Sorry I haven't been around much.  I feel sort of ashamed to admit that I've taken the past two weekends at an incredibly lackadaisical pace, not doing much other than planting myself in front of the Food Network for hours at a time with the occasional glance at my computer or the Oprah's Bookclub volume I started 1.5 months ago.  I attempted to justify said behaviour with nightly runs, but not even I'm buyin' it anymore.

Thankfully, this past saturday, I was invited to "go paddling" with a group of local enthusiasts.  Saturday morning, I was up in a flourish (slight exaggeration..) and without checking the weather, dressed in shorts, flip-flops and no sleeves, I was out the door.  The keen of you will have picked up on the problem, immediately.  In my defense, my Muskoka mind groups canoes and paddle trips with sun and leisure-- you would think that by now I would have realized where I am... and that where I am is Banff.. and Banff is not Muskoka.  And river paddling is not lake cruising.  And the Bow River is not Bay Lake.  But, no.  I arrived at the meeting place to find 5 other bodies dressed in neoprene and fleece, staring at me like I was the biggest loon they'd ever seen.  Luckily, they took pity on my innocence (read: ignorance) and drove me back to my house so I could change into something capable of withstanding the 5'C water (guaranteed to splash over the side of the boat).. not to mention the pseudo- katabatic winds (look it up, Onterrible) over the water.

Upon arriving at Castle Junction, where we'd be putting in, I couldn't help but notice how fast the water was moving..  I knew I was with experienced paddlers, but being somewhat inexperienced myself (in this area, at least), I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.  The first few moments on the river felt similar to the first, wobbly skating strides I take at the beginning of each season.. a little unsure but gradually more stable.  Before I knew it, I'd mastered 'the pry', 'the draw' and perfected my forward and backward strokes.  

Something I learned: river paddling is all about the steering.  For most of the trip, it would have been easy to get by without any forward propulsion, at all.  The river current is so quick that it does a lot of the work for you-- thus river paddling's designation as the lazy Alberta sport.  Still, I'd pick it over climbing, any day!  

And then we came to the whitewater.. we'd gone about 3/4 of the trip without encountering much turbulence, but enough that I was [again] silly enough to think we were on whitewater.  As it happens.. we weren't.  We came out of an eddy, around a bend and all of a sudden there are waves up to there, rocks sticking out of the middle of the channel and huge, curling torrents!  My heart was racing!  There wasn't much to fear as we made it over the rapids (second largest in the area, only to Lake Louise) with little more than soaked shins... but it was SO exhilarating!  There's something to be said for being in control of the boat you're guiding over the waves... unlike certain other whitewater excursions..  I even joked at the end of the day about owing my party $80 plus $10 for transportation.  

All in all, it was a fantastic day and a wonderful feeling to be out on the water again.  Now, anybody up for some wakeboarding?  :)

Note:  On account of the fact that I didn't want my camera to plunge into the icy depths of the Bow, I opted for leaving it in the car-- therefore, it should be said, that the pictures in this post are not of the actual stretch of river we canoed, or on the same day.  But they're of the Bow!