Whitewater is Amazing!!!!

I have finally entered the world of whitewater kayaking. As a kid dad took us out in rafts on some whitewater adventures. I remember being scared then at the sight of the whitewater and having the water drench us in those huge rafts. I am sure that what we were in was class III rapids, but I may be wrong. I can tell you that running class II+ rapids in a kayak is way more exhilarating.

We started the day with us scouting the rapids. We took a good hard look at 4 of the 6 rapids we were going to be doing. We didn't scout Swayzee's rapid 6/6. The other we didn't scout wasn't even worth mentioning. One of the ones we took a look at was called Rock House. The river was only flowing around 2000 cfs. Normally when the club runs it, it is at 12,000. There were about 4 or 5 huge boulders staggered in the river. During high water these are completely submerged, but during our run they stood out of the water about 10 feet. We stood on one of them, and talked about what they are like in high water and the dangers they pose then. I was awestruck by the amount of noise the rapids made, and how dangerous the water is even at the level it was at.

We went up to Butler Wash the rapid we were planning on starting in to see if it had an area to teach people some skills that they needed before entering the water for the first time. It looked very good, it had a wave train above, and eddied out below where they would teach the complete noobs how to wet exit. We carried our boats down below in order to learn in the eddy. It was very difficult to haul the boat down. I did mine first thing, and was the only one to have carried it on our own. We then swam the rapid with kayak's coming out to pull us in after swimming the rapid. It was a little scary, but not to bad as a whole. I swam into it, but had to be pulled out by a boat, cause I couldn't quite make it out on my own. We practiced for a bit in our boats. I learned how to enter and exit an eddy into current. I learned how to paddle up to an eddy from downstream and sit in the upstream current behind the rock. Finally after an hour or so, we hauled our boats back up the rapid, and put them in above Butler's. I was basically worn out just from all of that. We went down the rapid, and I gritted my teeth, set my jaw, and tried to stay somewhat loose. If you are too rigid you can't sway your boat with the waves, and are very easily overturned. I learned heading into that rapid that I just have to take deep breaths, and relax a little as I head in. The second rapid I did just fine as well. The third had 2 holes in it. I ran right through them both, and in the small wave train afterwards started to turn sideways, and couldn't quite fight it. I froze up, and rolled upside down. I got a bit nervous under the water as the rapid I swam I had hit my feet on a rock. I was so nervous I forgot how to roll, so I pulled my skirt, and went for a swim. I held onto my boat, flipped it over, and threw my paddle inside. By that time my mentor was there to haul me back to climb into my boat. I was so sore. My legs were aching. My back was aching. I wanted to climb out of my boat, and sit at the side of the road until they could come pick me up. We kept on downstream, and pulled ashore to read Rockhouse again. They decided that we had to head between 2 rocks on river right, then head river left to miss another rock. These rocks were huge, larger than a car and like 10 feet tall (just the part sticking out of the water.) I was so scared I would end up running into them. We started across the river to line up in the group on river right waiting to go down. I got about halfway, and my boat flipped around so I was going backwards. I turned myself back, and my mentor said to me, "looks like we are gonna have to go first." He liked to head down every rapid after me so he could tell me what I had done good or bad. I was so nervous, but took some deep breaths, and calmed myself a bit. I shot right through the gaps like I was supposed to, and came through the bottom of the rapid without issue. The next rapid was nothing. Just a quick wave train with nothing worth describing. We only had one rapid left. We had a long section of flat water to go through. These stretches basically involve staying in the current, and relaxing. Most of the people in the group used them to drink beer. My mentor carried a ball to throw around to one another. I held onto a blue inflatable kayak, and talked to the older lady who had given up on kayaking before the first rapid. They told her to roll over in the water, and she refused. They put here in the inflatable boat and kind of gave up. I held onto her boat so I could lean back and stretch my aching back. I convinced her to give a class at the JCC a chance like I had. It created a good break I was able to pull one knee out of the hip braces at a time, and stretch. I was so grateful for the last rapid to appear, yet very scared all the same. I was very fatigued, and ready for the day to end. The only instruction they gave was to stay in the middle, and keep pointed downstream. It was a good thing I hadn't seen this rapid at the beginning. It was huge. It was long, with giant waves. In a couple of hundred feet the river dropped a good 5 feet. I started through, and just paddled for my life. The waves were big enough that my boat would cut through them, and I would get slammed in the face and chest. I had to fight to keep leaning forward. I would get hit with a wave lean back forward and paddle my hardest to keep the boat straight. I started to turn sideways a few times, but just remembered to stay loose. It worked well. I finished the rapid, and headed for river left to pull my aching body out of the boat. I hit the shore, and said to myself, "WOW I made it." I felt so amazing that I had accomplished it, and actually knew that I would return to the river again. I packed my boat to the road, and ran the people back up with the van to pick up their vehicles.

I was very open with my fears in the above description. Whitewater kayaking is about facing your fears over and over. I was very amazed at what I could accomplish with enough relaxation in the face of fear. I hope to share such experiences with many of you at some venture in my kayaking career.