Packed my bins and headed East!

Hello girls and boys,

I laid eyes on the mainland for the first time in three months on August 30, proceeded to eat a ridiculous amount of sushi in North Vancouver, picked up Josiane and made the final leg of the journey back to Kamloops! The air here is a lot less clean than on the West Coast but I assure you I am surviving!

Thanks to the boats and bikes, one of these things is not like the rest of them.

Spending less than 24 hours in Kamloops, nine students and two instructors made our way to the Robson Valley for the Swiftwater and Flood Rescue Specialist course. And school had started! For an adventure student this means seal launching into class II/III rapids and swimming around in the current rescuing subjects and participating in scenarios! It was a pretty rad course. We got to play around in Hargreaves Canyon during the day and participate in a night search scenario at the base of Rearguard Falls. Something about drunk guys going over the falls in an inflatable pool??? Pretty funny. I did not end up getting my certificate, which is good. I definitely need to spend more time in the river environment to get to know the ins and outs of the river. Oh, and I need to take up swim training! You will find me in the pool!

First day of class, not bad, not bad at all!

Who wouldn't want to be saved by them?

Only the best!

After five days of SRS, it was the typical one day to recharge, refuel and repack. It was off to the Clearwater Bible Camp, located in Clearwater, BC on the banks of the Clearwater River, for kayak 3, where seven of us (the 'white water people') would attempt our CanoeKayakBC flatwater instructor and leader 2 certificates. Again it was a great course, spending a quarter of the day learning how to give theory lessons, half the day on the lake getting our skills up to demo quality and then a quarter of the day doing a river run. Needless to say they were full days but the sun shone brightly and temperatures often reaching 30+ which was wonderful! I managed to get my flatwater instructor and will continue to log days on the river in hopes of getting my leader 2 in the spring.

Dutch Lake

The Clearwater River: carving s-turn drills with Flo

Upon the completion of kayak 3, it was back to Kamloops with no courses in sight until October 24, when we head back to the classroom for six weeks! So far, a few of my days of been spent on the river, with a lot more river trips to come. My goal is log 30-40 more days on the river between now and April. Totally doable, but its going to mean getting to know the Clearwater and the Thompson Rivers a little TOO well. Oh well, I will master them, hit the micro eddies and feel comfortable leading newbies down them. Well, fingers crossed! I will also be assisting on two sections of kayak 1. This terrifies me because I still lack confidence in a few of the rapids on the Clearwater, but I am hoping the the instructors know my abilities well enough to say no! to me.

Beautiful campsite on the Clearwater

Adam ready to cliff jump!

Not much else to report from Kamloops! But I will leave you with my top five things to do when you are not paddling and bored out of your mind in Kamloops:

1. Kickbox at Kix 4 Chix
2. Pick up yarn and needles to knit at Electrictree Yarns (the new knitting store downtown Kamloops!)
3. Buy juggling balls at Cuz I'm Magic
4. Pick up a ridiculous jig saw puzzle at a local thrift store
5. Sit in the steam room at the TCC

Cheers,

K