Hap Wilson's Wilderness 3-Book Bundle by Hap Wilson

Author:Hap Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NAT000000, SPO010000
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2009-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

8

RAPID TRANSIT

But there are those amongst us, some who have earned the right to follow their own judgement in such matters; these now take control of the situation. They are the “white water men,” to whom the thunderous roar of the rapids and the smell of spray flying in the face are as the intoxication of strong drink.

— Grey Owl, Men of the Last Frontier

Running rapids on a wild river in a canoe is entirely a white man thing. Originally, Native Canadians respected their fragile canoes and disdained running fast water for fear of damaging their craft. Early traders and explorers were driven by time and seasonal constraints, and it was deemed more important to tempt fate on the whitewater runs rather than waste time portaging supplies over arduous trails.

Today it’s a sport for the adventure seeker. And there are over thirty million whitewater paddlers in North America, few if any are bumping their canoes down boulder strewn rapids in a quest for furs, or pushing westward in search of a location for a new trading post. Aside from the adrenalin rush and the fear of death, there is an actual science to it all — the knowing, or the appreciation of the power of water; and more than that there is the acute awareness of the consequence of your actions. Good whitewater paddlers have all this down pat, but for the neophyte (and most fit in to this category) there needs to be a Plan B and even a Plan C just in case things don’t go down as anticipated. And for these burgeoning enthusiasts the success of the run may be gauged in how well you recovered from your mistakes. Grey Owl, and myself I might add, used the canoe for the work at hand and were put on government salary to tend to the management of forests and parks and beavers. The canoe was to us as the car is to the commuter. Running a rapid could be analogous to a hyper-fast, rush-hour retreat, dodging vehicles along a busy thoroughfare. Grey Owl elaborates on the thrill of the run:

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