On Saturday I got to go white water rafting with my dad, sister, brother, and their spouses. We originally thought my dad’s wife was going to go, but she was having some back pain and decided not to go on Saturday morning.
I live in the west, and we are fortunate to have some wonderful rafting spots about two hours away. This year was almost a record year for river depth, and even though the water had receded some, it was still pretty high.
My dad has a friend, Dan, who is around mine and my siblings ages, and he is a trained white water rafting guide. He works as a professional guide, and even has his own raft. He was not working on Saturday and he graciously offered to take us all rafting in his own raft for a private trip.
In order for me to be at my sister’s house, “in the big city” by 7AM, I got myself out of bed at 4:45AM, Saturday morning. I kissed my sleeping babies good-bye, but I was really excited to be going. Initially I didn’t think I could go, because Joe had planned something with the boys, but it fell through. He was wonderful and told me to go, and he’d watch the boys all day.
We hit the road and after we got to the town, met up with Dan, waited while him and my dad drove their trucks down to our ending spot (so we’d have a way back up the river when we were done), did a safety check, and got a safety lesson (which turned out to be crucial), we were on the river by 11AM.
It was spectacular. It was hot out- probably in the upper 90’s. The water was ice cold, but it felt good, because by that point we were all dying of the heat. There was a view of the canyon that you just can’t see from the road. We noticed some clouds starting to build, but it seemed like we were about 15 minutes ahead of them, and even though at one point it was cloudy, we had the sun out the entire time.
According to Dan, we were pretty much in class II and class III rapids most of the time. Especially during the first part of the trip. It seemed like our group quickly figured out all the rowing in sync, and were off to a good start.
About an hour and a half into the trip, we finally hit some major white water. I think this would be a class IV rapid. We heard Dan yelling at us from the back of the boat, “forward, forward!” We hit the rapid and it was thrilling! I was sitting on the right side of the raft, and felt myself jerk as we hit the rapid head on. I don’t know if it was instinct or Dan’s instructions to us before we started kick in, but I leaned into the boat, and dug my foot in as tight as I could into the holder for my foot.
Then I saw a wall of white water hit us. It hit the raft on the left side, completely covering my sister, Mara, her husband, Kevin, and my dad. Then to my horror, I saw Mara, flip backwards and out of the boat. It looked like she hit her head on a rock!
Mara shattered her knee cap 12 years ago in a rafting accident on this exact river. I was so scared that she had hit her head or had hit her knee again. I heard Dan yell, “Mara!” We all realized at about that moment that Mara had fallen out, and what was worse, we couldn’t see her at all. She was being held down under water somewhere, even with her life jacket on.
The rapid carried our raft out of the area where Mara fell, and even though Dan had instructed all of us to try to grab the raft if we fell out, as soon as Mara’s head popped out of the current, we were too far away for her to try to grab the raft. She was too far away from us to try to extend a paddle to her as well. The rest of us in the raft, just froze for a few seconds. It was really surreal. I could see Mara’s head going under water, and then back up. None of us knew if she had hit her head, or her knee or what.
I felt myself getting really scared and nervous. I wanted to get out and help her, but I knew that would not be the thing to do. I forced myself to listen to Dan, who started yelling commands at the rest of us. I knew listening to what he was telling us was the best and only way to help Mara. We had to get the boat out of the rapid, and to the side, so we could grab Mara when she came by us.
Dan expertly got us to the shore in a matter of moments. We had a few moments where we could watch Mara, and she was doing exactly what Dan had told us to do when he was going over safety instructions. He said to never point your head downstream, because you risk hitting your head on the rocks. He said to sit up, keep your legs together, bend your knees, and point your legs downstream. Mara was doing just this, and was keeping her head above the water for the most part. She was doing great!
When Mara got closer to us, Dan threw Mara his rope line, and was able to pull her out of the rapid to the raft. Kevin and my brother, Jeff, were then able to pull her back into the raft.
