Thrilled. Water hovering around 48 degrees swirled around our legs as we trailed our fingers along the outter tube of our raft, walking out to our seats on a 14 foot piece of plastic, rope and air that was going to keep us from drowning for the next several hours. Megan and I were finally going white-water rafting, more than a year after we first planned our trip. Due to my sickness last summer, and my inability to hold anything (like a paddle) tight enough to not drop it, our white-water adventure was postponed. Then I moved to Texas, and wasn't sure if Megan and I would ever get to go. My life has a way of working itself out, though, and before we knew it Megan and I were meeting at our campground in Buena Vista, Colorado for our adventure after all! It was a perfect mountain day, and we really couldn't have planned our trip any better. We headed to River Runners, just outside of Buena Vista, and got checked in and outfitted in our life jackets and helmets. After the initial welcome/safety lecture, we trudged into the freezing water and climbed onto the raft. Megan and I shared a boat with a couple from Houston, TX, and our guide, a local named Sam. Sam pushed us off the beach, the current caught us, and we were gently tugged downstream. We had a very chill couple of miles, chatting, getting to know each other and swapping stories. You definitely need to be comfortable with the people who are going with you on a serious adrenaline rush, especially when one of their mistakes could cause the raft to flip, throwing all of you into a Class IV rapid.
Rapids are classified by their difficulty, and the commercially runable rapids are Class I-V, with I being baby ripples and maybe getting splashed and Class V being small waterfalls and major hydraulics, where you'll definitely want a pro with you. Our selection for the day was mostly Class IVs, some Class IIIs, and some downtime in between. It took us a while to hit our first significant rapid, but we used that time to watch the newly designated Brown's Canyon National Monument slip past us as we floated down the gorgeous Arkansas River. The Buena Vista area has nearly everything I need, and if I hadn't moved to Texas this year I would have moved to that valley. As it is, I'll go back as often as I can swing it! I'm also super excited about Brown's Canyon finally being designated a National Monument; I've rafted that canyon several times before, and it is something seriously special. I'm glad that it will be preserved for everyone else to enjoy as well!
Our first rapid was a Class III, and it only got better from there. Sam was a very chill guide, mostly letting the current take us where it would, and only calling out paddle instructions when we had to hit a rapid just right, or risk flipping. The first time he let the river take us right up to a boulder, only to whip us around it at the last second before we rammed into it. He gently chastized us, as we had lifted our paddles and braced for the bump we were sure was coming, telling us we had no trust and then laughing about it. After that, I trusted him completely. Sure, I'm a person who needs to be in control, but there was something about drifting on the current, usually sideways, that was incredibly relaxing. Of course, he warned us ahead of time whenever a big rapid was coming up about needing to run it correctly, and getting set up well in advance for it. At one point, the biggest rapid of the day, we even got out of our raft and walked downstream along the bank, allowing Sam to scout our route and even getting to watch other rafters run the rapid. For me, watching "The Toilet Bowl" made me anxious. It was a giant hydraulic, where the current runs over a huge boulder, creating a depression behind the rock, which then forces the water to curl back on itself in a wave. If you get caught in a big enough hydraulic, the cycling water will flip your boat, then you're likely shoved down to the bottom of the river, and held there. We watched several other rafts just like ours get tossed around as they ran the rapid, a couple nearly high-siding and losing the rafters. Even though everybody made it through on the raft, I wasn't exactly confident. I was anxious. I'm pretty sure I even said "holy shit" out loud. Several times. Then we were trekking back to our raft, and psyching ourselves up to run it. We shoved off the bank, as were immediatly swept toward the big boulder. All four of us, plus Sam in the back, paddled with everything we had, getting our raft right on course, catching the side of the hydraulic, getting soaked but not pulled into the hole. Before we knew it, we were on the other side, watching another raft come through right behind us, almost flipping but saving themselves and powering through just like us. I don't know about anybody else, but adrenaline and elation coursed through me and I couldn't wait to go again.
I got my wish, as we hit another rapid nearly as big right before we stopped for lunch. After drying out a little bit and chowing down, we hopped back in the rafts, hit another rapid, then pulled over again to go cliff jumping. About 10-12 feet above the water, we lined up and took turns jumping off a big rock jutting out over the river. I was last in line, not sure that I wanted to willingly jump into that freezing water. I watched the girl in front of me, someone from a different raft, waver back and forth. I stepped up and offered to hold her hand and jump with her, promising we'd go together. I counted down from five, and on one, we both launched ourselves into the air and plummeted down into the dark, icy water below us. We popped up at the same time and grinned at each other as we swam to the bank, and everybody clapping for us. Just before I reached the bank, another girl stopped me and told me I was bleeding. I slapped my hand to my face and it came away bloody: my freaking nose was bleeding. Again. I used to have problems with bloody noses when I was younger, and then it stopped. Shortly after moving to Texas, I've been getting nose bleeds at least once a week, if not more. It's disgusting and embarrassing, and there I was, soaking wet, shivering, and bleeding from my face in front of a bunch of strangers (and Meg.) I found a rock and sat in the river, pinching my nose and trying to wash the blood off of my face. I have no idea what I looked like, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty. Megan came to check on me, and then Sam, and then everybody was watching me, and I was holding everybody up. Ugh. Finally, after a million years, my nose stopped bleeding and I was able to clean up and get back on the raft. I was very cautious after that, thinking that maybe the impact of the cold water set me off, and therefore avoided getting splashed in the face as much as I could.
After cliff jumping, the day was pretty calm with only a couple more rapids and a lot of floating. It was nice to just sit back and relax, taking in the sun and the water, chatting as we saw fit or just sitting in silence. I know I was tired, and I'm sure everybody else was too. In all, we rafted 17 miles of the Arkansas River, finally pulling the rafts at Big Bend, and waited for our bus to take us back to reality, and a long, hot shower.
What I'm listening to: Old Friends by Howard Shore
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