…or so we were told.
I was a chaperone on a Servant Event trip to North Carolina, and we had
scheduled a day-off fun trip including whitewater rafting on the French Broad
River.
However, this was a year of drought. We baked in the sun all week, out
in that Carolina heat – You know the “Carolina Blue” color? It’s the blue in
the Carolina Panthers logo, and I believe the same blue for the Tarheels team.
Well, that was honest-to-God the color of the sky that entire week.
Sweat bees were biting us out in the sun. I realized they’re nothing to
be afraid of.
Anyway, Saturday we drove a couple hours to the Nantahala Outdoor
Center to rent gear and take a guided whitewater raft journey down the French
Broad River – woohoo! I’d never done this before! There were a couple larger
rafts seating (I think) 6 each, and a few of us took single-seater “ducks”.
Kind of like a kayak, but inflatable. I’ve kayaked several times, so I took one
of the ducks.
Well, the water was low, so it really was like kayaking down a river. There were some slightly bumpier sections, and one place where we all got out of our rafts and swam in a deep pool before continuing downstream. It was the perfect refreshing end to a week of hard work. There were still a couple days of work and cleanup, but most of the hard labor was past.
I don’t know if it can truly count as whitewater rafting, but I’m
counting it! …until I do it for real some other time.
Moral of the Story: Get out into the water when you can!
Well, at least you got a good story out of it. An adventure is an adventure. Some 20 years ago I went on the Snake River with my graduating high-school class (all 18 of us), and it was somewhere between terrifying and great fun.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how I'll feel about actual whitewater rafting on actual white-water!
DeleteIf nothing else, it counts as a W! Also I thought it was going to go badly once you got the single person boat, I'm glad it didn't!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a control freak at times, so it's nice for me to have total control over the paddling.
DeleteI had to look up "Servant Event," Red. I guess I do that here volunteering at our historic Opera House. I believe life is about an exchange of information and ideas and helping others. I also believe in the importance of the arts. Anyway, my daughter lives in N.C. I'll have to ask her if she's heard of the French Broad River. She has a kayak. I'm going down to visit her in June, so I'll look for that Carolina Blue.
ReplyDeleteOh cool! This was in the Asheville area. Well, we drove there from Asheville.
DeleteI don't think a regular kayak would survive the rocks, but I could be wrong.
White Water Rafting is still on my list, but I have to get fixed first.
ReplyDeleteI thought you already "got fixed" haha.
DeleteI get it though.