rafting

last saturday, the family and i went on a white water rafting adventure on the nantahala in the great smoky mountains.

because 10 of us went, we couldn't all ride in the same boat. instead, we took 4 small boats. i rode with my brother [zack] and my cousin [kristin]. none of us had any rafting experience except for kristin, who had been rafting there once in 2003. [so, basically, we had absolutely NO experience.]

before anyone is allowed on the river, you have to watch a "safety" video. this video does not AT ALL prepare you for what is about to happen. it doesn't tell you how to steer, how to paddle, what to expect...the ONLY thing i learned from the video is that, if i happened to fall out of the boat and NOT find myself in the "swimmer's position" that i would most definitely drown. awesome.

by this point, we were sufficiently freaked out. and not at all ready to get out onto the river. despite the fact that we were only facing class 1 and 2 rapids, we had major difficulties for like the first hour.

within the first 20 minutes of the adventure, we somehow managed to run our boat into a tree, at which point kristin got taken out by a large branch and fell into the river. she did not fall into the "swimmer's position", but zack and i were able to save her.

by the end of the first hour, we had finally gotten the hang of it and actually started to have fun. we ran into a kazillion rocks and nearly flipped the boat several times, but it was exciting!

an hour and a half later, we arrived at the optional docking area--the first of our family's 4 boats to finish! the course of the river ended with a class 3 waterfall. we didn't have to do it, but zack and i definitely wanted to. omygosh. soooo scary! we got stuck on a giant rock in the middle of the falls, and then we nearly flipped the boat. i definitely thought i was going to fall out, but somehow, i managed to cling to the side of the raft.

overall, it was a difficult, sometimes scary, but very fun experience that i would definitely recommend. i'd like to try it again, but next time maybe in a bigger boat...