White Water Rafting
August 30, 2003 — Lower New River, West Virginia. Today was a boatload of fun for us. Jeanie (who I met 25 years ago today) between our birthdays (mine the 29th and hers the 31st), a son Steve and his girlfriend Mary Ellen, another son Nick, and my brother Dennis all had a lot of thrills and spills without anyone worse for wear other than a few broken fingernails and very minor sunburns.
Adventure on the New River
The water (at over 4000 cubic feet per second) and weather (mostly cloudy, some sunshine, and a great rain storm just as we went under the bridge) was perfect for our 12 mile adventure.
Dennis and Mary Ellen had never been rafting like this before. Both did fabulous and became members of the “New River Swim Team” (a term for those who spend time overboard). Dennis seemed to enjoy spending a lot of time out of the raft. :)
Besides the great storm, another really fun time was when we went surfing (West Virginia style). What’s that, you ask? When a lot of water goes over a rock, a hydraulic condition exists where the water has to flow upstream to fill the void. If you can carefully position your raft in exactly the right position, you can surf the river upstream. We tried several times and ended up hitting the enormous currents a little high, low, left, or right and would be blasted out of there (usually with one or several people out of the raft. We were able on one attempt to get it right for a few seconds and it is a real thrill.
Our guide, Jason, and my son Steve had a lot of fun together. I’ ve gone rafting three times now and find that the guides at NARR are very knowledgeable and skilled at showing people a good time. They quickly size up the skills and level of risk people in the raft can endure and then maneuver the raft appropriately for each group. The money and time spent going rafting is well worth it. Memories of the adventure will last far longer than I will.
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