We borrowed this 8 man raft from our ward (I love Alaskan wards!), and set out this morning after my amazing VTers came over to give me some spiritual nourishment. I love those ladies. Hi Steph and Stacy!
We carried this heavier-than-I-thought-it-was-gonna-be raft to the river and hopped in. Mark jumped in last (he was the rudder), and shoved off with his oar. Marty was in front, I was on the left, Molly and Mamie was on the right, and Mark in back.
The river started off super calm, so we practiced our synchronized rowing as we dodged the tree-overhangs. The river was quiet, and solitary. We didn't see houses, people, or animals. We laughed as we thought of falling over the side into the freezing river water and tried to anticipate the rapids that were at the end of the trip.
Water droplets streamed from the oars as we lifted them from the water and swung them frontwards to row again. The drops of water sounded soft and soothing, reminding me of the fountain I had just outside my bedroom window as a little girl.
As we passed our house and church, we saw 2 bald eagles in the same tree... that was all the animal-life we saw. Well, I guess we did see one weird eagle/hawk thing, and a jumping fish (a salmon, perhaps?). But that was it. Oh, and a few bearded men at the end. Okay.. they count.
Once past the bridge, the rapids began. The were seemingly small at first, and were building our excitement as I would let out yelps and screams and hollers to get the girls laughing. It had us doubled over (not a good thing as we are being shouted at to "ROW! ROW! ROW" by Mark as we try dodging trees and rocks), but it did do the trick to lessen Molly's fears. She was pretty nervous, but with my fake rumbly screams she had found humor in it instead. It was great.
We did get stuck on a few big rocks (we couldn't even see them! - they looked just like the other rapids rather than what they truly were), and went over a few submerged trees. We were glad the raft bottom was so tough and thick, as we shifted our weight and rocked back and forth until dislodging ourselves from the rocks. We really didn't want to have to swim to shore. ha!
What a day... I loved every bit of it. Even the huge splashes that had us all drenched in glacier-water and shivering in the cool rain coming down. It was absolutely beautiful, and gave me a new perspective on the valley we live in.
Still wish I had seen the bears and wolves whose tracks we had seen all over the place, though! That would have been most excellent and exciting. Don't you think??
I want to count this as a hike.... so I will. I just asked Mark if I can and he rolled his eyes and said, "suuure."
It was 7 miles rafted, and 50 yards walked with raft. One little blister under my wedding ring, and two swoll (sp?) shoulders, and 10 sore fingers. What a rush! I loved loved loved it.
6 comments:
what an adventure Jayce! I felt like I was reading some alaskian adventure book or something. You described it so well I could really picture it happening. I've been rafting once and it was FUN! Hope you find a hot tub or a nice bath to soothe those sore muscles!
It totally counts as a hike. Sounds fun.
I always want to move to Alaska when I read your blog. It looks so beautiful and you can have so much fun outside there! Megan Childs
how fun!! paul and i are going ALONE with some friends on an overnight rafting trip in september. i am soo excited. nervous but excited. it's been many a year since i've rafted.
Can I say how jealous I am of this rafting adventure? I wish I could go rafting more often. We are going to be heading our way next July (cross our fingers) to Alaska (sadly you wont be there right?) so I just may add that to my list of things to do in Alaska.
As far as the picture overlay....whatever do you mean? I know when I looked at my post from my sisters house it came up way different, but I dont remember exactly how. However on my computer it just shows the pictures either to the left (first set of pictures) and then pictures to the left and right with a space in the middle (second set). Does that all make sense? I was having problems with blogger that day, so it may have done something without me even knowing.
Those darn fish.....the only things that I bought were the fish and food. Everything else Mark already had. Where he got everything from before I have no idea. But I am glad to have made your day. Maybe I will try to do a post every once in a while of the fish just for you :) We havent gone as far as to name them. To Lana they are just fish. She will lay on the counter and watch them (same with Mark). Even though I claim to not really like them I still check on them everyday to make sure they are alive. However like you I have to find them. They hide in the rock and the boat.
*Swollen* fingers. ;)
I LOVE white water rafting. In fact, we're planning on a doing a weekend trip for our 5th anniversary. Because we're really romantic like that.
Sounds like you had a great time! Good thing you have a manly man to get you through the rapids. Hooray for our manly men!
And you were the only non M-name in the raft. Haha!
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