley back country at "Laughing Falls". Our intent being to hike the Iceline trail.

The weather forecast at the Yoho visitor centre was superb! No notion of the impending doom!

After visiting the visitor centre we headed for Emerald Lake and had an easy stroll around the lake (one hour or maybe 90 minutes). Emerald Lake is accessible by car and while not as crowded as Lake Louise we still felt that plenty of people were visiting. I guess anything with road access feels crowded compared to the WCT. The Lake is worthwhile a visit if someone has an afternoon to spare and no backcountry ambitions.