Rafting the river

As a child, I spent most of my time in man-made swimming pools. The only recreation I remember out on a real body of water was spent in a lake (and if my memory is right, it too, was man-made). I was probably about seven or eight when we headed up to the lake one summer with my uncles and aunts. They tied a rope to an inner tube and threw it out the back of the boat and me and brother and sister took turns being pulled behind the boat, while in the tube with one of our uncles. And while it was fun at the time, it was nothing like I experienced this weekend.

A few months ago, Phil Donally gave me an invitation to join him and his family (Mike, Nicole, Logan and Clayton) on river rafting trip down the Clark Fork River. I immediately said yes and begin crossing off the days until I would get the chance. Last Friday, I got that chance. We went with Rugg's Outfitting and arrived down at the Cyr launch point at around 9:30 a.m. After signing away my life on the waiver form, I was fitted into my life jacket. The gentleman told me that it was similar a horse being cinched up at the girth. Having always been the one doing the cinching, I admit I have a bit more sympathy for the horse.

Once all seven of us had our life jackets on, our guide, Kip, explained that those who sat in front of the boat would be the ones who would get wet the most, while those sitting in the back would get most of the action. Then he went on to comment that he loses people the most from the back. Upon hearing that, having no desire to fall out, I decided I would sit in front. We also learned that if we did fall out to lie on our backs with our feet downstream.

I admit that I was a bit nervous, but as I enjoy trying new things, I eagerly stepped into the raft and once we were all loaded we were off. And what a trip it turned out to be.

We made our way down the river through small "ripples," or the not so good rapids, eventually coming across the good rapids. I was soaked easily by the first couple of rapids and ended up completely drenched by the time that we had traveled through the larger ones, including the largest called fang. It was complete fun dropping down into the rapids and then crashing through the walls of water where necessary. Kip had said that it would feel like riding a bucking horse and having been on a couple of those I can certainly tell you that was the case.

Apart from the excitement of the rapids and ripples, the part I enjoyed the most was the unique perspective from which I was seeing the countryside. We saw deer drinking from the river, fish jumping out here and there, bald eagles flying overhead and the occasional annoying flies. Since I had come to the county, everyone had talked about the Alberton Gorge and on the raft we traveled right through it. I saw the purple cliffs, old cables that people hung across the river to move from side to side, old mining runoffs, gorgeous meadows and several creeks.

We stopped at the point where Fish Creek flows into the river for lunch and I picked up three new rocks for my collection. After lunch, on the calmer parts of the river, we got to jump in for a swim. Beforehand, I asked if there were any snakes or fish that might bite me, as well as questioned as to if there were any parts that would suck me down. By the time I had gotten onto the edge of the raft to get in, Kip must have figured that I was going to back out because he jerked the boat and I toppled into the cold water. Later, I was happily relieved to be pulled back in, not only because I was ready to get out, but because if I fell out later on, I knew that Kip could pull be back in by my life jacket.

The excitement came at the end, just before we got out at Forest Grove, when Kip tried to bounce us off of a pillar of the bridge. With the four of us adults in the back, and the water coming into the boat, we begin to tip and I fell out as did Nicole. We were both fine, though perhaps a bit shaken.

All in all it was a great trip and a great way to waste a day per say. And to remember my experience, I now have a t-shirt that shows a cowboy on a raft in the rapids that reads, "I rode the gorge with Rugg's Outfitting."