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 Terrace 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’s time to do any last minute shopping, grab a latté and board the van for our transfer to the Bowser River put in. Here we meet the rest of the guides and enjoy a deli-style lunch at the river’s edge. Before we launch there will be a brief river orientation and safety talk, and by early afternoon, we’ll be on the river. A half hour later, we’ll arrive at our first camp where we’ll enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres 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 we’ll head downstream, usually between 9:30 and 10am.
Our journey continues on Day Two through deep canyons passing lots of Class III rapids and a couple Class IV rapids. The backdrop is steep cliff walls and thick Northern forest, with the rolling Omineca Mountains in the distance. Late in the day we leave the Bell-Irving River behind and join the Nass River. Tonight’s camp is in the broader valley of the Nass.
We begin Day Three with an hour or so of floating followed by what could possibly be described as BC’s single best section of whitewater. 30 kilometers of pool – drop rapid after rapid excitement through one of the most spectacular canyons we’ve ever been in leads us to an idyllic camp for an evening of comparing stories of good, clean whitewater fun.
Day Four continues with spectacular canyons and more tight squeezes as we navigate lots of Class II and III rapids. Tonight’s camp provides a myriad of waterfalls and pools for a true riverside shower.
Day Five has us back in the whitewater with 2 Class IV rapids, one of which is a spectacular canyon that gives a sense of dropping steeply through the Coast Mountains as the Nass makes its final hurrah through Moose Carcass Canyon before flattening out into the historically and culturally rich Lower Nass River Valley. Tonight’s camp is on a beautiful gravel bar in seclusion just outside of civilization.

Our final day of rafting is a welcome change being a total float. The calm, purling waters are bordered by coastal cedars providing a mysterious ambience. We will begin our re-integration to society as we see evidence of a thriving First Nations community. The Lower Nass Valley has 4 very separate villages that are home to the Nisga’a people. They have lived here for centuries and have passed some impressive milestones regarding First Nations independence. The Nisga’a people were the first in Canada to complete a land claim settlement with the Government of Canada effectively giving them an entire valley to govern as an independent country. SVE has developed a relationship with the Nisga’a and have been invited to develop this trip which terminates on their land. Additionally, we have been offered an introduction to some of the rich cultural history existing there including the possibility of a tour of an abandoned village by an elder or a traditional dance to meet us at our takeout.
Our takeout point is near the First Nations town of New Aiyansh, which is an area steeped in Native history with a recent boom and bust in the logging industry. Our evening is spent back in the relative luxury of Terrace where, after well-deserved hot showers, we’ll 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 Terrace to Vancouver leave Terrace 6 times / day. There is a hotel shuttle to the airport to get you to whichever flight you’ve booked. If you’re on an earlier flight, you’ll be back in Vancouver before noon, so connections home can be made that afternoon.