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August 20, 2006
rolling down the river
When under a great deal of duress, sometimes I make funny faces -- holding on to the side of a flooded drenched raft, getting pummeled by icy waves, for example. In a few days, we should have photographic evidence.
Ben and I went rafting today on the Deschutes River, in central Oregon. We signed up for a full-day guided tour, which included one class-four rapid and 15 miles of lower-level stuff. The package also came with a hosted lunch, a hike to "nature's water slide" and an opportunity to drift foot-first down a relatively safe patch of rapids.
It was awesome.
I was pretty nervous at first. As our guide elaborated every possible risk and disaster scenario, I got more nervous. But ours was the raft that took all the difficult runs without a spill. We had a great time. No injuries. Another guide dumped her boat over the class-four rapid, dunking one tourist for nearly a minute and filling several people's lungs with water. Everyone was unharmed, but we weren't sure at first that they'd be OK.
As Ben and I watched other rafts all around us, it became clear that our guide was probably one of the most skilled and experienced navigators on the river. And he was very safety minded -- when the other raft capsized, he had us chase down the capsized boat, beach our own vessel, then he grabbed the first aid kit and ran a half mile back to see how he could help.
But early on -- before I figured out that I was safe, that our guide knew what he was doing, that I'd make it out unharmed and so would Ben -- an enterprising business person perched on a rock and shot a photo of our raft. I had an unfortunate expression on my face. Of course, that would be the one and only photo that clearly showed by my face and Ben's. So, of course, we ordered it.
I'll post it here as soon as it shows up in my inbox.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at August 20, 2006 06:59 PM
Comments
This was Courtney's first time white-water rafting... my third. I dunno about the guy being dunked for a whole minute. Everyone had life jackets that were suitable for class 5 rapids (so said our guide), of which there were no such rapids on the Deschutes. The guy's main problem was that he was not a strong swimmer and kept holding onto the boat as the boat floated down river upside down, with guides yelling at him to swim to shore and throwing ropes at him. The girl who said she got water in her lungs was having a great time telling the story. Our guide made a point of saying that his teammate whose boat capsized looked a lot happier after having her boat flip on Oak Springs rapid (they all have names, this one was the class 4, a 6 foot drop, the second of our ordered pictures).
Our guide was very concerned with safety and pretty open about telling us, which he said was new. Apparently it's been a rough year on the Deschutes, in which a couple of people died, all of which because they weren't wearing their life jackets, and in one case because the guy dived into the water head first during a rapid after a bottle of water. Not smart behavior.
We had 9 people in our boat, by far the most I've ever had on a rafting trip. The company (River Drifters) is the first link on google.com that comes up when you do a search on deschutes + white water rafting. I was quite worried about the crowded raft at the beginning. But it worked out ok, because our guide was really great, and because our group of individuals seemed to work together well. I have a feeling larger boats are safer, and that might be why they are getting used. There were tons and tons of rafts on the Deschutes and most were the large ones like ours, but not all. There were even kayaks and smaller 2 person rafts that were narrower and prone to flipping, which our guide called "ferraris". Sure enough, the ferrari that went down Oak Springs right in front of us flipped as well.
The guide was a very nice, conscientious, and very professional person at his job, and also an entertaining goofball. Like all the guides, he was very jockish. But above and beyond the other guides, not only did he save the capsized River Drifters boat, he was constantly looking out for other people, throwing swimmers ropes when it looked like they were having trouble making it to shore, and at one point he righted another guide's boat for another company, after that guide couldn't right his own raft. And he was never at a loss to describe what to do and not do as we approached some white water rapid.
He apparently works 27 days out of each month June through August, which is insane. He said quite a few guides have a hard time keeping a positive attitude with that kind of schedule. In the winter, it sounded like he keeps a similar schedule in Bend, doing downhill skiing, probably teaching lessons or something. At the moment he was living in his newly purchased R.V., which he kept parked along the river. He said he purchased the 1980's vintage R.V. for $2000 from a man whose wife answered the phone, "I want it gone! Here's my husband." His name was Mike Davies.
Posted by: Ben at August 20, 2006 07:41 PM
On the other hand,
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_082106_news_deschutes_drowning.2048d8f9.html
Posted by: Ben at August 21, 2006 04:53 PM
Your mother-in-law and mother want you to have fun, but be careful. But you already know that.
Posted by: Mom at August 21, 2006 08:42 PM
Hi guys,
I am envious, remembering the fun I had when rafting before. And what a perfect day you got- one of those in the mid-90's. This is a vital component to having fun rafting, as you do get plenty of cold water on you, and it is best if that feels refreshing and not infuriating.
I did notice that someone died that same day on the same river. This summer and spring has seen an epidemic of river deaths due to young risk-takers hot-dogging around, I guess. I bet none of them were on guided raft trips like yours. But it was a nice stroke of luck to get such a competent character for your guide. How nice to live a life that allows you to just go crazy with your outdoors interests, like he has. Ah, youth.
It makes me happy to hear of all your youthful adventures. Keep it up! I trust your instincts to stay safe or otherwise I would worry more. But you guys are reliable, thank goodness.
Posted by: Sue at August 22, 2006 03:33 PM