Thermalgal’s Temperate Mumblings

What fun!

July 26, 2004 on 12:00 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off on What fun!

We had a blast on Saturday when we went hurling down the Shenandoah River in our rented Torrents!  It was a big group, there were 10 one-man torrents and 10 rafts (each holding up to six guests).  Each raft had a river guide and there were two guides for the kayakers.

We did class 1 rapids (any less and they wouldn’t be rapids) and we did 2 class 3 parts. The highest class for rapids is a 6. The first class 3 was actually a little waterfall followed by a hydraulic (I think that is what it was called). I got turned around going down the little waterfall and was backwards and I didn’t want to fall out (we were just sitting on top of the kayaks with little straps over our knees) and didn’t have enough time to straighten before I hit the next section, I had to go through that backwards. I thought I did a really good job. If you don’t go into the rapids straight your boat could get flipped. We were told to paddle really hard once we get to the first one and then keep continuing to paddle through the second one. Some people forget about the second one and get knocked out. I didn’t want that to happen. So, when I was turning and figured backwards was closer, I just lined myself up and then paddled backwards for all I was worth and I made it through just fine. All the rafts were sitting there watching the kayakers come through and I think everyone started to cheer and said things like, wow great job! I think one of the first kayakers through (I was near the end) fell out.

The next set of rapids was a bit crowded. The kayaks go faster since it is only one man, so when we let the rafts go first, we caught up part way through and there were all sorts of traffic jams. After that we went first. I got stuck on a rock once. I was prependicular to the current and flush up against a rock and had a really hard time getting off of it. At one point, we went through a class 1 or 2 water fall (more like a small drop) and then parked the kayaks on the big rock and then went back and swam through it. It was fun, but my butt skimmed the rock as I went over. DH said his butt hit real hard.  The last class 3 was really cool. It was bascially big waves. No rocks to get stuck on like the other parts. I didn’t fall out of my kayak once (well, accidentally that is… I did jump out at the beginning to practice getting back on).  And I did almost everything. I didn’t try surfing on the rapids (you put your kayak downstream of a big rapid and try to surf there).  DH tried it and ended up falling out of his kayak (like most everyone else who tried it). It was a real workout. It was a 3 hour trip and I think that was only the time on the river! Lots of upper body strength needed. DH was so sore he couldn’t sleep Saturday night. I’m not as bad.  I think we’ll be going back in September with my sister and her DH when they do the next level trip.