What’s more fun than careening down a river filled with freezing
cold glazier water and rocks while sitting in a small rubber raft filled with air!
That is what fun feels likeJ
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| Left to Right: Jason F. Me, Pat, Alex F. Katie, Josh |
I’ve rafted the White Salmon River twice before and had a
blast each time so when Chrissy arranged a trip for Josh’s birthday I was
excited to go again. We had 9 people so we were split into two boats. Chrissy,
Alex and his friend Mark were in one boat with three others and Josh, Katie,
Pat, Jason, his son Alex and I were in the other.
This year we used a
different company than the last two years which meant a new launch point and
new rapids!
We got about a mile
and half of river we’ve never rafted before, which was a lot of fun.
Our guide was “Dave”
from Ireland.
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| Cliff jumping! It's faster than hiking down:) |
We got to go cliff
jumping from a new section. I always have to laugh at myself because I always
start off really amped to jump and then as soon as I get to the end, I realize
just how high up I am (or it seems) and my brain kicks in and starts telling me
that it’s a stupid idea and that I’ll probably be the one to have a horrible
accident and paralyze myself. Besides the fact that history supports this
theory, I’ve always decided to ignore that voice and live lifeJ
Finally a great
action photo of me!
This was taken in the
rapids right after we capsized. Yeah, yeah…it wasn’t our fault though.
The boat ahead of us got
stuck in our path and we couldn’t get out of each other’s way in time. Our boats
collided and the force of the rapids pushed the boat up the side of the first
boat until it flipped.
Pat and I tried to
get throw our weight against the high side but you could feel the moment when
the boat had too much water in it and started to flip. All I could think was “huh…this
is what they were describing during the safety briefing.”
The rest of the river
went without incident but was a ton of fun! Lots of rapids, no collisions,
sunshine and lots of white waterJ
Josh and Pat made perfect water shields for Katie and I :) The water was fresh
cold, beautifully clear glacier water, so even though we were all getting a
face-full of water on each rapid it was delicious!
The grand finale was
the 14 foot water fall. It’s the tallest waterfall that is commercially rafted
in the US. AND AMAZINGLY FUN!
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| This is obviously a different raft, but it shows how awesome the waterfall really is! |
The run each raft
through a drill to make sure the chances of falling out or flipping over or…getting
caught in the “washing machine effect” of the white water at the base of the
waterfall.
We were a well-oiled
machine of team work!
No fall outs, flips
or washing machines on our tripJ
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| Left to Right: Mark, Alex, Pat, Katie, Me, Jason, Alex F. Josh, Chrissy |
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