White Water Rafting

If you want some fun and excitement - go white water rafting

(Pictures to be added soon)

White Water Rafting, Canon City, Colorado

The decision to go white water rafting was a last-minute thing. I had planned to go soaring later in our holiday; but my partner was very excited to go white water rafting. We could fit it in on our trip from Manitou Springs to La Veda as we had a day at our disposal for travel plus some extra time over.

So, we booked up with Raft Masters, based in Canon City, Colorado.

We had not done this before and I, for one am not a strong swimmer. In fact, I don't really like the water much (though I did get my PADI Open Water qualification last year...). So for these reasons we went for the Intermediate course. We just didn't want to be wimpy and do the Beginner course (“starting age 6”). And as for Expert.... well, no. 

The trouble was, even Intermediate had class 3 and 4 rapids, which sounded rough. And it was said to be for “thrill seekers and adventurous first time rafters.”

Well, thrill seekers – yes, but in a moderate way... but we were certainly “adventurous” and “first time”. Though I'd have preferred a “fairly” before the “adventurous”. 

Anyway the Intermediate was booked and the die was cast.

At the rafting centre in Canon City we got togged up. 

We did not really know just how wet we would get or which of our clothes to wear.

We found out we would get wet all over; so the question was; “Do we wear shorts and T-shirt with a borrowed semi-waterproof jacket, or do we use one of their wet suits with bootees, put on over underpants?” Even though it was 90 degrees we both thought we would get cold getting wet and then slowly drying out, so we went for wet suits and bootees. 

We then waited for half an hour to be boarded on two converted school buses (labelled “ c ool bus”). There was a twenty minute trip to water's edge, then another 15 minutes or so while the rafts were taken off a trailer and floated.

We were given instruction by our boat leader how to paddle and how to respond to his instructions. These consisted of: “Forward 2”, meaning forward two strokes; ”Forward left 2”; “Back right 2” or similar. 

And off we went.

This was a great trip! Intermediate was fine. We slowly bowled down river for a couple of hundred yards, then the first rapids appeared. Our leader told us how and when to paddle plus he was in the back of the boat doing what was necessary too. To be honest, he was probably doing most of the work – in avoiding crashing into rocks, which seems to be the main task. 

If there are kids on boards, the leader had a pair of oars fitted, whereby he or she could do the whole job and those in the boat just enjoy it.

We were all instructed in how to jam our feet into anchor points to stabilize ourselves. We felt safe al the time – though one foot was getting a bit squashed. You just have to rest your squashed foot in the quiet stretches. 

The fun was when you saw a 'whirlpool' approaching you and watched as your raft got nearer and finally tipped into it – followed by you getting splashed big time!

The rafts are very, very sturdy. They are blow up to be very hard to the touch. We were given full safety instructions as to what to do if we capsized – though we never felt near to this. Also, six rafts were going downstream from the same company plus 4 or 5 from another one. All ours were bunched together, so if there had been “man overboard” at any time, plenty of help would have been at hand. 

Of course, we all had life-jackets on. 

All in all – a great half day. I would certainly do it again. Great fun.

So, do do it; and if you go to Raft Masters they have five different trips in two locations. We went to Canon City, Colorado; there is also a great trip though the Royal Gorge, a bit further north. This passes under the highest suspension bridge in the USA. I think I'd go for this one next time.