The Disappearing Rapids in Prince Rupert

Butze Rapids, east of Prince Rupert, is advertised as the "reversing rapids" caused by reverse tidal flows as the rising tides push up the Skeena River Slough.  Having seen the tidal bore at "Riding the Wild Bore" on the Shubenacade River, we were eager to see what the tidal reversing of the river current would do here.

The trail is advertised as about 5 km (3 miles), and that seemed accurate.  We had lots of time before the moment today that the river current was supposed to reverse because of the rising tide.  Low tide was supposed to be about 11:48am, and the reversing tide at Butze Rapids was supposed to show up an hour later -- at 12:48pm.  We decided to enjoy this loop trail as we made our way slowly toward the rapids viewing platform:

Fall is so evident.  The leaves were scattered all across the trail --

-- and one falling leaf actually fell onto Kathy's shoulder and perched there, as if to emphasize that we are headed into cooler weather:

This is a Northwest Pacific rainforest, and the trees reminded us of that, wearing their robes of moss:

For whatever reason, the trail boasted lots of unusually shaped trees, which we enjoyed.  But we wondered whether this would be too spooky a place in the dark of night.

About halfway around the loop, we came to the beach.  We enjoyed the colorful, scenic views across the water:

 A series of islands showed up to our eyes and on our GPS's, but it was their fog-draped images that caught our imaginations the most:

The day kept getting sunnier, and the views out to the river got richer accordingly:

The river currents looked unpredictable, with some areas looking perfect for launching a kayak, and others appearing very formidable to naviage by boat.  Overall, thought, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking:

Finally, we reached the viewing platform.  Looking out at the "reversing rapids," we realized that a rising tide would not likely create "reversed" rapids, but would, instead, fill the river and make the rapdis look as if they did not exist.

Here is a photo of the rapids as we found them just at low tide:

To get a sense of how the water was moving down the rapids before the tide started rising, take a look at this video of the rapids at low tide, with the current running normally downstream from right to left.

Then, for contrast, check out this video of the rapids with the rising tide pushing back against the normal current.

We spotted a boatsman running the rapids in his fishing boat just before the tide turned.  It was interesting to watch the route he chose and follow his successful journey down, through the rapids, toward Prince Rupert.

Having enjoyed Butze Rapids sufficiently, we started hiking back to our trailhead, stopping only to enjoy the scenery across the top of the small plateau between our trailhead and the viewing platform for the rapids.  Here, there were Canadian Silver Fir, scrubby pines, and small pools of water to enjoy as we crossed back toward the highway and our trailhead:

 

After our hike, we had time to drive back into Prince Rupert and visit the Northern British Columbia Museum before we returned to our campground.  We hope to have an adventure of a slightly different sort tomorrow.