Getting Our ‘Sea Legs’ and Class IV Rapids (First Day)

Saturday, August 17th, 2013 - Fred and I settled into an oared raft, one where the guide does the ‘paddling’ or guiding of the raft and we just get to ride. This kind of raft was also known as the ‘princess’ boat or the ‘non-adrenalin’ boat. There were 2 of these rafts with room for about 3-4 people in each. In addition, there were 2 paddle rafts which held 6 people and a guide. These would sit closer to the rapids and therefore be a bit more ‘exciting’. You also would be paddling these rafts along with the guide.

The ‘princess’ raft suited me just fine. I knew that we would be running the biggest rapids of this trip just after lunch, and I wanted to get settled in and comfortable. Remember, I am a bit nervous about the big rapids. Fred….well he likes the excitement, but neither of us are ‘adrenalin junkies’. We are doing the rafting as a way of enjoying the wildness and nature, and it is not really about the whitewater for us.

The Snake River was beautiful…..calm with a nice current…..interspersed with a number of nice class I & II rapids. Just enough to keep it exciting. After lunch, we came to the first of the class IV rapids, Wild Sheep Rapids. The guides pulled over above the rapids to scope it out.

Fred climbed up, too, to take this picture. it doesn’t look too bad from above…..So, down we went!

I held on, and you know what? it actually was fun! Not scared at all! Of course, all I had to do was hold on, keep myself in the raft, and close my eyes when the water hit me in the face!

The Snake River is what is called a pool and drop river, with calm water after the rapids. I liked this because it gave me time to get out my camera and take a picture of the rafts behind us.

The next big rapid was Granite Rapid, another class IV rapid. This time, I was not so nervous….I actually was enjoying the splash and bumps of the waves! Plus, the water was cool and refreshing.   : )

We shared the river with several big jet boats. They could run UP the rapids! Well….I guess that is one way to do it….but I’ll stick with the rafts.

After our first full day of rafting, I was feeling pretty good. The nervousness left and I was feeling much more confident about the rapids, and the whole camp experience. The group was getting to know each other, too, helped along with a couple of ‘name games’.

We arrived at our first night’s campsite and settled in for the evening.