Village Squire, 1978-06, Page 38stand under that cascading water, but it
left you refreshed and with a keen edge on
your appetite for dinner.
Dinner, that evening, consisted of
succulent chops in a mushroom sauce with
an excellent choice of white wines. That
soft, diffused light, just prior to sunrise,
seeped through the trees as 1 began the
steep climb up to the canyon rim. The loose
glacial clays and gravels made the footing a
little tricky at times.
Once out of the canyon, the vegetation
was sparse in the powdery soil, with only
the occasional ponderosa pine standing
green and tall against the morning sky.
Above the falls now, I looked down on what
proved to be a man-made pond (Spences
Bridge water reservoir) walled in by the
steep cliffs of the upper half of the canyon.
A large flock of unfamiliar grouse -like
birds, perhaps 40 in number, were
drinking at the water's edge and made a
curious chucking sound as they actually
climbed up the precipitous opposite wall of
the canyon and disappeared into the sage
beyond the rim. I confirmed later that the
rock climbing birds were chukars.
A group hike led by naturalist, Chess
Lyons, encountered a meandering coyote
later on the same morning. The weather
continued "hot" and many rafters
free -floated on calm water to maintain a
comfortable cool.
Today was big rapids day according to
tour operator Bernie Fandrich and we were
all anticipating such noted back -snappers
as ,the Frog, Cauldron and Cutting Board
and the ever ominous Jaws of Death. We
were thrilled and thoroughly drenched
negotiating the Cutting Board and the
Cauldron served up a series of roller
coaster standing waves that had the huge
rafts almost airborne at times.
The Jaws of Death. to the best of my
preoccupied recollection, are formed by a
canyon -like narrowing of this mighty river
causing the powerful current to be
compressed into explosive turbulence.
I recall sitting front and center, just
behind the splash board in the bow; all the
better for a dramatic photo or two. We
rocked and soared over whirls and wild
waves and then...and then I saw a huge
explosion wave form dead ahead.
That wall of water must have reared
eight feet above the tips of the pontoons.
The raft rose like a rocket but still went
through about two feet below the crest and
we got about a ton of the Thompson River
right in the whiskers.
Seconds later, we were still alive and
wet, having escaped from the Jaws of
Death but that will always remain the
biggest darn wave that I ever want to
eyeball from midstream.
We made camp in a rocky cove and after
a veritable feast of fresh broiled salmon
(Kumsheen have an established reputation
for fine cuisine) complemented by a superb
vintage, the campfire was built up and the
events of the day rehashed.
I camped that night on a high forested
bluff about 1.6 km (one mile) up river from
the main camp. The river, hundreds of
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PG. 36. VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1978.
metres below, wound north through a
steep sided valley that had changed from a
sparsely vegetated semi -desert to a pine
forest now. Lofty snowcapped mountains
caught the last rays of the setting sun far to
the west.
The following day we joined the roiling
Fraser River and found the water level to
be abnormally high. We had tentatively
planned to run Hell's Gate but pulled up
short at Boston Bar, when the operators
decided that the water level exceeded
safety limits. A full slate of trips is
scheduled for this year according to Bernie
Fandrich who is particularly excited about
a seven-day expedition on the Fraser River
starting at Soda Creek and ending at Yale.
Information on shorter trips is available
from Kumsheen Raft Adventures Ltd..
Suite 116-525 Seymour St., Vancouver,
B.C. Canada, V6B 3H7 or telephone (604)
669-0415.
River rafting is currently undergoing a
marked increase in popularity in Canada.
In addition to the Kumsheen Raft
Adventure, there is the well known
Canadian River Expeditions who run
expeditions on the Stikine, Fraser and
Chilcotin Rivers also in British Columbia;
Rocky Mountain Raft Tours of Banff,
Alberta schedule short floats on the Bow
and Athabasca Rivers in Alberta and the
Kootenay River in British Columbia; North
Country River Trips on the Pigeon, Berens
and Poplar Rivers in northern Manitoba
and Wilderness Tours on the Ottawa River
from their base in Pembroke, Ontario.
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