Floating Down The Bow River

We had planned to go on a float in Canmore, thinking it would be the perfect way to cap off a day in the mountains.  After a hike in Lake Louise, we were supposed to take a 2:10pm shuttle from the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise to the Gondola to pick up our vehicle.  However, we completely underestimated how busy it would be in the summer and we were not able to get onto that shuttle.  The next one wasn’t supposed to come for an hour, but a little shimmer of hope shone down on us as we saw another bus pull up shortly after.  However, the bus driver insisted that he was on a strict timeline and his supervisor had demanded that he begin his lunch break and he wasn’t permitted to drive us back.  It was a bit ridiculous as the driver wasn’t even supposed to start his lunch break until he got back to the Gondola area, where our car was parked.  In the end, he felt bad for us and allowed one of us to hop on so that we could go pick up the car. 

It wasn’t until my friend started down the hill that she realized there was no way she could make it back up in time to pick us up.  The traffic was end to end and it looked like it could easily take 40 minutes to come back up the hill, so we ended up having to walk down half way to meet her.  We had 45 minutes to get to Canmore, but the trip normally takes about an hour and our stress levels were definitely heightened.  When we were still about 30 minutes away, I suddenly received a text message from the float company to say that they were able to do a bit of re-shuffling and accommodate us on the 6pm float instead.  Our stress levels dropped significantly as now we had about 1.5 hours of extra time to kill in Canmore before the float.

All things work out in the end and this was a classic example.  The 6pm float turned out to be exactly what we needed.  The sun was lower and we were treated to some amazing views along the Bow River.  Our guide Peter, was a good sport and went along with all the silly situations we threw him into, making it a very memorable float.

I would highly recommend doing this float as it was relaxing, fun, entertaining and you don’t even need to know how to swim as you wouldn’t normally get wet.

Canmore Raft Tours
Address: 829 8 St, Canmore, AB T1W 2B6
Phone:(403) 688-1775