In June of 2024, I found myself in southeastern British Columbia in the beautiful little town of Fernie. Like many western towns, it’s location and history are tied to the railroad, but these days it’s an outdoor adventurer’s paradise tied to the mountains.
The bread and butter is the Fernie Ski Resort which draws tens of thousands of visitors annually, but when all that snow melts, the water has to go somewhere and anytime you have a bunch of water you’ll find people looking to get out on it.
Tunnel49 Adventures are some of those people! They have rafting, kayak, and SUP adventures on the local rivers.
The Elk River is the most obvious as it literally runs right through town, but there’s also the exquisitely named Bull River.
In the spring when the snow melts off the mountains that stand guard around the town, it all ends up in the rivers which have sections that vary from fast moving but calm to full-on rapids. I was told May is peak run-off usually, but it was an odd winter and we were still having pretty good water levels and flow and that it would be a fun ride.
The two main ways to experience the flow firsthand is either by raft with a lot of people on it, or in a kayak where you’re on your own -- on the boat that is -- you’re never totally alone as they have a guide or two along depending on the size of the crowd.
I’ve kayaked a couple times, but am by no means an expert so when I asked what the odds are that I would tip and the young man at the check-in desk replied with “we cover that in the safety briefing, but you’re probably not going to,” I wasn’t filled with confidence in my abilities.
After the briefing, however, I was ready to rock. They explained what to do if you fall in the water, which is float on your back with knees bent and feet up to absorb any impacts and prevent snagging on something on the bottom. Thankfully they also explained that the flow and stretch we are on wasn’t anything that they couldn’t get me out of. In fact, if an expert river runner was watching my experience from shore they’d say it was baby waves, but to me it felt like a rushing torrent!
The kayak isn’t what you’re thinking, and it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. It was inflatable and made out of the heavy duty tubing that the rafts use. That makes it super buoyant and super stable – two things a husky paddler longs for!
What is uniquely different from my other kayak experiences – the fast moving water – is also one of the coolest navigation aids. Normally a paddle-powered craft only moves if you push the paddle through the water. On a running river, simply placing a stationary paddle on either side of your kayak will instantly move you. You can go back to the Science of Boating episode with Neil deGrasse Tyson for the ins and outs of buoyancy, but, if you will permit an oversimplification, the inflatable kayak sits on top of the water and gets the benefit of just a few inches of water pushing it – however much you “sink down” into the water. But your paddle stuck into the water gets the benefit of the entire surface area of the paddle stuck down into the meaty part of the flow.
It takes a few attempts and a little time but I was surprised how quickly I was able to adapt to the new technique. And that comes in handy because this isn’t a manicured Olympic slalom course with clear water -- this is mountain run-off. Those mountains have trees all over them. That means tree branches and sometimes entire trunks get caught up in the run-off and into the river.
The Elk River is wide and relatively flat when it reaches Fernie, so this stretch is family-friendly. Quite literally, in fact! The group that set out ahead of us were in a beamy whitewater raft navigated entirely by the guide so the kids could just enjoy the float.
That doesn’t take away any man points for my taking on a new experience, mind you. But I digress.
Years ago I left a gig with CBC to work with PowerBoat TV as a co-host with Mike Gridley. I was lucky enough to explore the waters from Hay River NWT to Lake Havasu Arizona, Seattle to Sarasota, Muskoka to Miami, and lots of places in between. But always, surprise surprise, by power boat.
In the years between my leaving PowerBoat TV and launching Water Ways, I spent time on my boat – a power boat – and visiting cottages that had power boats.
But during the first two seasons of Water Ways, I’ve been able to expand beyond the internal combustion world, glorious as it may be, and also check out new adventures that are paddle not petrol powered. This was one of those super cool experiences that I never would have thought of doing on my own.
For one, I may never have made the drive to Fernie. And it’s a drive no matter how you slice it. About an hour from the Cranbrook airport or three hours from Calgary. Admittedly the view itself becomes stunning as you enter the mountains, but still it’s a drive. But that keeps it from being overrun and over developed.
And if anyone asks, the waves were Class 6 rapids and I’m a world class adventure -- no matter what the 6 year olds say that were on the raft.
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