RAFTING!

We went to Colorado this past weekend for our annual rafting trip...so many fun things happened, but I will just tell you about the rafting part until I can get my other pictures together. We arrived Saturday at our rafting company (ECHO CANYON for those of you who want to go) and were getting ready for the day ahead of us! 3 of us in our group have been every year, but this year we also had 3 rookies with us who were quite nervous. The river was at its highest point (3000 CFS). They close the river down to rafters at 3200 CFS so we knew it was going to be a crazy ride. Plus, we signed up for the Double Dip, which is Class IV and Class V most of the way. We found our guide, Shahir, who we've had for the past 3 years. He was telling us that it had been a crazy couple of days because the river was hauling some serious booty. I was SO PUMPED but a little scared. We get our wet suits on and get on the bus. The entire way we are lectured on safety and what to do if we should find ourselves swimming. I half way listened because I have heard it so many times...and not one person has fallen out of the boat on our trips. We arrive at our drop in point and get on the water. Shahir keeps repeating, "If you find yourself in the water, SWIM AGGRESSIVELY TO SHORE. DO not look for the boat, do not look for me, just get your A$$ to shore." He sounded like a broken record. We hit our first rapid and it was intense...but I knew this was going to be fun day. The water was a chilly 53 and I was so glad I had on a wetsuit. We approach our second rapid and hit it head on. We almost lost a couple of people on that one, but managed to regain our composure. The 3rd rapid was ahead of us and Shahir tells us to concentrate and listen to him...we head straight for the middle of it but we hit it at the wrong angle. Our boat automatically flipped upside down and the 7 of us were scattered. It was so surreal. I came up from under water and found that I was stuck under the raft. I got myself out of it and finally saw daylight, but no one was around me. All I could hear was Shahir in my head screaming, "SWIM AGGRESSIVELY". I have never been more thankful for my triathlon training as I was at that moment. Try swimming across a raging current. It's not that easy. Luckily, I am stubborn and strong-willing...and a decent swimmer. I got on shore and hugged a rock. Another boat picked me up and eventually we all found our way back to Shahir. Now, I've done a lot of things in my life that had potential to really shake me up. I've jumped out of planes, I have gone hang-gliding, I have been in a pretty bad car wreck, etc. Nothing compared to what I felt of Saturday. I have never been in a situation where, if I didn't save myself, no one was going to help me. That moment when I was stuck under the raft was a complete gut check. Sink or swim...live or die. That may sound a little dramatic, but that river has potential to do so much damage. I chose to be aggressive in my own rescue, and it made me really believe in myself. Moments like those put things in perspective. All I could think about after I was on the other boat was my husband. I hadn't seen him and I had no clue if he made it out. When I finally made it back to my crew, we all just hugged eachother and didn't say a word. It was one of the most intense moments I've had in my 28 years. We finished the day strong, we all stayed in the boat and we had a blast. As soon as blogger stops being a punk, I will post some pictures.