Like a Cheetah!
Yesterday, I went white water rafting again. As usual, it was fun and unusually (for my band of yahoos), no one fell in.
The trip over started off with a drizzle in Western Washington, but by the time we got to the Wenatchee area, it was blue skies and sun. The river was ice cold, which I found to be quite refreshing by afternoon.
First, let me say that I was SHOCKED by the low turnout at Riverside Park in Cashmere. I’m used to hundreds of people crawling all over the park in preparation for a trip down the river. Orion (my outfitter of choice) only had three boats on the water, two of which were my party. I didn’t count, but I think I only saw three other rafting outfitters at the park. I’ve never rafted the Wenatchee on a Sunday, so maybe that had something to do with it. At any rate, it was weird.
My party consisted of 13 people – half of them have rafted with me before. I had some excited first-timers and some nervous first-timers. I’m discovering that separating people into boats is part science, part art, part intuition. My first rule is that friends stay together. I consider myself the wild card for seating. Sometimes, I’ll pull Heather, Kim C. or Tina aside and let them know that they may be sitting with strangers if I need another wild card. There’s always someone who is cool with rafting with a bunch of strangers. I just want everyone to have fun and be as comfortable as possible and I find that first-timers do not want to be separated from their spouse/friend/co-worker. Our 2nd boat had two separate parties of three – whenever I looked back, no one seemed to be talking in their boat. It was like an awkward barbeque – where everyone knows the host but not each other and the host left the room for a minute. My boat had 7 women in it and everyone knew at least two other people – constant talking and laughing about everything! I’m almost embarrassed of how much time was spent talking about Paris Hilton. I’m sure if I shouted out, “Paris Hilton!” at the other boat, they would have had plenty to discuss. Say what you want about Paris, but she can really bring a boat full of people together!
Sauk Talk was kept to a minimum – at least by my standards. I’m sure my friends are sick of hearing about it. I didn’t realize how uptight I am about that whole experience until we started the first set of rapids on the Wenatchee. I was truly scared. I was scared that entire first half. My rowing really suffered from that. I would see a big wave and stop moving. After lunch, I was still scared, but I handled it much better internally. Apparently, externally I was much quieter and subdued the second half. However, I was concentrating hard on being a more active paddler and I think I succeeded.
The waves were the biggest I’ve ever seen on the Wenatchee (I’ve been three whole times now). I was told the water levels were lower than normal – wow! the river really seemed different. But, I don’t know how much of it is in my head. I’m waiting for Karen and Heather to give me an opinion since they’ve been with me all three times. I’ve got to say, I thought it was a great trip. The rapids just seemed really exciting! The people who wanted action certainly got it and the nervous first-timers got a chance to relax between rapids and calm down. There are a couple of friends who couldn’t make it this time and I was really sorry to come back and tell them that they missed a great trip. It just can’t be recreated.
Jonathan (not John) was our guide. And yes, he has the inherent, casual hotness that river guides just have… He was very laid back and calm - which I really needed. I don't feel that I have that much experience, but I thought he did a great job guiding us on our trip. Everyone on our boat seemed to have a fantastic time. And like I said, no one fell in. Jonathan may not even realize it, but we took it really easy with him. Except for 5-10 minutes on the second half of the trip, where Heather and K.P. were exceptionally raunchy, Jonathan was barely sexually harassed.
But he’ll never look at ‘O’ magazine the same way again.
- Susan in Seattle
The trip over started off with a drizzle in Western Washington, but by the time we got to the Wenatchee area, it was blue skies and sun. The river was ice cold, which I found to be quite refreshing by afternoon.
First, let me say that I was SHOCKED by the low turnout at Riverside Park in Cashmere. I’m used to hundreds of people crawling all over the park in preparation for a trip down the river. Orion (my outfitter of choice) only had three boats on the water, two of which were my party. I didn’t count, but I think I only saw three other rafting outfitters at the park. I’ve never rafted the Wenatchee on a Sunday, so maybe that had something to do with it. At any rate, it was weird.
My party consisted of 13 people – half of them have rafted with me before. I had some excited first-timers and some nervous first-timers. I’m discovering that separating people into boats is part science, part art, part intuition. My first rule is that friends stay together. I consider myself the wild card for seating. Sometimes, I’ll pull Heather, Kim C. or Tina aside and let them know that they may be sitting with strangers if I need another wild card. There’s always someone who is cool with rafting with a bunch of strangers. I just want everyone to have fun and be as comfortable as possible and I find that first-timers do not want to be separated from their spouse/friend/co-worker. Our 2nd boat had two separate parties of three – whenever I looked back, no one seemed to be talking in their boat. It was like an awkward barbeque – where everyone knows the host but not each other and the host left the room for a minute. My boat had 7 women in it and everyone knew at least two other people – constant talking and laughing about everything! I’m almost embarrassed of how much time was spent talking about Paris Hilton. I’m sure if I shouted out, “Paris Hilton!” at the other boat, they would have had plenty to discuss. Say what you want about Paris, but she can really bring a boat full of people together!
Sauk Talk was kept to a minimum – at least by my standards. I’m sure my friends are sick of hearing about it. I didn’t realize how uptight I am about that whole experience until we started the first set of rapids on the Wenatchee. I was truly scared. I was scared that entire first half. My rowing really suffered from that. I would see a big wave and stop moving. After lunch, I was still scared, but I handled it much better internally. Apparently, externally I was much quieter and subdued the second half. However, I was concentrating hard on being a more active paddler and I think I succeeded.
The waves were the biggest I’ve ever seen on the Wenatchee (I’ve been three whole times now). I was told the water levels were lower than normal – wow! the river really seemed different. But, I don’t know how much of it is in my head. I’m waiting for Karen and Heather to give me an opinion since they’ve been with me all three times. I’ve got to say, I thought it was a great trip. The rapids just seemed really exciting! The people who wanted action certainly got it and the nervous first-timers got a chance to relax between rapids and calm down. There are a couple of friends who couldn’t make it this time and I was really sorry to come back and tell them that they missed a great trip. It just can’t be recreated.
Jonathan (not John) was our guide. And yes, he has the inherent, casual hotness that river guides just have… He was very laid back and calm - which I really needed. I don't feel that I have that much experience, but I thought he did a great job guiding us on our trip. Everyone on our boat seemed to have a fantastic time. And like I said, no one fell in. Jonathan may not even realize it, but we took it really easy with him. Except for 5-10 minutes on the second half of the trip, where Heather and K.P. were exceptionally raunchy, Jonathan was barely sexually harassed.
But he’ll never look at ‘O’ magazine the same way again.
- Susan in Seattle
posted by Susan at 6:22 PM
2 Comments:
Hey, long time no post. :-)
Glad nobody almost-drowned this time around...
Hey Susan,
Yeah - the waves were certainly the biggest we've ever encountered on the Wenatchee.
River guides are super, yummy hot. I wonder if they can all run like Cheeta's? =o)
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