Athabasca River Float Trip in Alberta, Canada

Our Guide, Brian, on the Athabasca River Float Trip in Alberta, Canada.

Perhaps as a balance for indulging in last night’s dinner at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge hotel, the weather decided to give us the cold shoulder.

Another writer and I joined about 30 adventurous souls on a float trip down the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada with Jasper Raft Tours. But as the clouds threatened and the air refused to warm up, we all looked at each other a little nervously. The Athabasca River is, after all, glacier fed and was about 4 degrees Celcius. Not to worry, though, our jovial host Brian would take care of us.

“They don’t hire just any monkeys to run these things,” he tells us. Well, that’s reassuring.

Of course, this Nova Scotia native had no plans to keep us warm and cozy. Although we weren’t paddle rafting, Brian took every rapid he could see potential in to drench a different side of the raft. At least he was an equal opportunity splasher. At the first shower, we were all shivering in our pants and becoming quite silly in the process of keeping warm. (You can blame ridiculous behaviour on glacier cold water, right?).

A guy from New York state took over the paddles while Brian playfully flirted with his wife (with photos to prove it!) and the others laughed at us writers who were too vain to put on the yellow garbage bag-like poncho and left with soaking butts from the inside. (Glacier water on bare skin is a whole new sensation…)

Athabasca River Float Trip in Alberta, Canada.

It took a quick change of clothes and a spicy shrimp curry from Earl’s Restaurant for lunch to get my regular body temperature back.

What I Liked:

• We rafted down 16 km of the Athabasca River, an integral fixture to Jasper National Park, descending approximately 100 feet of class one and two rapids.
• Our guide, Brian, made the trip. Entertaining, laid back and charming, he is certainly good at what he does. (Find him in the winter guiding polar bear tours in Churchill, Manitoba.)

Tags: Alberta, Athabasca River, canada, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge hotel, Float Trip, Jasper National Park