We docked and got out of the water to head to Butterfly Falls, which is only accessible by boat or swimming, pretty awesome if you ask me. We had no idea we would be getting to see one of our favorite things while trying out something new, but we were stoked about it! So we got out of the boats and walked through a wooded area in the middle of the river and creeks (or maybe it was all the river) and about halfway there everyone stopped and was pointing but we didn't know why. Everyone was whispering about a beaver swimming in the water! Yes, a real life beaver right there. Now I must be honest and say I didn't really see the first one as it was standing there, but I did see it jump in the water, swim for a second and go under, we could see the bubbles and saw it pop up before it hid from us.
It was a brief encounter but amazing none the less. Little did I know, moments later we would walk up on another beaver at his/her dam and it swam right in front of us for a good minute and then went inside the dam. IT WAS AWESOME! And it was great for me on so many levels because not only have I always wanted to see one, but my nickname in Jr. High and High School was Beaver, like from 'Leave it to Beaver' so I have always had a connection to the name and creature because of it. I will be doing an entire post on what running into beavers means and the importance to me, so please stay posted for that! (No pictures of the beavers sadly, some magic can;t happen on film.)
We then trekked on and walked through a deep part of the river and there the falls were, running right into the water, it was amazing! We even got to walk right up to it via a man made staircase leading from the water and walk right under it. It was soooooo cold but so exhilarating and hey we were already we so why not feel the power of the falls! The smiles around were amazing and everyone was having a blast, it really was quite magical. Next we headed back to the boat and to hit some REAL rapids.
One of the women were asking if we had hit any really rapids yet and the instructor said no, which scared all of the women on our boat except of course for @haileyscomet, as we both wanted more action. So with the scared crew we headed our for some real fun and headed for the rapids. They were pretty wicked as we had some big splashes, big drops, and one gnarly hit that made me and the woman behind me smash heads really hard, luckily we had our helmets on or we would have been knocked out! Right after we both look and made sure each was okay before getting back to normal.
After hitting two big sections and with the biggest and last ones remaining, we docked and ate some oranges before going out. While there the two women complained and the two women behind them, got off and were escorted back to the road to be picked because the were tapping out from fear. The other two almost left, but decided to stay and ride it out. The last ones were the most fun and we hit them hard. Lots of splashes and laughs and falling in the boat, it was a blast. Once we finished, you have the option to take a short ride back up and the those last rapids even harder, so of course we did!
I couldn't tell the difference but it was fun to get back out there with the 7 brave souls we went back out with us. We then ended the trip in their sauna and we headed back home with pictures of the journey. It was a really great time and I am so glad we did it! We want to go even bigger next time and want to buy little kayaks to hit them solo like our camera and safety man was, it looked so fun and I can't wait to try it!
Part 1: https://steemit.com/travel/@mickeybeaves/white-water-rafting-on-chilliwack-river-b-c-canada-photos
Their website: https://www.chilliwackriverrafting.com/
