The title of this post may be “White Water Rafting the Snake River”, but the subtitle is definitely “Or, That Time I Almost Lost Jessica!”
Right now most of you are probably concerned that Jessica fell out of the boat, was swept under a rapid, choked dramatically on water, or was attacked by crazed trout. These were my concerns too! But the greatest dangers always come from where you least expect them! It turns out that the true danger came from our guide who greatly admired Jessica from the moment she stepped off our bus.
It started right when we arrived. Our guide introduced himself ONLY to Jessica and then insured that she was sitting directly in front of him on the boat. Evidence mounted further when he volunteered me to balance precariously at the front of the boat for a dangerous rapid.
In the end, through sheer force of will, I was able to hang onto the boat and to Jessica. And, despite our guide’s attempts to win her heart and stop mine, we all had a blast rafting down the river.
Obviously my DSLR was not going to join us on the trip. Instead, I brought my GoPro, which I clicked on through most of the rapids. As with anything, the video doesn’t quite do it justice. Or maybe, the rapids looked a lot bigger when the threat of falling off and getting soaked was real.
The water was pretty high at this point of the year. Surprisingly though, this did not actually make the river much rougher. The higher flow rate meant that the water’s surface rose above some of the rocks that created the rapids. So despite the high runoff, we weren’t facing terrifying rapids.