Whitewater Rafting

Danny and I have been wanting to go whitewater rafting on the American River ever since we moved here (3 years ago) but we never were able to get anyone to go with us. We finally just decided to go even if it was just the two of us. We did the middle fork of the American River with Whitewater Voyages and had the time of our lives. It was freaking amazing!

We drove up Friday night which was a nightmare. There was tons of traffic for no reason and it took us forever to get to Coloma/Lotus. We got to the camp at 11:30, found our camping site (The Alcove of Awareness), and set up our tent. I hadn't been camping since girls camp and had horrible experiences camping previously. I thought I would give it another try but in the morning I was very aware of why I hated camping. First, the smell of tents makes me want to vomit. I have no idea why. Second, it's so loud outside I can't sleep. Third, all those noises i.e. snapping twigs and rustling leaves, leave me terrified and crying all night long. Danny slept fine. The campsite was actually surprisingly really nice and I would have no problem staying there again if it weren't for my fear of the dark, animals, bugs, tents, dirt, etc.

At 7am in the morning we met up with the rest of our group. A couple about our age from England, a family with teenage daughters, and cousins? in their 30s? We also met our guides Max and Chris. We loaded into the van and made the hour and 15 minute drive to the launch point. Once there we got about 30 minutes of safety training and our gear (life vest and helmets). Chris explained to us what we should do if we ended up swimmers (aka got thrown out of the raft) etc etc. I had been freaking out a little the days leading up to the trip about getting thrown out of the raft so this was kinda freaking me out more. Then Chris explained to us that the run we were doing had some pretty crazy rapids. And the biggest (Tunnel Chute) we were going to encounter pretty soon after putting our raft in the water!  Good Morning Rapid wasn't too bad but we did have a swimmer!! While our guide was trying to get our youngest rafter (12 years old) out of the water and into the raft our raft got caught on a rock and we got stuck!! It was an intense few minutes but everything ended up okay. The Tunnel Chute was next. It is a class V (out of VI, VI being unraftable). We headed into a class IV and then went straight into the class V which dropped us into a underground tunnel. AWESOME! Below are our pictures from the Tunnel Chute.

Coming out of the class IV. Yep. We're still in the raft.

 Get down! Means get your butt on the floor. We're heading into the class V. Danny and I are on the side of the raft facing the camera. Danny in red and I'm behind him.

 AAANNDD we're going into the rocks.

Good save, Chris! Now onto the falls!

And here we go down the chute!

Hold tight!

 Close up

Falling down, down, down.

 Crash!

 And we're sinking

Seriously sinking.

 Nope. We're back.

Whoa! That was intense!

 Oh wait, it's not over.

 And we're sinking again.

 Is it time to paddle?

 Yep! Time to start working. We're heading into the underground tunnel! By the look on Danny's face, I think he underestimated the extremeness of our rafting trip.

After the Tunnel Chute we rafted a few more rapids then kind of drifted down the river until lunch. After lunch we hit Chucka Rucka Falls. It was crazy. As we were approaching it and we could see other rafts going over. I could see them approach then the end of the raft would flip up vertical. I could tell it was a really steep drop. Everyone on our raft was like "WHAT!!! You've got to be kidding!!" Even crazier, our guide told us it was important to stay focused because after the upper falls we only had a minute to port the raft because there was a lower fall that was 25 feet and a class VI (unraftable). Everyone has to get out of their raft and hike down the lower falls. Some groups carry their raft, some lead the rafts down empty with ropes, but our company lets the guides ride the rafts down the falls. We got to watch as our guide, Chris, rode our raft down this huge waterfall. It was nuts!!! Hopefully when we get our underwater camera film develop we'll have some cool photos. The whole trip was totally amazing.