Kicking Horse River: White Water Rafting with BBQ Lunch

4.96

(591 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

So, we almost missed the shuttle because I couldn’t find my other shoe — classic me. The driver just grinned and said, “Don’t worry, happens every day.” That broke the ice. The bus ride from Golden was all nervous chatter and that weird mix of river smell and sunscreen. Our guide, Sarah, handed out gear and cracked jokes about “Canadian wetsuit fashion,” which helped me forget for a second that I’d never done white water rafting before — at least not on something like the Kicking Horse River.

The first splash hit colder than I expected, like someone threw a snowball straight down my back. Rapids here go from gentle to wild pretty fast; one minute you’re floating past pines and then suddenly you’re clinging to the paddle while Sarah yells “Forward!” over the roar. I caught myself laughing (maybe shrieking?) as we bounced through a class 4 rapid — honestly, I didn’t expect to love it that much. At one point, an eagle swooped overhead and everyone just went quiet for a second. You know those moments when everything else drops away? That was one.

Lunch was this smoky BBQ by the riverbank — nothing fancy, but after all that paddling even a hot dog tastes like a feast. They had veggie burgers too (my friend’s vegetarian), so nobody went hungry. We swapped stories with another group who’d flipped their raft earlier (everyone fine, just soaked). The sun came out right as we finished eating and steam started rising off our wetsuits — kind of surreal.

I still think about that last stretch of river: arms aching but not wanting it to end yet, water sparkling everywhere, voices echoing off the canyon walls. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been there yourself. And yeah, I found my shoe in the end — stuffed inside my helmet.