White Water Rafting in Jasper – The Trip of a Lifetime
Jasper, Alberta
Us Mountain Men are a lot like sharks. We know where our territory is and we don’t step outside it. With this in mind, you can imagine my face when my sister presented me with a voucher to go white water rafting in Jasper National Park with Maligne River Adventures. Barreling down a river at full pace with nothing but my hung-over arms and a little bit of gravity keeping me tied down is not the way I usually choose to spend my Saturday mornings. However, my Canadian Rockies loving friends, that birthday present turned out to be one of the best I have ever had and the blurry memories from that day still come back to me now, albeit in the form of nightmares! 
There are different rivers and runs for all experiences. My sister was wise enough to know that I am what is technically referred to as “useless” in the water so the Novice Athabasca Trail was chosen for me. Because of its scenic beauty and history of fur trade exploration, it has been designated as a Canadian Heritage River. I can tell you all this information now in hindsight but at the time, all I remember from the introduction is why do we need crash helmets and lifejackets? Are we not planning on staying in the raft?!
Adrenalin
There were 9 fellow sufferers with me in the raft and we were all relived to see that things start off at a nice slow pace. The raft moves off gently and the guides let you know some of the history of the rivers while you have time, before it really kicks off. In between the quiet parts of the river, there were some serious rapids that had Mountain Man screaming like a mountain goat. The relief in the quiet parts is doubled by the fact that you have time to look around at the stunning scenery of Jasper National Park, one of the gems of the Canadian Rockies. 
It is the whole experience as a package that makes this such a good trip and not just the adrenalin pumping sections. The excursion leaves at 9am and they can arrange transport for you to and from the launch site. It is only $64 and half that again for kids so it’s not going to break the bank (especially for sisters looking to buy a cheap birthday present). For more information about Maligne and other white water rafting companies in Jasper and Banff, check out Canadian Rockies Rafting Options.
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