Rafting Down the American

Crystal and I went whitewater rafting up in Northern California this weekend. We went with 5 other people up to Lotus, CA and rafted the middle fork. We arrived up at the outfitter (Action Whitewater Adventure) and camped the night. We woke Saturday morning to a nice steady rain, but luckily the inside of our tent was dry. We spent the day rafting in the rain, starting at around 11:00, stopped for lunch (and hot chocolate) around 2:00, and continued down the rest of the river finishing up around 5 or 6.

It was sooooo cold! The girls were almost unwilling/unable to go back out for the second half of the day, but after a hot shower in their wet suits and some lunch, they were able to muster the courage to get back in the cold water. And as a group of 7, we had two big benefits: 1) the rafts hold 7, plus one guide, so we didn't have to mix up with other groups, and 2) we were able to buy all the pictures offered by the photography vendors at a pretty minimal cost to each person. I couldn't be happier that we got the photos because they are really great! We got about 60 photos in all.

I sat in the front of the raft across from Tim. Crystal was a few seats back. She switched sides halfway through the trip, so you may have to look for her on both sides of the raft. We only had one person fall out of the raft the entire day (and it wasn't me) and Crystal did a great job following protocol, grabbing Kim by the life vest and pulled her back into the boat. Quite impressive, indeed! We did at one point get VERY close to tipping straight over the left side (or port side, for those who care) of the boat, but luckily we saved it by all quickly shifting our weight to the right side. I honestly was ready to start swimming in the cold water, but somehow we managed to right the raft and all stay on-board.

Our guide, Harvey (or as he said "Havi"), was a 24-year old Aussie. For the last 4 years he has traveled through Africa, Central and South America, the south Pacific, and the US rafting and guiding tours down some of the most dangerous rapids on the planet. He was a real cool guy - definitely an adrenaline junkie. In his previous job he worked as a construction worker repelling from heights (bridges, buildings, etc) to perform his work.

Anyway, we managed to get a little sunshine just before we packed up on Sunday afternoon, and thankfully it was enough to dry out our gear. The absolute worst thing is coming home after a wet camping trip - when all you want to do is relax - and you have to set up all your gear again in the back yard to dry it out. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we didn't have to go through that...

Now, on to the photos... If you're looking for me in the photos, I'm the one with the blue jacket and yellow life vest ;-) !!

Here's a photo of us heading hard into some rapids. Look at us, working together like a well oiled machine!

Here's a series of us heading into, through, and out of a big rapid. The front position on the raft was really wet. Actually, the whole raft was really wet.

And the last three photos, just to show how much fun we all had (even including Becca, despite her face of outright terror in every picture - can you spot her?).

Oh yeah, and did I mention it was COLD!