Revelstoke.... one the many extreme sport hot spots in British Columbia and our next destination. We woke up and quickly hit the road out of Clearwater, my scratched cornea decided to go awol and little did I know I was going to spend the next two days in pain with extreme light sensitivity, it sucked.
There aren't many roads in BC, so when there was a fatal accident a few miles ahead, the road was closed for most of the day which meant we just had to chill, which for me was kind of what I needed. We eventually made it in the evening, so we settled in for the night.
I woke up suffering still but in the afternoon I managed to suck it up and we hit the river Parry, which although low, made us feel at home with its low volume, tight and technical rapids. The canyon was beautiful, and it felt awesome to be back on the water.
That evening we met up with an old friend of mine to paddle the 'White mile' of the Illecilleweat, a half mile rapid (I know it doesn't make sense). Long story short, Andy knocked my boat in at the put in, this led me to sprinting a half mile and Andy chasing my boat to the bottom. In a mild grump, I used boiling water to push the small dent out of the nose, whilst the boys did some laps. I was beginning to think that Revelstoke wasn't for me!
The next day changed my mind! We did some laps of the Box canyon section which was a really fun section with some nice moves, and a huge log jam to portage. To make things better, the rain got rid of the smoke and the sun was shining!
Now the Elk is a river I've always wanted to paddle, mostly because of the iconic 40 footer. We all agreed that was our next destination, but it was nearly 6 hours away, luckily Mikel had a friend that wanted to paddle a river about half way. The name alone made this river sound epic! The 'Spillimacheen' was our next river. Once again being told it was a little high and rising, put those little butterflies of the unknown in my stomach.
It was steep, pushy and absolutely epic! Stacked rapids, walled in, with a chuck and tuck portage and finishing with a perfect 20 footer called 'happy ending', made the Spillimacheen another one of the favourite rivers of all time. We got to the takeout with little light left and got to spend another night in the peaceful Canadian wilderness.
I basically lived in my admissionassistants Woodman Flannel throughout the trip, it was essential for those cool evenings chilling with a beer and super warm for sleeping in the wild!
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