Ottawa River Whitewater Rafting - Wilderness Tours and Esprit

Only 3% of the world's water is actually fresh water. Nine percent of the world's fresh water is in Canada. Therefore we have the bragging rights to say we have the most natural water in the world and the best white water in the world is located along the Ottawa River between Ontario and Quebec.

I had the opportunity to explore two great Canadian companies that navigate these whitewater kingdoms. The first is Wilderness Tours, www.wildernesstours.ca Canada's largest white water rafting company and Esprit Whitewater, www.espiritwhitewater.ca  owned by a world famous white water rafter Jim Coffey.

Wilderness Tours is one of the largest rafting companies in the world and is a four and a half star destination (Tripadvisor rating). Their wood cabins offer cozy queen size beds and or a camping option. There is a full selection of land activities to play on while not on the river. The food is excellent and plentiful, there are movies each night for the kids and there is live music for the adults. On the weekends they can have large events and festivals.

The  gear and equipment provided for the rafting experience was first class, with options of gearing up with wet suits in case of cold temperatures for the kids. They provide experienced guides, helmets, paddles and life jackets and busing to the drop off point. Our guide Denis was trained at Algonquin College for outdoor adventure sports and really knew the river well. He guided us through the rapids, taught us when and how to paddle. Each rapid has specialties known as features, and most whitewater rapids are named after the farmer who land it is connected to. The first set we navigated was called McCoys and there are sections known as Gladiator to name a couple. Part of the Eco tourism philosophy by Wilderness Tours was their forsight to purchase the lands on both sides of the white water to maintain its pristine presence Wilderness has acquired about 3000 acres to keep the Ottawa River whitewater as a natural park. Apparently they approached governmental bodies to create a national park but to no avail, so they took matters into their own hands and created one. A real forward thinking entrepreneurial company and kudos to its management.

In addition to taking vacationers down on daily journeys, Wilderness runs a white water kayaking school with the best instructors in the world. I was most impressed with their teen program called "Keeners" where teens learn whitewater kayaking skills, video production and public speaking skills. The kids we met were bright, motivated and polite. A great place for parents to send teens to learn about adventure sport.

On the Quebec side of the river near Davisville is Esprit, which is a also an International  Youth hostel location. Its facilities are simpler with basica and clean accommodation and a camping option. The owner Jim Coffey, runs tours into Costa Rica and Mexico in the winter and so this is a full time operation for him. The Esprit advantage is that they take you down two channels of the Ottawa in one day. Wilderness will only take you down one channel. One channel is easier and called the family fun package, and the other channel is wilder, known as the High Adventure route. In my opinion Espirit has more of the purist outdoor adventure spirit as exhibited by its many wall murals and awards from National Geographic.

Both of these operators are knowledgeable and committed to the environment. I was particularly impressed with Esprits, Paddle to Parliament to help protect Canadian rivers. In addition one percent of their revenues goes back to supporting environmental causes.

These are the two Ottawa river gods of the whitewater in Canada. Explore and Enjoy.


The Adventure Guy