River Rafting

Our family went white-water rafting down the South Fork of the Payette River today with Jill's sisters and their families. The dads and Spencer (14) and Riley (12) did the upper "staircase" section and then met the girls and the kids to do the lower easy section. The water was extemely cold on the upper section, but the wetsuits made it okay. We had a little mishap on the upper section. My brother-in-law got tossed from the boat at the top of a class 4 section of rapids (the highest guided tours will take you on). Our guide tried to pull him out of the water, which caused us to head right into the "see-more" rapid, which is named "see-more" because they see more boats flipped there than any other rapid on that section of the river. The boat didn't flip, but it went completely sideways, tossing all of us out, including the guide. Then we proceeded to go down the long section of rapids in our life jackets. I sucked down lots of water and hit a lot of rocks, but I managed to keep my feet in front of me and avoided the worst of it. More than anything, we were all scared for Riley, who was pretty nervous and on his first rafting trip. I was certainly freaked out while I was going down the rapids, but once it was all over I can honestly say it was one of the most excited experiences of my life.

Then we met up with the girls and the kids to do the lower section, which was tons of fun for the boys.