Weather or not.

There was a rafting trip on Wednesday. The guests arrived and it was overcast and raining. Not exactly a day to make you look forward to a cool wet day on the river.

The rain was coming down as we dashed about getting equipped for the day trying to stay dry. At least it was cozy getting changed inside in the change rooms.

I tried to encourage everyone by saying, “Here it is raining but once we get up in the foothills it can be a different weather system”. I also used the “you get just as wet on a sunny day as on a rainy day. I got the usual looks of they weren’t buying it. Eventually everyone was ready and we loaded on the bus and headed up to the launch site on the Red Deer River.

When I asked everybody how they were doing making ready to get on the river, the one comment was - “my feet are cold”. This sounded very different than the usual comments of, this should be fun! or I’m really excited! or I can hardly wait to get to jumping rock!

It was a bit quiet as they pushed off into the light drizzle that eventually petered out during the day.

And that is the point. It was only a light drizzle – nothing compared to the downpour at the rafting centre in Sundre. So often I have seen one weather system at the office and then driven up into a different one at the put in point. On occasion it has even been more dramatic as rain at the lower elevation and sun at the upper elevation.

Recently we had a major storm system move through the province. I noted that at the take out point there were leaves and branches strewn around on the ground as well as some knocked over trees. Up at the put in point there was no evidence of such a storm – a scant 15 kms away and at a higher elevation.

So next time you are planning a river outing, no matter the weather system you are arriving in, it could be a better one up at the put in -- or not!!!!