Fortunately, she was not hurt-only shaken up a bit. She said it was horrifying and it was like being in a washing machine. Dan said most of the time if someone falls out, the raft is there for them to grab on to. But since ours wasn’t, Mara ended up with the ride of her life. (Keep reading to the end for pictures of this!)
She lost her expensive sunglasses, but we were all so happy she didn’t have any injuries. After we took a short break we were ready to hit the water again.
While we didn’t have another rapid quite as exciting as our first rapid, we still had a blast. We stopped for lunch a little while later. The spot Dan really wanted us to go to was already taken, but we ended up at a place that had a rock about 15 feet up, where you could jump off of, into the river.
After we ate, we contemplated the jump. At first I didn’t think I was going to do it. After watching some people from other raft trips though, I decided if they could do it, I could too. The clincher was when my dad made his way over to the cliff to give it a shot.
I was nervous. It looked a lot more scarier standing on top of this rock, looking down into the river in person. Mara went first, and she told me the last few seconds were the worst. So, I said it was now or never, and took the plunge!
The water was freezing as I hit, and the force of the jump pushed water into my nose, but it was so fun and exhilarating. We decided to do it again.
Dan and Jeff, were waiting for the rafters who took our lunch spot to come by, and when they did, they jumped in. Unfortunately, they didn’t get them very wet, but came pretty close.
I jumped again, trying to hold my nose this time, but I still got water up my nose. I didn’t care- it had been ages, since I did something like this.
We cleaned up from lunch, gathered our stuff up, and went back on the river. We were on for another two hours, had a blast with some more rapids, and then our trip was done. I was so sad it was over. I felt like I could just stay on the river the whole day. We all kind of joked about staying on the river, but I think we all kind of meant it too. It had been a perfect day- none of us wanted it to end.
We helped Dan roll up the raft while my dad went to get his truck. We loaded everything back up, and drove back up the river to where we parked. It took about 20 minutes and Dan said we had gone about 15 miles down the river.
We decided to go grab some Mexican food and margaritas at a local spot Dan knew of. We all got to talk some more, and relive the day. Jeff got the high score on a pinball machine game, so he was happy.
After dinner it was about 7PM, and it was time to head back. We all said how much fun it would have been if we were camping and staying over, but we hadn’t planned for that. We all thanked Dan multiple times for taking us, and for being such an awesome guide.
I rode back to the city with my Dad. After I got back to my sister’s house, I had about an hour’s drive in front of me to go home. I was getting so tired, so I headed back. I got home at 10PM and saw Joe in the living room-the boys were asleep.
I realized that this was the first time since having kids, that I had been away from them the entire day and evening. I have to admit that I had so much fun. Not because I was away from them, but because for one day, I had zero responsibilities.
It seems like a lifetime ago that I was that carefree. I enjoyed just being, taking in what was happening and living in the moment. Thanks to Joe, I knew the boys were being well cared for, and I didn’t have to worry about them. A day later, I realize it was a day I really, really needed. For this day I wasn’t mommy, but Heather again, if that makes sense.
When you have young children, you just have to give certain things up for awhile- white water rafting is one of them. I am so happy I was able to go though, and hopefully in a few more years, the boys will be able to go as well.
In the meantime for me, having a day where I could just be, and enjoy each moment as they came, was wonderful. It was a blast, and I hope I don’t have to wait another four-and-a-half years before I can do it again.
To see pictures of us hitting the first rapid, and viewing Mara’s fall out of the raft, you can view our six pictures here. We are pictures 12-17, and you will start at picture 12. You can hit the arrow to see the series of pictures. In the front of the raft left to right, is my brother, Jeff, and next to him is Kevin (Mara’s husband). Behind Jeff is his wife, Kat, and next to her is Mara. Behind Kat, in the hat is me, and across from me, is my dad. In the very back is our guide, Dan.
