White Water Rafting
Heidi writes:
What an experience! We had a great time! The day started pretty early, as we had to be at the camp to check in by 8:45am. There were 12 of us that went all together - we split into two groups of six (as that was the number of people allowed in a raft + the guide). Before we got into the rafts and started the journey, we were given the safety talk - what to do if you fell out of the boot,- it is very important to keep your feet up and how to lift someone back in the raft, etc... We rafted the South Fork of the American River. The rapids were class 3 (Rapids are rated Class 1-5, 5 being the most dangerous/or the largest). We stopped about half way down for lunch and then continued along the way. The total trip was 21 miles. It was about 108 degrees out, so the 55 degree water felt pretty good when it hit us - a little shocking at first, but you got used to it, sort of. Our guide, Geoff, was pretty cool. He has been rafting for over 14 years! He let us swim a couple of the rapids. I only did one, Jeff did both. The current was pretty intense in the river. A scarey part of the trip was when we were heading down one of the haystack rapids and Jeff fell out (he was pretty much washed out because his side of the raft went under water). He did a good job of floating the rest of the way down the rapids and he got him back into the boat! At the end of the day, we compared sunburns (even though we lathered on the spf 30 and 45, we still got burnt). Jeff's back and shoulders were pretty bad...a nice outline of a life-jacket. The top of my back was red too, but the top of my legs were the worse. We are both hoping that we don't peel! A lot of the redness went away during the night, but I still hurt!! The other thing that hurts - my butt!! I never knew that sitting on a rubber raft for a few hours would make my bottom hurt as bad as it does. I seriously have problems sitting down and standing up and walking! Hopefully, that pain will dull soon! We didn't bring a waterproof camera with, but we did buy some pictures that were taken of us along the way. I have attached 4 of them. Maybe we will post more later. I don't really remember all of the names of the big rapids that we went down, I am sure Jeff does though, so we may edit this later or he may write his own comments. All in all, I had a great time! We are even considering doing the Middle Fork of the American River next - class 4 rapids! That may wait until next spring though.
Jeff and I are in the back of the boat in these first two pictures. I stayed in the back the whole time - I was a little scared to move up to the front.
Jeff is in the middle row in these two pictures. The guide thought it would be safer to have the girls in the back by him.
What an experience! We had a great time! The day started pretty early, as we had to be at the camp to check in by 8:45am. There were 12 of us that went all together - we split into two groups of six (as that was the number of people allowed in a raft + the guide). Before we got into the rafts and started the journey, we were given the safety talk - what to do if you fell out of the boot,- it is very important to keep your feet up and how to lift someone back in the raft, etc... We rafted the South Fork of the American River. The rapids were class 3 (Rapids are rated Class 1-5, 5 being the most dangerous/or the largest). We stopped about half way down for lunch and then continued along the way. The total trip was 21 miles. It was about 108 degrees out, so the 55 degree water felt pretty good when it hit us - a little shocking at first, but you got used to it, sort of. Our guide, Geoff, was pretty cool. He has been rafting for over 14 years! He let us swim a couple of the rapids. I only did one, Jeff did both. The current was pretty intense in the river. A scarey part of the trip was when we were heading down one of the haystack rapids and Jeff fell out (he was pretty much washed out because his side of the raft went under water). He did a good job of floating the rest of the way down the rapids and he got him back into the boat! At the end of the day, we compared sunburns (even though we lathered on the spf 30 and 45, we still got burnt). Jeff's back and shoulders were pretty bad...a nice outline of a life-jacket. The top of my back was red too, but the top of my legs were the worse. We are both hoping that we don't peel! A lot of the redness went away during the night, but I still hurt!! The other thing that hurts - my butt!! I never knew that sitting on a rubber raft for a few hours would make my bottom hurt as bad as it does. I seriously have problems sitting down and standing up and walking! Hopefully, that pain will dull soon! We didn't bring a waterproof camera with, but we did buy some pictures that were taken of us along the way. I have attached 4 of them. Maybe we will post more later. I don't really remember all of the names of the big rapids that we went down, I am sure Jeff does though, so we may edit this later or he may write his own comments. All in all, I had a great time! We are even considering doing the Middle Fork of the American River next - class 4 rapids! That may wait until next spring though.
Jeff and I are in the back of the boat in these first two pictures. I stayed in the back the whole time - I was a little scared to move up to the front.
Jeff is in the middle row in these two pictures. The guide thought it would be safer to have the girls in the back by him.
posted by Jeff and Heidi | 12:05 PM
2 Comments:
Those are some pretty nice rapids in those pictures. Looks like you had a good time. I did a class 5 once. It was a blast. You should go do the Middle Fork.
You guys suck. You have accomplished about 6 things I want to do in the last month.
:P
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