Thrills, chills and big smiles.

SVE provides a whitewater rafting experience that surpasses all of your expectations. Knowledgeable guides, friendly staff, top-notch gear and gourmet food will leave you wanting more. All of this set within a world-class natural environment gets the heart pumping and the inspiration flowing. I can hardly wait to do it again next summer with SVE."

Your trip begins the evening before we start rafting. Upon arrival at the Smithers airport your hotel can arrange a shuttle to bring you to the hotel. Later in the evening we will have a pre-trip meeting where you will meet the guides and all the other travelers. Waivers will be signed and any lingering paperwork will be completed. You will receive your special dry bags for packing your personal belongings into. We will also have a briefing on gear, clothing, and the river itself.

This morning we meet after breakfast in the hotel lobby to prepare for our departure. There is time to do any last minute shopping, grab a latté and board the van for our transfer to Rainbow Alley and the headwaters of the Babine River. Here we meet the rest of the guides, enjoy a deli-style lunch at the rivers edge. Before we launch there will be a river orientation and safety talk, and by early afternoon, well be on the river. A couple of hours later, well arrive at our first camp where well enjoy cocktails and hors doeuvres as we set camp and settle in. The first of many sumptuous dinners follows before we collect around the campfire under a star-filled sky.

We typically begin each day with coffee and tea, followed by a hot breakfast that may feature fluffy blueberry pancakes, breakfast burritos or perhaps West Coast eggs benny. Fresh fruit salad, granola, and yoghurt are always available. In short, you will not go hungry! Once camp has been broken and the boats are packed well head downstream, usually between 9:30 and 10am.
Our journey continues on Day Two through deep canyons passing several Class III rapids. The backdrop is thick Northern forest, with the mountains and glaciers of the Sicintine Range to the north. By Day Three the pace of the river picks up and well travel a sustained stretch of class III rapids highlighted by the exciting Pinball Alley. Tonight's camp is deep in the Babine Canyon with the adjacent waterfall providing a refreshing shower for the hardy.
Day Four begins with a visit to the famous Class IV Grizzly Drop where it is quite common to see Grizzly Bears fishing! Later in the day there may be an opportunity to hike to the abandoned Native village of Kisgegas and the remnants of the turn-of-the-century Jesuit Mission, now overgrown with wildflowers. After leaving Kisgegas, the river valley opens providing vistas of Mount Thomlinson and the Babine pours its contents into the much larger Skeena River.
Day Five begins with large splashy rapids—the sinuous waters and rock-lined canyons bordered by coastal cedars provide a mysterious ambience. Our final campsite on the Skeena River provides a perfect setting for our final night in the wilderness together.

On our final day of rafting we begin to see the signs of civilization along the shores. We pass the confluence of the Kispiox and Skeena rivers, next to the functioning native village of Kispiox, where giant totem poles pay silent tribute to generations past. We take out at Hazelton BC, the historic terminus of the steam powered river boats travelling the Lower Skeena at the turn of the century. Our evening is spent back in the relative luxury of Smithers where, after well-deserved hot showers, well get together for a final dinner. Stories can be practiced and embellished with your new friends before taking them home to family and friends.

Flights from Smithers to Vancouver leave Smithers at approximately 10:00am and 6:00pm—there is a hotel shuttle to the airport to get you to whichever flight youve booked. If youre on the earlier flight, youll be back in Vancouver before noon, so connections home can be made that afternoon.