July 2005. My daughter and her fiance are over from England visiting. We started off in Vancouver and made our way to the farm in Grand Forks B.C. It gets hot in Grand Forks in the summer time. The climate here is semi-desert. We get over 2000 hours of sunshine a year. The temperatures in the summer months reach over 30 degrees centigrade.
I have found out from the local tourist guides and from talking to the locals that tubing on the kettle River is a favourite pastime.
I know little about it but go to the local tyre store and ask for four tubes for tubing on the river. I state I have never tubed before but had heard it was fun. I am told that it is great fun and becomes addictive. They are very helpful there and get me four big inner tubes from trucks. I had asked for the big sized tubes as it will be adults tubing and I don't want us to sink!
Now it's the day to go tubing! I am nervous!! What if the tyre floats away from me before I even get onto it? How will I cope with getting to the bank at the right time to finish the tubing experience? What if the tyre deflates? Many questions going through my mind!
I am the first one down the slope at the bridge where we start our tubing experience. I put my tube on the water, and sit on it. I am wearing a swimming costume, a t-shirt over the top to stop me burning on my shoulders, and water shoes. I have no keys to worry about as my husband drove us to the start point and we are near enough to the farm when we finish the trip to walk home.
The other two are not far behind me and are putting their tubes in the water and floating downstream with me. I am nervous and it shows in my noisy chatter!
I start to relax and realise that it is enjoyable, floating peacefully and slowly downstream. On the right we can see some goats at the water's edge, come to get a drink from their field beside the Kettle river. As we float on down stream we see little fishes in the water. At one point I see some bigger fish but no one else sees them. We get to see the neighbourhood from a different perspective. It is peaceful even though there are a few other people tubing down stream.
We near the end of our tubing experience. We have been on the river for over an hour and passed little beaches where others have stopped to swim. My nervousness is back as I wonder how I am going to get off at the right place and not carry on floating downstream to who knows where! I warn the other two to be prepared to get to the bank. I do not want to lose them! My husband is sitting on the bank waiting for us so we know we are at the right place! Everything looks so different from this perspective. We use our hands as oars and reach the bank and climb out successfully, chatting about our experiences and walking the short distance back to the farm. This is an experience that has to be repeated!
The next afternoon we did just that! All four of us this time. We drove to the same bridge to set off for the same destination. Not as much nervousness now for me though I have some car keys that I do not want to lose. I have a clip on my keys and clip them on to my strap on my swimsuit. They should be safe here unless I fall in the water!
We see different wild life today and different people tubing. Some people are on lilos and others on tubes like us, and some on tubes with rope attached to other tubes they are towing with their drinks in. These people have done it before and know what they need!
This time we recognise where we are and are prepared to get to the bank. I call out to my husband to be prepared as it is new to him. He takes me at my word and goes towards the bank a bit ahead of time. He gets out of his tube and steps to the ground. The water is about knee deep here. That is until he took one step! Then it was about four feet deep and he was losing his tube. Quick thinking on his part and he is at the bank safely walking up it.
Several tubing sessions later we have visitors from Calgary and decide to do the long tube, from the border with the USA to the bridge. My husband and I have already done this journey and loved it! We need a car at the end of the tubing journey and a car to take us to the beginning. We drive to where we will start tubing first and unload the tubes and two of us wait there. The other two drive to where we will finish the journey and park one car there, bringing the keys with them in the second car.
They park the car at the start of the tubing experience and we secure our keys to our swimsuits, and set off down the slope to the kettle River. It is steep and the tube goes down before me! Luckily it didn't float downstream. We all four sit on our tubes and set off. The river is lower now and the going is slower. At times we have to get off the tube and walk over the shallow rocks, carrying our tubes. We don't see many other people tubing today. It is nearing the end of the season as the river is so low. It is the middle of August. We see deer by the side of the river on the banks and we see fish in the water. At one time we see a big shoal of fish that are over a foot long. Lovely!
We drift on and when I am behind everyone else I realise I don't like being left behind. (I realise now that this comes from my childhood days when I used to be allowed out with my big brother and his friends. They "allowed" me to go cycling "with" them. Except I never got to cycle "with " them. I was always way behind them. They wait to make sure I am following but never wait for me to catch up. I was always behind them!!!!). However, now I realise why I feel like I do, it still doesn't help as I make sure I am in the lead and not left behind!
At one point in the journey my husband gives us all laughter as he gets off his tube to walk over shallow water BUT his tube keeps going and for the next few minutes he is attempting to catch up with his tube!! It would have been a long swim/ walk back to the ending place.
This tubing session took over two and a half hours but was very enjoyable. We got to the end, climbed out and walked up the slope, got in the car and went to pick up the first car and went home to a relaxing evening.
July 7 2006
My husband and I do our first river tubing of the year! We start at Spragghet Bridge and will tube down to the end of our road. We drive the car plus two tubes to the bridge and walk down the slope and get in the river. I ease my body back into my tube. The water feels cold and fresh. Paul decides to put the tube over his head and then get his feet over the edge. It doesn't go to plan! He puts the tube over his head, sits on the tube and before his feet get over the tube he has turned a sumersault in the water! He is wet through but his hat is still on his head! He tries again and gets the same result!! Third time lucky and we are off sailing down the river, floating peacefully and watching the swallows as they swoop and dive over the river. They make a lovely sight and are there for most of the journey catching insects in the air. The river is faster flowing than last year when we tubed. There area a group of tubers about five or ten minutes ahead of us, but we never get to meet up with them so we have the river to ourselves, seeing only one family on the steps of their home and in their back yard. The whole experience takes us an hour, from leaving the farm to returning to it. We get towels and place them under us on our seats as we drive back to collect my car at the bridge where we started. The tubing was a great experience!
July 29 2006
We do our second river tubing of the year. We start at Spragghet Bridge again and tube to the end of Almond Gardens Road East. It is a much longer journey than the last one we did! It takes us about an hour and three-quarters so double the time that the last one took. We see a heron, but very few swallows this time. We also see animals grazing at the backs of several houses. There are goats, alpaccas and a donkey. When we get out at Almond Gardens Road East there is a person there just enjoying the scenery, sitting on a chair with his feet in the water. As we climb up the slope I notice something like a slow-worm but it might have been something else... it was brown in color and smooth. Another good tubing experience! When we collect the car from Spragghett Bridge we count at least 15 cars and trucks parked there!
Aug 5 2006
We do our third tubing of the year. This time there are a lot of cars parked where we usually park so we drive to Beach Road, park and start our tubing there. We float past Spragghet Bridge. It is slow going and we ground a lot of times. Again there are a lot of people on the river enjoying the tubing. We pass some of them but only because we are paddling and they are not! We see a Bald Eagle on one of the empty beaches but it flies off as we get near it. Again we see animals grazing including deer. This time it is a very slow journey and we realise that it is going to be our last this year as the river is so shallow now. The whole journey takes us two and a half hours but was very enjoyable.
I noticed yesterday that there were several people out tubing on the river! Today I took Bo down to tthe river for a swim (on long leash!) and again there were several people enjoying floating down the river on their tubes! They appeared to be going quite fast, but the river did not seem very high. I am wondering how many weeks of tubing there will be this year!