White Water Rafting

While we were on vacation with my family in Colorado, my dear husband & brother-in-law decide that we HAVE to go on a float trip through the Royal Gorge. My sister and I have never done any rafting before so we nervously agree. When we get there, the guide is telling us it is a 15 mile, 13,000 ft drop with Class 1-4 rapids. He calls it a half-day Intermediate course. Intermediate? I believe we're beginners. As panic sets in my sister picks up her Bible and finds a verse for us to meditate on before we go.

"I call upon the Lord and He answers me, He will calm all my fears." Psalms 34:4

So I start saying this over and over as I struggle into a wetsuit (which is, in itself a ridiculous task.) We board the bus and adorn ourselves in life jackets, booties, and helmets. The guide then tells us we shouldn't need our helmets just yet, the bus ride should be pretty safe, lol. He explains what to do should we run into trouble. As he goes into the procedures for self-rescue, falling out of the boat, flipping the boat, hitting rocks, and saving others I start hyperventilating.

We load the raft & I discover there are no seats. You simply perch yourself on the side and dig your feet into the cracks. Our first rapid was a Class 2. It was fun and we figured out the rowing in unison pretty good I thought. My sister starts squealing the reminder of "THAT WAS A CLASS 2? WHAT WILL A CLASS 4 BE LIKE??!?!" I lean forward and tell my DH that I'm now really really mad at him for making me do this!

Our first Class 4 we dug in and rowed with all our might. I will admit it was exhilarating. I'll never forget how the drop felt. It was the first time when my paddle caught only air which was a terrifying experience to say the least. We got through it fine, but the raft behind us did not. They sunk down in a hole causing a girl to fall over backwards onto a rock and remain stranded there. A guy was thrown into the water as the raft went on without him. "FORWARD" our guide yelled. We got to him at the end of the rapid and my hubby leaned out, grabbed a hold of him and pulled him into our boat. We watched as the girl was thrown a rope and told to jump in and swim! After a time of her protesting this idea and shaking her head violently they finally convinced her to do it. She jumped and the guides pulled her quickly to the side of the river and got her out.

The rest of the trip down the river wasn't as eventful. We continued with me praying and quoting scripture in my head while we took on rapid after rapid. The Class 2's were now going completely unnoticed. The feeling of the raft leaving my body in the drops, hitting rocks with my paddle now along with getting only air, and my fingers aching from gripping the paddle so hard were all merely sensations as I felt a complete out-of-body experience. The view of the Royal Gorge from the river was breathtaking and I was actually enjoying myself. Then the rain hit. I say rain but what I really mean is hail. It was full of lightning and thunder too which was pretty intimidating from down in the canyons. The last two miles of the trip we rowed trying to stay warm and use our helmets & life jackets to protect ourselves from the hail. By the time we reached the end and went to load the bus I was freezing cold and struggling to breathe. I have to say though that I don't know when I've ever felt more ALIVE. And to be completely honest.. I'll probably go again.