If we breakdown the day into parts, it will make more sense.
The drive from Banff to Kicking Horse and the Hydra guides had great scenery and was a relatively easy ride - 4 stars.
The facility reminds me of summer camp. The outhouse type experience, hand wash stations, limited water supply, and a BBQ area - 2 stars.
The introduction to White Water rafting and the instructions were complete and funny...the tour guide obviously did this for a long time to have a good script memorized. 5 Stars.
The equipment smelled like wet rags and was dirty. The helmet smelled like years of sweat built up. 1 star.
Lunch was a BBQ cheeseburger with some veggies and a brownie. Adequate before facing the dangers - 3 stars.
The River was low and the speed of the rapids were not Class 4 but a mild 3+. Didn't do much paddling...just floating. 3 Stars.
Our guide - Yaro - knew a lot about the sport and the river itself. He did his best to keep us entertained and at times floated us in more rapid areas to give us some excitement. A couple times, I was almost thrown. 4 Stars.
The bus back to base camp was a ride in an old blue bus with dozens of smelly rafters in wet - wetsuits. My feet were fully pruned. It would have been nice to change at the take out point but not possible - 2 stars.
Back at base camp, we handed in the gear and was taking a quick (really quick) shower but we can't use any soap. By the way, if you are a modest person, you might not be able to wash as there are two outdoor showers with little coverage. We were on a three hour ride back to Calgary and we really needed a full shower after the dirty suit. 2 Stars
Hopefully each of you will understand what to expect now that you saw my broken down ratings.
All in all, an enjoyable day but it was a letdown by the river itself. But not a total loss of my first time! Will be doing more in the future.
