It seems we have skipped the nice days where the temperature slowly warms up to the the hot days of Summer. All of a sudden it feels like a heat wave, and being in a house with Fritz and a (still) kinked neck, all I can think about is going for a swim or a nice float on a river somewhere.
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I use to float rivers every summer. Loving it so much when I was younger, I had thought often about being a guide on some of the local rivers around Montana. Until one summer where that goal changed. We were floating on a class 4 that was usually only a 2 or 3 (class is for how big the rapids are, 1 through 5 with 5 being the kind that kicks ass) but there was so much run-off still from the spring thaw that the river was much higher and faster than normal. By the time we had gotten to the last rapids it had been an awesome ride and with sadness, the last few minutes of the trip would soon be over. As we approached the final rapids, our guide got our boat too straight and the people in the back all flipped out. Now falling out of the boat is not usually that big of a deal if you pay attention to safety and know some of the first rules of river rafting. But in some cases, when you are dumped out you can have the unfortunate luck of getting stuck under the boat. Which is what happened to me.
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There is much more to the story but I am cutting out all of the middle stuff. Let's just say that the end was tramatic and scary. The people with our group couldn't find me for a long time. Seconds really, but when you are under water it is an eternity. Everything turned out okay and I did get back on the 'horse' the next summer and raft again, but I have never really gotten over it and still have high anxiety whenever I am floating when even the smallest of rapids come my way. That's why I like the river pictured above, the Upper Madison. It is calm and wide and has an unbeatable scenic beauty. We didn't get to float last summer with me being pregnant for half and having a new born for the second half, but I would like to go this summer. We'll see!
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I use to float rivers every summer. Loving it so much when I was younger, I had thought often about being a guide on some of the local rivers around Montana. Until one summer where that goal changed. We were floating on a class 4 that was usually only a 2 or 3 (class is for how big the rapids are, 1 through 5 with 5 being the kind that kicks ass) but there was so much run-off still from the spring thaw that the river was much higher and faster than normal. By the time we had gotten to the last rapids it had been an awesome ride and with sadness, the last few minutes of the trip would soon be over. As we approached the final rapids, our guide got our boat too straight and the people in the back all flipped out. Now falling out of the boat is not usually that big of a deal if you pay attention to safety and know some of the first rules of river rafting. But in some cases, when you are dumped out you can have the unfortunate luck of getting stuck under the boat. Which is what happened to me.
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There is much more to the story but I am cutting out all of the middle stuff. Let's just say that the end was tramatic and scary. The people with our group couldn't find me for a long time. Seconds really, but when you are under water it is an eternity. Everything turned out okay and I did get back on the 'horse' the next summer and raft again, but I have never really gotten over it and still have high anxiety whenever I am floating when even the smallest of rapids come my way. That's why I like the river pictured above, the Upper Madison. It is calm and wide and has an unbeatable scenic beauty. We didn't get to float last summer with me being pregnant for half and having a new born for the second half, but I would like to go this summer. We'll see!
2 comments:
well that's scary but it's indeed hard to keep off mother nature's beauty. I love your photo of the river, very serene, I could almost feel the breeze! 'Hope you get a chance to go and have fun with the water, just do be careful!
Yes, I am afraid of scary rapids too. I had a scary moment of my own. Now, I am all about the calm and lazy rivers!
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