I’ve heard of white water rafting but what?!? Tubing? I was surprised to hear this existed and it was only 1.5 hour away from Toronto. Elora Gorge is natural area in the Grand River valley. The Grand River rushes through the gorge, which has 22-metre high cliffs. Tubing on the gorger is about 2km long and takes about 45 minutes to complete.Tubing rentals and wristbands costs about $27 for a whole day until 7pm.

I rounded up some friends and made a weekend camping trip. The camp facilities were great and it allowed us to roll out of our tents and rent the tubes before they sell out (they are first come first serve!)

My friends and I arrived on Friday after work and rushed to set up before the sunset. Steve made some amazing bbq salmon and mango salsa. We chilled around the campfire and also played with some slow exposure light art!

S’mores were a must cept we tried making s’more cones this time. Sadly, we ended up burning them. Exhausted from work, I crashed around 2am.

We woke up early to line up for the tubes at 8:30am. The office opens at 9am and already a line started when we got there. The line moved slowly but we got everything at 9:30am. It was interesting transporting these tubes back… We should have just walked for 15 mins. Instead we drove with the tubes outside the window and holding them from inside the car. Victor was smarter and tied it to his car.

We stuffed ourselves with breakfast and then half of us had a long nap. We finally got going and headed for the tubing shuttle around 3pm.

From the rentals area, the free shuttle bus drove us to the launch site and we were all excited to go! We heard the rapids and saw the people going on it. There were no lifeguards and yup, people were wiping out on the rapids… Could be quite dangerous actually…

The river is a one way start to finish ride. Once, you start you have to finish the full 2km ride to the end. The first set of rapids was the craziest and intense!

In fact, poor Cassie and Chris both fell off and hurt themselves slightly. Victor suggested we just walk back (5 min walk) and just try those rapids again. So I went on it for a second time and it was a blast!

The second set of rapids arrive within a few minutes after the first. They were smaller but fun. You gotta watch out for the rocks though since the water is quite shallow. Be careful to not scrape ur bum.

The third and last set of rapids was small and arrive maybe 10 min after the second set.

This time I flipped over! My tube was backwards heading down a rapid and it hit a rock. That made me tip and flip. It was kinda scary and it’s so shallow I bruised my knees and pelvis. At least for a minute I was panicking, freaking out and trying to grab my tube. Epppp!

Right after the rapids, it’s all calm water so I just stood up and took a few minutes to catch my breathe. Part of the experience I guess.

The rest of the river was calm (more than half of the ride). Some parts weren’t moving at all and people even bought paddles to get through it. I just snoozed and relaxed on the lazy river. Sometimes you end up being stuck on rocks!

After one run, we were done as it took about an hour and half to complete. We headed back to the campsite, showered and started the bbq.

We ended the night with a feast of grilled pineapple, asian chicken wings, burgers and successful s’more cones! We called it a night around midnight and packed up in the morning. What a fun weekend with great company. I’d do it again next year! I’m definitely becoming a camper.

If you do go to Elora for white water tubing (and you totally should!), here are some tips;

• After the first set of rapids, get off your tube in the shallow slow part and walk to the side (same side as the launch area) Head back up on the rocks and get to the launch area again. Ride the first set again without having to go the rest of the 2km.
• Bring quarters for showers! It’s like 25 cents for about 10 minutes.
• You must wear watershoes! The rocks are so sharp and slimy. It is very important when you fall off and even just walking around the launch site.
• Arrive early… Tubes do sell out!
• Have fun!