Granny Snatcher, Boxcar.... Room of Doom!

One of the things I've wanted to do for YEARS is go white water rafting.  A few months ago Groupon (don't you just LOVE Groupon??) offered a white water rafting trip for 1/2 price on the Deschutes river in Maupin, Oregon.  Without a second thought I grabbed and convinced 5 other people to go on this adventure with me.

It was just a 1/2 day trip and we scheduled it for this past Saturday.  Leaving for the weekend isn't so easy for us anymore.  We had to make arrangements for alpaca and goat babysitters, we had to leave instructions for duck, goose, dog, cat and chicken care.  We had to water the garden, feed the creatures, clean the stalls, pack the car, pack our clothes, and put away our inter stellar transport ship...  We had a Friday morning, 10:00 am target departure time and managed to pull out just after noon.

Then we hit Seattle traffic.  It took us three hours to get from the north side of Seattle to the south side of Tacoma.  Normally a trip that takes less than an hour.  We finally rolled into our campsite about 9:30.  Our friends were already there and we quickly set up our tent and blew up our air mattress.  We visited for awhile and went to bed.  A totally useless effort.  We were staying in a river rafting camp ground.  It was a primitive campground to say the least.  There were eight port-a-potties at one end, a hose at the other, and about 50 tents with people all high on adrenaline (and who knows what!) eager to start their river adventure. Partying went on until 2:00 am.  Hoots, hollers and music filled the air.  Our air mattress went flat well before the partying ended.  Sleep was elusive at best.

Finally - it was time to hit the river.  And hit the river we did.  Our trip involved class 3 and 4 rapids with such fun names as Granny Snatcher, Boxcar, Oak Springs, AC/DC, Devil's Hole and the dreaded Room of Doom.  Our guide, Justin, briefed us on proper safety and paddling instructions and off we went.

The scenery was breathtaking.  Unfortunately there was no time to take photos.  There were other rafters on the river and there is a certain amount of rivalry.  Serious splashing of rival boats and rival companies was required.  In the slower patches of river we would try to sneak up, nonchalantly like and then WHAM water was the weapon and there was unlimited ammunition!  We rammed other boats and taunted them mercilessly.

We got wet - and then some.  On the slower sections we got out and swam. The smaller rapids we were allowed to "ride the bull" - one person would sit on the bow of the boat and hang on for dear life.  The class III rapids were exciting and plentiful.  The trip had one class IV rapid.  Before we went down it were pulled over to the side and were given special, specific, instructions.  What would happen, what we would experience and what we needed to do to get out alive.

We did an excellent job!  It was exciting and exhilarating and we all came out alive.  Wet, but alive and still on the boat!  Justin broke his paddle but man it was fun!

After we made it through the rapid we pulled over to an eddy and watched the next raft come down.  That raft got into trouble.  They made it down but the paddlers weren't able to get out of the suction of the river, they spiraled around the drop in a most dreadful manner.  Justin said, "Oh.. they are in the room of doom.  That's bad, watch this!"

Here's a photo.  That's the guide going over the back, if you look closely you can see the foot of one ejected rafter, in the air around the middle of the photo.  All together they lost three rafters.  Justin sent us paddling and we managed to rescue one, two more were pulled out just a bit farther by a safety line.

A little farther down the river was a stretch that we could ride down, sans raft.  We were told we could just jump out of the boat and ride the rapids. Body surf, in a way.  After that stretch we had to get back in because the river got quite rough again.  Two of our crew did it and then climbed back in the boat.  As we were preparing for the rougher section we ran across a person continuing to ride the rapids, without a boat.  Justin called over to him, "Were you planning on riding the lower elevator??"  The guy said no, he'd lost his kayak up above and couldn't do anything.  So we paddled over to him, pulled him in the boat just in time, ran the rapids and saved yet another human life!  We let him out just past the rapids and sent him hiking back up stream to find his kayak.

We are already planning to go again.  I'm keeping my eyes on the groupons.  I've researched other rafting trips, down the Rogue River, Snake River, Nooksack.. they are all over.   I want to do them all.  And I think I'll join the late night revelry.  I can hoot and holler with the best of them...