Canoeing Down the Akan River

Nice!

Way to go!

A Canadian canoe glides smoothly through choppy river rapids.

A pair of canoers work in unison to paddle skillfully over the waves.

We're at the Akan River in eastern Hokkaido,

boldly facing the vast open wilderness looming ahead.

Let's take a canoe trip down the Akan River.

Wild Hokkaido!

With headwaters starting at Lake Akan in the east of Hokkaido,

the Akan River runs for 98 kilometers.

Its upper part flows through deep forests...

nourishing extensive farmland

before eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean.

Today we will canoe about 10 kilometers

down the Akan River's midstream section.

The first half is rough rapids requiring high-level skills.

The second half will take us through gentler waters.

There are a variety of different currents

to experience during the approximately three-hour canoe trip.

October.

Today at the Akan River is a Canadian living in Hokkaido,

Greg Bruyere and his wife Mari.

We'll have to be careful starting.

The couple have canoed river rapids all over Hokkaido.

This will be their ninth time on the Akan River.

Yeah, we love the Akan River.

It's quite a technical river.

It's quite steep

and there's lots of unique whitewater and rapids

so we always get quite excited to run this one.

It's a fun river.

The Akan River has rapids not found in other rivers, which I actually love.

You can also see many wild animals, so I'm excited to see what we might meet.

They're both wearing waterproof dry suits in case they capsize.

Before they set off, they check each other's lifejacket.

Safety is a top priority.

Let's have a great trip.

Let's be safe. Time to enjoy!

All right.

- Okay.
- Okay.

The Akan River canoe trip begins.

Alrighty.

Welcome back to the Akan.

Immediately after leaving,

surging waves on the surface come into view.

They fearlessly head directly into them.

It's important when canoeing downstream to always keep the canoe upright.

Mari at the front paddles strongly to propel the canoe forward.

Behind her, Greg's job is to steer it

like controlling a car with a steering wheel.

The trick to clearing the rapids is staying upright

and using momentum to jump through the waves.

We should probably eddy out here and empty out.

Okay.

A feature of the Akan River is many large rocks,

visible both on the surface and under it,

which makes for complex waves.

Wow, that rock's out of the water now.

They quickly spot any obstacles like rocks,

change their route accordingly, and propel the canoe forward.

This river suits expert canoers

as it requires a wealth of experience

and advanced skills.

After overcoming the rapids, they arrive at a sandbar.

Greg takes something out.

In fact, this tool is for bailing out the water

that's collected in the bottom of the canoe.

We don't have too much water,

but when you're running whitewater in an open canoe,

you often need to bail the water out.

If the pooled water sloshes around, it makes the canoe unstable,

so they have to scoop it out repeatedly as they go down the river.

The fierce current continues down the Akan River.

Sometimes the waves wash away large rocks,

occasionally changing the landscape.

For this canoeing couple,

even after many visits,

the Akan River brings a fresh challenge each time.

It's been 30 minutes since they set off.

They've reached the most thrilling point of the trip.

A large rock over two meters wide

acts as a barricade against the river's flow.

The two go as far as they can on foot to check it out.

- Is it okay?
- It's big.

What we want to do is, we want to hit this tongue on the far river left there,

and just follow that tongue down. It's going to be a little bit scrapy,

but then square it up for all the big waves.

And make sure we're paddling hard

so we have some forward momentum to hit left of the huge rock at the bottom.

- Okay.
- Okay?

They've decided to approach the rock from the left.

But in the event they encounter an obstacle in front of the rock,

they double check that they can switch to the right side just in case.

All right, we're good.

Let's paddle forward a little bit.

There's rocks.

Looking slightly tense, they begin to paddle.

- Here we go.
- Here we go!

First, they take the left passage.

Perfect.

The river, which is swelled with water as it suddenly narrows,

becomes choppy and flows much faster.

Whoa! Around the rocks.

In the center of the river,

waves that seem to be curling backwards have come into view.

It's that big rock.

Hard forward.

Mari paddles with all her might.

Hard forward.

Greg skillfully uses the paddle and keeps the canoe upright.

They slip between the rock and the bank

and they've squeezed through!

Let's replay that in slow motion.

As Mari paddles and Greg straightens the canoe,

they slide past the rock.

It's an impressive move.

Having conquered this difficult section, they cry out in excitement.

There are still more thrills to come.

Next up, large rocks that are flat like boards

protrude from both riverbanks.

If the canoe bumps roughly against them

or rides up over them, they could break.

That's big rocks right there.

They identify a rock below the water

and look for a route around it.

- It's bumpy.
- Yeah, I can see that.

Okay? We're going to hit some rocks here too, Mari.

We want to go hard here!

Hard. Hard!

Draw! Beauty!

Nice!

They slide past the rock's edge by a hair's breadth.

It's been one and a half hours since they set off.

Here they decide to take a break.

Well, that's how she's done.

It was harder than I thought.

Yeah. There's a lot of new boulders

in spots that we haven't seen before, so

it's not an easy run.

There's a lot of maneuvering that needs to be done

last minute.

There were more rocks than I expected, which made it hard to navigate as we canoed.

They've had a good time on their most thrilling river ride yet.

It's five kilometers until the goal.

- Ready!
- Okay.

It's time to enjoy the second half of the Akan River.

Here we go.

- Okay.
- Okay, here we go.

The river's appearance changes dramatically from here.

The slope becomes gentler

and it seems like they're merely drifting along.

Look. It's so beautiful.

They now have time to enjoy the colorful scenery around them.

The current has suddenly changed. It feels good.

Yeah, it's another part of what I like about this river.

It just slows down and

it's a real nice cool down on the day.

Great chance to watch for some wildlife.

I want to see something!

The sun begins to set, and they are engulfed in silence.

Just then...

A deer!

- Ah, there's a big buck.
- Yes.

It's really big.

About 50 meters ahead,

a deer with magnificent antlers appears.

Then...

Incredibly, it crosses the river

splashing water as it goes.

He's looking.

That's the first time we've seen a buck cross the river.

- Yes.
- Awesome.

They got to check off an encounter with a wild animal

on their ninth trip down the Akan River.

This fantastic canoeing experience did not disappoint.

The Akan River really is

one of the classic

Hokkaido whitewater canoeing runs.

It's steep, it's got lots of boulders, it's very technical, big waves.

It's got a little bit of everything.

It's always a pleasure to come here and paddle.

The upstream is harder than any other river I've rafted,

then in the second half there's time to enjoy the peaceful scenery.

I love it, so I definitely want to come back again.

The Akan River with its many faces

is a magnet for canoers.