So Eileen, Mads, Jeff and I (there they are, minus me, above) met up in West Virginia to go whitewater rafting on the New River this weekend. I was fairly freaked out before going, as I thought it was going to be like riding a bucking bronco for five straight hours, and I was going to keep getting thrown from the raft and at some point I would hit my head on rocks and probably lose some teeth.
None of that happened. We did some pretty substantial rapids (some of them were rated class five, although the river was low so it was not as bad it as it could have been) but nobody, including me, fell out. At one point in one of the bigger rapids it was like, "whoa, why is the other side of the raft suddenly on this side?" The other side including our guide, who nearly knocked Mads out. Hee. But somehow they all stayed in.
And once I got the hang of it I had a ton of fun. Riding the rapids was fun, but so was the calm parts, where we could get out of the raft and float along.
Also fun, drinking Natural Light on the bus ride to the lodge and finally changing into dry clothes afterwards. Heh.
After we left the lodge we went to the overlook over the New River Gorge, where I took the picture below:
Sadly, none of us brought one of those water cameras (I considered it but figured I'd lose it in the river in one of the 16 times I got thrown off the raft...lesson learned), so that's the closest photo to the action I've got. But you can kinda sorta see the rapids there in the back. Also, my arms. There was a window there...
None of that happened. We did some pretty substantial rapids (some of them were rated class five, although the river was low so it was not as bad it as it could have been) but nobody, including me, fell out. At one point in one of the bigger rapids it was like, "whoa, why is the other side of the raft suddenly on this side?" The other side including our guide, who nearly knocked Mads out. Hee. But somehow they all stayed in.
And once I got the hang of it I had a ton of fun. Riding the rapids was fun, but so was the calm parts, where we could get out of the raft and float along.
Also fun, drinking Natural Light on the bus ride to the lodge and finally changing into dry clothes afterwards. Heh.
After we left the lodge we went to the overlook over the New River Gorge, where I took the picture below:
Sadly, none of us brought one of those water cameras (I considered it but figured I'd lose it in the river in one of the 16 times I got thrown off the raft...lesson learned), so that's the closest photo to the action I've got. But you can kinda sorta see the rapids there in the back. Also, my arms. There was a window there...
1 comment:
Sounds like a great time!
Hey, is Mads having a going-away party? If he is, you should come out for it, since I never did get to say good-bye to you. (Also, knowing Mads, it would be a wicked-ass time.)
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