Red Deer River running high (but not stupid high)...

No big deal until Big Rock. Still getting over the year before's ass-kicking on the Kicking Horse, I decided to walk, with a number
of our beginners. But sit back and watch the carnage! There was the pair in the ducky, travelling with a raft company (why the
raft co. let them go in a ducky is a question I don't have an answer to). Right over the pourover at the start of the rapid! Swim
the rest.

Then there was the group of three people in two canoes. The pair in one was completely clueless. They avoided the pourover (which
really isn't difficult), but were unable to avoid the big waves and swamped. Swim. The solo canoeist really looked like he knew
what he was doing, nonchalantly and skillfully paddling around the pourover. But then, all he needed to do was put in two or three
good strokes to miss the big waves, and he never did... Maybe he wanted to ride them, but in an open canoe without floatation, I
wouldn't think that was a good idea. Swamp. Swim.

So, get down to Gooseberry. The raft company is there, and all but one make it through safely--even the pair in the ducky got
ejected but they did make it through. One raft is off line and gets stuck. Now for those who haven't paddled the Red Deer,
Gooseberry is a river-wide ledge, and the river is probably over 200 feet wide. There is an angled tongue down the centre, which
can be ridden at any water level. Some people will boof the left edge of the ledge as well. At high water, like it was that day,
the line is razor thin, and the consequences of being off line would be rather unpleasant (though a swimmer would be most likely be
spit out after a spin cycle or two). Once again, I walked. As I said, one raft missed the line (just barely) and got stuck in the
hole. All the passengers were ejected (a couple had some unpleasant recirculations in the hole for a few seconds which probably
seemed like a lifetime to the hapless swimmers) but the guide stayed in. And he stayed in for the full fifteen minutes that his
raft was stuck!! Apparently he was a very experienced guide who had never once flipped a raft--and he still didn't flip it.
Anyway, a couple rafts unsuccessfully tried to knock him out of the hole. One of our kayakers ran the drop with a throwbag in his
teeth, throwing it at the right moment--he hit the guide in the face with the bag, but the guide was unable to grab it! Then there
was the guide on shore trying (two or three times!) to hit the raft, 80-90 feet away, with his 60 foot throwbag... And glaring at
me for not trying to throw my bag!

So we get down to the Nationals site, where the raft company takes their customers for a swim off a small cliff. One decides it
would fun to attack one of kayakers... At first, we thought he was panicking and was just trying to get out of the water, but it
was soon obvious that he was just an a$$hole.

Eventually, we get to the takeout, where we saw the remains of the canoe that the guy was paddling solo. We later found out that he
had tried to line his boat through Gooseberry, and it got away from him... He actually tried to accuse people of stealign the gear
he had had tied into the boat!

An amazing day of crazy bravado...

(I missed the really crazy day of bravado, when the river was stupid-high...)

-Paul