Guides with Revelstoke-based Apex Rafting were cruising a routine run down the Illecillewaet River rapids on June 7 when one of them noticed an unusual shape below the surface.
The guide claimed to have glimpsed an automobile underwater, however, fellow rafters reportedly refused to believe it.
But the truth quickly surfaced that someone had driven a vehicle off the Trans-Canada Highway into the river.
“We were never notified about the vehicle,” Apex owner-operator Ralph Koerber recounted to Black Press Media by email. “It entered the river during some very high water in late May, and when the water level dropped enough, we noticed it as we passed over.”
Perhaps more surprising was how long the vehicle had already sat submerged on the river floor.
“As we hadn’t heard anything about it, we called 911 and reported it to the RCMP,” Koerber said. “They were already aware that there was a vehicle reported in the river in late May.”
Staff Sgt. Chris Dodds told Black Press Media that a Revelstoke RCMP file on the matter has since concluded, with B.C.’s Natural Resource Officer Service better positioned to respond.
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Koerber said it’s possible the driver dozed at the wheel late one spring night, only to awake to quite the splash and chilly water filling the vehicle. Koerber said the man managed to flee and swim to shore, “shaken up” but with “no serious injuries.”
Rather than travel the tributary to town, the vehicle came to rest about two kilometres downstream from Apex’s launch site between Albert Canyon and the eastern access to Mount Revelstoke National Park.
Fortunately for Revy’s rafters, it hasn’t put a stop to daily river runs.
“Where the vehicle sits now, it doesn’t impact our rafting trips,” Koerber explained. “When it’s exposed, it’s just like a nice smooth rock. We can float either side of it or bump the nose into it for a little spin.”
Fun as it sounds, while the vehicle “seems pretty settled where it is now,” he said. “ If it were to dislodge from its current position and move another 200 metres downstream, it would sit in one of our bigger rapids and could affect our trip.”
Koerber noted that contaminants entering the river from motor vehicles aren’t a good thing. Though Apex hasn’t noticed any chemicals or other matter downstream yet, “the sooner they can safely get the vehicle out of the river, the better.”
With current streamflow levels, that may still be weeks away.
Snowpack levels for the Upper Columbia region sat at 105 per cent above the yearly average as of June 15, according to B.C.’s latest snow survey and water supply bulletin.
“We’re looking at abundant water levels through most of the summer,” Koerber said. “I really don’t know how much of the vehicle needs to be exposed before they can attempt extrication, but we likely won’t have low levels until late August.”
The Ministry of Parks and Environment has also been alerted to the sunken vehicle, but echoed that a response to salvage it must wait for more favourable conditions on the Illecillewaet.
“Recovery is currently unsafe due to fast-moving water and elevated river levels,” the ministry said by email, but “will proceed once conditions improve, or a safe method is identified, ensuring protection of both people and the environment.”
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It added that the vehicle owner, who police say is responsible for removal, has been directed to hire contractors to assess the situation and plan a response. Such contractors have been evaluating whether recovering the vehicle during the seasonal surge in river levels can be done safely using specialized equipment, the ministry said.
Koerber doesn’t know whether removing the vehicle will temporarily impact summer rafting, saying it comes down to timing, but the Ministry of Transportation and Transit “has always gone to great lengths to ensure our trips function as normally as possible.”
Asked if Apex ever previously ran into issues with highway traffic in its 33-year history, he recalled a tractor-trailer in the late 1990s running over the bank around the same area where the vehicle entered the Illecillewaet this spring. RCMP tasked his rafters with helping retrieve the driver and vehicle.
“That’s the only other instance I can recall,” Koerber said.
Still, he doesn’t see a reason for the province to install a barrier along that shoulder, calling it not a “particularly bad spot.”
For now, the ministry said provincial environmental emergency response officers are monitoring the situation in the river.