The second exciting and very scary part of my summer was going white water rafting with the college group from Morningside. Originally, I hadn’t planned on going. I really didn’t even know that they were going before school started, because usually we take this trip after Labor Day. So, I ended up deciding to go at the very last minute.
We arrived in Tennessee on Friday afternoon, at the camp that we always stay at. As is tradition, we played a night game of Ultimate Frisbee, with glow-sticks (as bracelets to know who was on your team and to be able to see where they were) and a glow in the dark Frisbee. A few people always seem to come away from that game with some sort of minor injury, because you can’t really see who’s around you sometimes that may plow into you by accident LOL (myself included in that group).
This year we ended up rafting down a different river than the one we usually raft in. This river was a little calmer than the one we rafted down the past two years. Also, we were given the option of rafting without a guide in smaller inflatable boats (called “duckies”), which were a little bit bigger than kayaks. Most of the girls wanted to be in the bigger boat with a guide, but I was torn as to what I really wanted to do. I ended up being coaxed into riding in a smaller boat with one of the guys in our group. I figured that since it was a calmer river, that I wouldn’t be thrown out of the boat by the rapids…
We all got our boats into the water, which was freezing (probably around 50 degrees). The rapids really weren’t bad at all; the only bad thing was the cold water. We had fun for about 45 minutes or so, watching a guy in our group (Marcus) be tipped out of his boat by another guy (Ross), and also watching as Kyle deflated Marcus’ duckie and started sinking (HILARIOUS!); we all had to wait while the guide re-inflated his boat.
In river rapids, you constantly have to be watching out for rocks that are sticking out of the water, or even are just under the surface of the water. If you go over one of those rocks, you will either be stuck there or your boat will capsize.
Here’s my story…We were coming up on a smaller rapid, while trying to avoid running into a rock that was sticking out of the water. I was in the front of the boat, trying to steer away from the rock, while at the same time trying not to fall into the water. We ended up falling in, with the boat landing right on top of me. I don’t like things being on top of me when I’m under water, so that was what started me panicking a little bit. I got the boat off of me, and immediately I realized that my oar wasn’t in my hand anymore; they always stress to us about not losing our oar. So, by the time I found and grabbed my oar, the rapid had already taken me from within reach of the boat. Thankfully, the guy that I rode with was able to pull himself back in the boat. I was not so fortunate. They always tell you that if you fall out of the boat while in a rapid, to go belly-up (keeping your feet, head and arms above the water), so that you can ride to the end of the rapid to be able to get back in the boat. That was the first thing I tried, but the water was rushing so hard that it was coming on top of me, making it almost impossible to breathe. That was when I started to panic a little more, because all I wanted to do was stop, but I couldn’t. I started trying to get my footing on some rocks underneath the water, because it’s very shallow (which is what you shouldn’t try to do, because your feet could get stuck in the rocks). I tried using my oar to stop me, but that wasn’t working and I ended up losing my oar anyway in the process. I finally was able to get my footing on two rocks for a few seconds, but again the water was rushing so fast and hard that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay there long. After the water pulled me back down was when I hit a huge rock, which sent me under the water for a few seconds. By that time, I was so scared for my life that I figured I would never come out of this. The water eventually shot me away from the rock and onto a rock that I was able to step up on and swim over the river bank, away from the rapid. By then, knowing that it was all over, I was crying and hyperventilating. It all lasted around 30-45 second, but felt like forever. The guide with our group, that had directed the girls’ boat, came over and walked me back to their boat. I didn’t realize until after I was in the boat that I had lost a shoe and had gained cuts, bruises, and scrapes all over my hand, arm and knee. I sat in the bottom of the boat for the remainder of the trip down the river and shook for about an hour and a half. Even though the water was cold, I was shaking because I was in so much shock. I was so thankful when we exited the boat onto dry land.
That was definitely the scariest experience that I’ve ever been through. I don’t plan on going white water rafting any time soon, but I’m not saying I’ll never go again. Despite everything that happened on the river, I had a pretty good time on the trip with our group.
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