September 15, 2003
A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail at work about our annual company whitewater rafting trip. I'd never done that before, so I e-mailed Melissa and told her that, provided there's a low risk of death, I think I'd like to check it out. So I went, and we headed up on Saturday the 14th.
I had to work on Saturday, as did Joe, one of the other attendees. Since we got out at the same time, we planned to drive up following one another to the site. After some last-minute equipment gathering, we set off for the campsite. It was about a two-hour drive, which was no problem at all. That is, until we reached the gravel and dirt road on which the campsite was supposedly located. Wicki had called me earlier in the day to give me modified driving directions, however due to the near-complete lack of cell service in that area, she was cutting out a lot. While I was able to get the driving modifications from her, it seems I missed a relatively important bit; that being, the actual location of the campsite.
Joe and I hit the dirt road, and stopped at a few campsites to see if we could locate our group. We drove back and forth up and down this road for a good half-hour, even taking an off-off-road route which had the worst bump-hills ever. My car scraped the road at the top of almost every one. We eventually dead-ended on that one, and went back to the main road.
I'd found out from one of our earlier campsite visits that the main road dead-ends into the river, so we decided to just ride it to the end and see what we could find. Sure enough, the group was right at the end of the road. It was already about 21:40 (and dark), so I decided to immediately set up my tent. I managed to get nowhere setting it up until I got a bit of help (Thanks again!), which is when it shot up in no time at all. Then we ate food cooked on the fire that had been pre-prepared by the time we arrived (that being the food AND the fire), and sat around and talked.
And then we all went to bed! And then we all woke up!
I was out of my tent first, so I checked out the river near our campsite for awhile until Vickie popped out of her tent, followed by Joe, then Wicki. Then the car-sleepers showed up as we all eventually reached full-on consciousness. One full campsite teardown, a quick bacon/egg/coffee breakfast prepared by Master Chefs Büer and Wicki, and we were off.
Once we arrived at the rafting headquarters, we went through a quick primer on rafting and the gear we'd be wearing. Then we donned said gear and boarded the bus of doom (where Joe wondered aloud why they made the ceiling in the bus so high) to a point about a quarter-mile from our starting point on the river. Here we received a more extensive primer on rafting, how to do what to do, how to not do what not to do, and how to do what to do in case you do what not to do.
I needed that last bit, but we'll get to that in a sec.
In the original e-mail I received, it said that the trip would consist of "Class II and III rapids." The international whitewater rating scale consists of six classes, all of which get progressively more intense until you reach Class VI which pretty much has a "GO AWAY" doormat. Little did I know that we were in store for a single Class IV, which is defined as "extended rapids with powerful and irregular waves, dangerous rocks, and boiling eddies, requiring powerful and precise maneuvering" and "Risk of injury to swimmers moderate to high, and water conditions may make self-rescue difficult." This would be the highest-rated class on our trip.
So we're rafting along until a point before where we reach the Class IV. We park the rafts on a shore just upstream of the Class IV plunge, and hike along the shore to have a look at it. While we watch, groups head back to their rafts one by one to tackle this particular set of rapids as everyone else watches. Our group was last.
We headed back to our raft and started toward our biggest hazard of the day. We hit the top, and of course this is where my internal balance system tells me "SCREW THIS! You're on your own, buddy. I'm outta here." and takes a temporary vacation. So I fall out of the boat.
It's amazing how much stuff passes through your head during the first few split seconds of a danger problem. Of course, I am Action Man, and this does not frighten Action Man. What does Action Man do? He grabs the blue cord running along the length of the raft, and plows through the rapids alongside it. This would have been my ideal time to TOTALLY SLAM A DEW.
So we all reached the bottom at the same time. Sure, I was missing from in the boat, but I was still with the boat. And uninjured! My boatmates were about to help me back into the boat, but I had to ask for a second to clear the water from areas in my head where air should be. They also told me they tried grabbing me just before I went over, but missed. Thanks anyway! From that point on, though, at every larger-sized set of rapids after this one, I had a subconscious nagging to grab the people near me and pull them into the boat so they wouldn't have to experience the trip over the side I had demonstrated earlier. I eventually decided I'd stick to saying "LEAN IN!" at appropriate times instead.
We got caught on a few rocks here and there, but for the most part the rest of the trip went fairly smoothly. Then we hit a set of rapids where we had to go around either the left or the right, and definitely not the center because it was too steep a drop.
So we went down the center. Sideways.
We ended up beating that one pretty cleanly, though, and everyone remained in the boat. Good stuff.
Soon after, we ended our trip and carried our gear back another quarter-mile uphill to the bus of doom, which carried us back to the main roads by rally-bus racing through gravel roads on the edge of steep drops. We arrived back at the main building, changed clothes, watched a photo show of our trip, then headed home.
It was a really fun weekend. Thanks to Melissa for planning the trip and getting me to go, Wicki, Cheryl, and anyone else who helped set up my tent, Büer and the morning food-prep team, and everyone else for a great weekend.
Pictures from the trip are here. Note: More pictures will be added to the set once I get my disposables developed.
(09:53)
Search :: Previous Entry :: Next Entry