You may have noticed that I have added an imood icon under my name on the right hand side of the screen. I’m not going to get into how finding out about imood has caused some issues for me on the web. But that is neither here nor there. Anyway I thought it was an interesting item to add to the page so there it is.
Why am I excited? Well, this weekend my Dad and I are going up to the Penobscot River in Maine to do some whitewater rafting. We are going with a friend of his and his sons. The rafting company is Three Rivers Whitewater, Inc. and we are staying for the weekend in a Yurt. What is a Yurt? Read all about Yurts. They sound like a unique experience. We’ll be rafting the Penobscot River. Class V all the way baby!
I haven’t been whitewater rafting since college. During my first year of college I went whitewater rafting with the Alpine Club at school. For four weeks in a row I went with the Alpine club to various locations and adventures across New Hampshire. My first weekend I went rock climbing at Rock Rimmon park in Manchester/Goffstown/Pinardville (It is off Kelly street.) It is only a 75foot climb but being someone who isn’t that excited about heights it seemed very high. The next weekend we went hiking up and down Mt. Osceola in New Hampshire. We ended up doing a 15 mile hike that day because someone read the map incorrectly. Not me, I was just a freshman and was along for the ride with the hike. So instead of going up and down the Mt. we ended going up one Mt. and down another and then walking along a logging road till we found someone who could give a couple of the guys rides back to the cars, which by this time were another 25 miles away.
This was also one of the first of three trips where I could have died. I was standing at the edge of the trail down, which was an open rock face and while I was standing there one of the girls on the trip stumbled and fell squarely into my back. This was so sudden and unexpected and there was nothing in front of me whatsoever to break my fall or stop my rapid descent. However I didn’t move, not one inch. I should have been tumbling ass over teakettle down the Mt., but I wasn’t. I was lucky, she was lucky because had I not been standing there she would have gone right down the Mt.
The second near death experience happened on the next trip. It was our whitewater rafting trip down the Kennebec River in Maine. The Alpine club piled into cars and drove up to Maine and camped out on a logging trail for the night. The next day we went out with Crab Apple Whitewater Inc. down the Kennebec. When you whitewater raft you are told to grab for the person in front of you if they are falling out of the raft, so as to keep them in the boat. So as we were coming into the main flow of the river from an eddy that we had stopped at the raft dipped and the two guys in front of me fell out of the raft. I grabbed for them and was pulled out of the raft too. They were pulled back into the raft almost immediately by the rest of the people in the raft. I however somehow managed to slip underneath the raft. And I was trapped there, looking through the clear plastic floor at everyone. The water was too strong, my life jacket was pushing me up, and I couldn’t move left or right out from under the raft. Finally I was able to get one hand out from under the raft. At this point my lungs were burning and I could feel my oxygen beginning to fail me. Suddenly I was ripped out of the water by the guide and one of the girls on the trip. These were the two smallest people on the boat and they dragged me into the raft as if I was a paper doll. I lay there at the bottom of the raft for a while, gasping for air, my eyes had bugged out of their sockets and I was shaking. Probably one of the most frightening experiences ever.
And I’m excited to be going back. Crazy I tell you.
And the third near death trip was to the falling waters trail. I climbed up the side of a waterfall, off trail behind one of the girls in the group, to make sure that she did not fall. More than once my hands had to reach up and catch her feet so she could step. Any one of those times when she slipped it could have been all over for both of us. Oh well, stupid freshman antics. I grew out of that in years following as I took a more active role in the club and started looking out for those who may have gotten into any potential dangers.
Why am I excited? Well, this weekend my Dad and I are going up to the Penobscot River in Maine to do some whitewater rafting. We are going with a friend of his and his sons. The rafting company is Three Rivers Whitewater, Inc. and we are staying for the weekend in a Yurt. What is a Yurt? Read all about Yurts. They sound like a unique experience. We’ll be rafting the Penobscot River. Class V all the way baby!
I haven’t been whitewater rafting since college. During my first year of college I went whitewater rafting with the Alpine Club at school. For four weeks in a row I went with the Alpine club to various locations and adventures across New Hampshire. My first weekend I went rock climbing at Rock Rimmon park in Manchester/Goffstown/Pinardville (It is off Kelly street.) It is only a 75foot climb but being someone who isn’t that excited about heights it seemed very high. The next weekend we went hiking up and down Mt. Osceola in New Hampshire. We ended up doing a 15 mile hike that day because someone read the map incorrectly. Not me, I was just a freshman and was along for the ride with the hike. So instead of going up and down the Mt. we ended going up one Mt. and down another and then walking along a logging road till we found someone who could give a couple of the guys rides back to the cars, which by this time were another 25 miles away.
This was also one of the first of three trips where I could have died. I was standing at the edge of the trail down, which was an open rock face and while I was standing there one of the girls on the trip stumbled and fell squarely into my back. This was so sudden and unexpected and there was nothing in front of me whatsoever to break my fall or stop my rapid descent. However I didn’t move, not one inch. I should have been tumbling ass over teakettle down the Mt., but I wasn’t. I was lucky, she was lucky because had I not been standing there she would have gone right down the Mt.
The second near death experience happened on the next trip. It was our whitewater rafting trip down the Kennebec River in Maine. The Alpine club piled into cars and drove up to Maine and camped out on a logging trail for the night. The next day we went out with Crab Apple Whitewater Inc. down the Kennebec. When you whitewater raft you are told to grab for the person in front of you if they are falling out of the raft, so as to keep them in the boat. So as we were coming into the main flow of the river from an eddy that we had stopped at the raft dipped and the two guys in front of me fell out of the raft. I grabbed for them and was pulled out of the raft too. They were pulled back into the raft almost immediately by the rest of the people in the raft. I however somehow managed to slip underneath the raft. And I was trapped there, looking through the clear plastic floor at everyone. The water was too strong, my life jacket was pushing me up, and I couldn’t move left or right out from under the raft. Finally I was able to get one hand out from under the raft. At this point my lungs were burning and I could feel my oxygen beginning to fail me. Suddenly I was ripped out of the water by the guide and one of the girls on the trip. These were the two smallest people on the boat and they dragged me into the raft as if I was a paper doll. I lay there at the bottom of the raft for a while, gasping for air, my eyes had bugged out of their sockets and I was shaking. Probably one of the most frightening experiences ever.
And I’m excited to be going back. Crazy I tell you.
And the third near death trip was to the falling waters trail. I climbed up the side of a waterfall, off trail behind one of the girls in the group, to make sure that she did not fall. More than once my hands had to reach up and catch her feet so she could step. Any one of those times when she slipped it could have been all over for both of us. Oh well, stupid freshman antics. I grew out of that in years following as I took a more active role in the club and started looking out for those who may have gotten into any potential dangers.