River me timbers!

The white water rafting trip was exponentially more fun than I had anticipated. Tony, our veteran guide that the group met the night before in a hot tub at Northern, was outstanding. He has an amazingly warm personality coupled with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Two other new rafters were with us Josh, and Laura and they were equally as friendly and entertaining. The weather was perfect and the river conditions were just right for us to get a good first feel of what class IV rapids feel like.

We started the trip by getting a quick safety and instruction briefing by Tony. Then we inflated the boat and carried it down to the Kennebec river’s edge at the dam. The dam poured a torrent of water into the river, gushing out at over 5000 cubic feet per second. The river water levels fluctuate every couple of hours based on power needs from cities like New York. The levels are highest when the power demand is the greatest which fortunately for us is the middle of the week. Additionally most of the guided trips run on the weekend so we had the river pretty much to ourselves.

The water was also really pleasant because all of it comes from the top of the lake so it has been warmed by the sun. It was just cool enough to be refreshing without being cold enough to make you uncomfortable.

The first rapid we encountered was “Taster Rapid.” Tony took us through it in a few different positions to give us taste of what a rapid feels like. Tony also rightfully referred to it as “Hair of the Dog” because we had all been drinking the night before.  After that we hit “Rock Garden” which is a little technical and following that was my favorite, “Big Momma and Her Three Sisters.”

Before we  encountered “Momma and her Three Sisters,”  Tony said  “Momma is the toll booth and then we’ll hit her three sisters.”   He was a riot, especially when shouted out the three sisters as we plowed through the giant hits.  I was surprised how synchronized our boat was. I have been in dragon boat races where everyone was paddling at different speeds and for our first time, I think we did pretty great. Tony said we had a perfect line and we hit each sister dead on.

Shortly after Momma we cliff jumped for a little while and then stopped at Dead Falls where Tony explained that local Native American tribes used to take their young boys behind the falls. When they emerged they were considered to be men. It was believed that the boy inside died in the falls as they emerged. His guiding friend’s version told it a little differently. Apparently an old Native American woman by the name of “Old Gray Bush” lived behind there and turned the boys into men. I am not exactly sure what she did to those poor boys but I don’t think it was pretty.

We climbed the falls for an hour or so and then went on to the biggest rapid of the day “Magic Falls.”  I think Tony must have really run the Falls by the book because it seemed a little less intense than I imagined. He also built up the hype by preparing us to swim to the right in case we capsized the boat. The river has a double fault line so it pushes you left into the sharp rocks. Additionally, “Magic Falls” is a class IV rapid, which, as I understand it, is about as intense of a rapid that you can take a beginner boat so I was pretty ready for some intense life clinging water. Class V is apparently just insane and VI is impossible to run. It turned out to be about as intense as Momma and her Sisters but I definitely felt the need to high five everyone afterwards.

After a few smaller hits we all jumped out of the boat for “Swimmer’s Rapid” and floated down the river. We had to time our breath so we didn’t just suck water the whole time we were floating. It was great and fun to all float in a group.

Then we climbed back into the boat and did the last tiny rapid. For this one Tony had us going in a left back paddle and right forward paddle the whole time to make it seem more intense. Ironically this was the smallest rapid and it was the only one where someone fell out. Josh was just kind of loosely sitting in the boat and flipped out when we hit a decent size wave. We all laughed as he flipped over backwards. I was so jealous that it wasn’t me!

After we pulled up on shore we grabbed some beers out of the back of Tony’s car and sat and looked at the river. What an amazing trip. Blue and I will always remember Tony, Josh, Laura, Kate, and Jack. They couldn’t be more kind and generous and they showed us an amazing new sport. I wish them all the best and I hope to see them again soon.

 

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