For as long as I've had a bucket list (which was first made in my early teenage years), I've had white water rafting on it. I had an opportunity years ago, but the group that was organizing it didn't get enough interest and decided to cancel. Starting on the 8th, my family went on vacation. This year, we would've been in Wisconsin, but due to this nasty virus, that wasn't feasible this year. So my siblings and I decided to go down to Ohiopyle, PA and white water raft the Youghiogheny River.
Tim, Sarah, and Stephen had all done it before on this river, so we decided to rent a raft and a banana boat and tackle it ourselves. We got to the rental place, got our gear, our rafts, and made our way down to the launch site. The man waiting down there to see us off told us to have a safe, but fun ride and told us to make sure the young lady (Sarah) put her helmet on forwards. We all got a good laugh, but then the guy playfully scolded us by saying, "there are a lot of you and none of you said a word!"
Feeling like we were ready to take on the world, we launched the raft and the banana boat into the river. As we launched, there was a big waterfall at our backs to remind us we were in for a wild ride (but no we wouldn't be going over a waterfall). I knew going into this that this was going to be intense and that falling out was highly likely. So with the safety instructions I was given, the life-vest and helmet I was wearing, I mentally prepared myself to take whatever the river threw at me.
We came upon our first rapids took them head on. The dip in the center was quite low that we got drenched. Nathaniel and Brad came after in the banana boat and because it was narrow, bent head first into the water, dunking poor Brad and soaking him pretty good. After they cleared it he asked "Is that the worst one?" "Nope" was the answer he received.
The big challenge with running rapids is the rocks. There are the large ones well above the water and there are the smaller ones hidden under the water. Generally, if you steer properly, the current will carry you around them big ones or make you just brush them. It's the underwater ones that are a pain as they can cause the raft to get stuck. To get unstuck, you have to do some fancy people maneuvering in the boat. We found ourselves in the latter situation a handful of times throughout our adventure, but one specific time caught us by surprise and made for a harrowing adventure.
According to the map they gave us, there are six sets of rapids from the launch point, before you hit a long stretch of calmer waters. After that first rapid, we cruised through the next two with no issues. Then came the fourth. By this time, we were feeling incredibly confident and saw this big dip in the middle of the rapids. We decided to challenge it. As we charged into the dip, things were going well...
...then the raft seemed to stall, take a hard turn, and the next thing I knew, I was being dumped into the river. As I was falling I looked up and saw Stephen falling towards me. I sunk into the rough waters, and as I surfaced, Stephen's thrashing arms unintentionally pushed me back down. I resurfaced, thinking someone was still in the boat to rescue us, but to my shock, it was upside down. My eyes darted around looking for everyone else, to be sure they were alright. I saw only Sarah and Stephen. Instinct told me to try and get to the raft, but the water was moving so fast I was pushed away from the raft and now I had to focus on dodging massive rocks and getting to calmer waters.
We were told before we launched that if we fell out, to not try and stand up because your feet can become trapped in the rocks and the force of the water will thrust you face down and prevent you from getting upright. So that's what I did. Since we flipped in the middle of the rapid, I only experienced the less tumultuous part of it outside the raft. However, the river was so low, that hidden rocks underneath the water punished my rear end. I took a couple solid hits that left a mark or two. Clearing the rest of that rapid, I looked around and saw Stephen and Sarah. Sarah was close enough to me that I could communicate with her, but Stephen was too far off to do so. He drifted around the edge of the river behind a rock and I was hoping he'd make it to shore. I spun my head around to try to see the raft situation. I caught a glimpse of the banana boat near the raft and the raft being flipped upright. But that's all I saw because I was now entering the next set of rapids and had some major rock dodging to do.
As the violent rapids pushed me forward, I once again surveyed what was in front of me. I saw two more sets of rapids and hoped those guys would reach us soon. I still saw Sarah beside me and kept telling her to keep an eye out for calmer waters while getting forcefully slammed by water. Helpless, I entered the next series of rapids. Before me was a giant rock that water was crashing into. I gave my legs a kick and struck a rock below me. Fudge. I stuck my arm out to absorb most of the blow I expected to take. But before it took the hit, an unseen rock below the surface nailed me in the rear. That one hurt, but it's force was enough to project me away from the rock a slow my momentum just a bit. Which was good because I grazed another large rock instead of nailing it. A few more sunken rocks took their shots and rogue waters continued to pound me. With a few more bruises, I finally cleared those rapids. Sarah was still within eyesight and seemed okay but a bit disheveled.
I had a moment to notice there were very calm waters ahead, but another patch of rough waters awaited...as well as a large bridge with massive stone pillars. By this point I was wondering where the heck those other guys were only to remember a river can toss one person faster than a raft and a boat carrying a few.
The last set of rapids came swiftly and carried Sarah ahead of me. There was a double dip and then the dreaded pillars. Sarah cried out at each dip as more hidden rocks slammed her from below. Still keeping my feet up, they managed to clip more rocks. Then I hit the double dip and spun like a top. I wondered if I was going to break or fracture something for the first time in my life.
Head above water, the mighty pillars loomed. Thankfully I surfaced centered enough to not be head on with them and narrowly missed one by mere inches. The waters lightened up just a bit and I warned Sarah to avoid a large tree branch. She kicked towards shore and I drifted by. Then with the strength I had remaining, I fought-swam towards a rock near the shore. I managed to perch myself between the pair. Now it was a waiting game.
A few minutes later, Nathaniel and Brad passed by in the banana boat and told me Tim managed to get everyone else...thank goodness. They then shouted back at him to let him know where I was. As the raft came by, the waters were still strong enough that the raft couldn't get directly to me. So I dove out into the river, and Tim, who was nearly the whole way out of the raft, extended the oar as far as he could reach it. I managed to grab it and they hauled me in. My butt hurt. I could feel some of the bruises, but overall I was fine. And thankfully, so was everyone else.
We now had a long stretch of calm waters to recuperate and right our bearings. You may think this tale ends here but...
..that was only the halfway point. The very next rapids we came upon were known as the Dimple Rapids with a Dimple Rock. This was the most dangerous set on this river. There were warning signs and even a trail that allows you to portage around them if you don't feel you can handle them. To put it in perspective how dangerous these waters are, in the past 30 years, 18 deaths on the river have been attributed to boating accidents and 9 of them were in the dimple rapids. Basically there is a large rock to the right. It's so big that the river races up it and turns back into itself while colliding with the water running off the nearby rocks for a chaotic tangled mess of water. Then to top it off, there's a large crevice under the rock that you can get trapped in and there's no way out.
We discussed for a moment portaging it or even stopping to look at them first to see how to do them, but we didn't do either. We came to ride rapids, to take them head on, to laugh fear in the face, and experience the thrill of the raging water. We said "Send it!" and rode straight into hydro cyclone. The paddles thrashed the water, we sailed around Dimple Rock, got briefly hung up on another rock, and then cruised out the other end losing no one and staying in the boat. But holy heck was that one whale of a ride.
The rest of our journey was quite uneventful with a few more slightly intense rapids to go through. Yet almost 3 hours later, one out-of-boat ride through the rapids, one ride through deadly rapids, and one sore rear-end later, we had finished our course. Reading this, one may ask if it was worth it. My response would be absolutely. Because what's living if you don't take chances in life? If you sit around wondering what something is like and never doing it? Carrying a large bag of "What ifs?" can drive you insane. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? I'd say so. On a final note, another bucket list item has been executed. Looking forward to which one I complete next!
