Feverishly racing along, the current was definitely starting to pick up speed. You could feel the moist, cool air pressing against your face. Trees sped by faster and faster until the banks became a blur. At last, there loomed-downstream and out of sight-a rapid they called Five Fang Falls on the Salmon River in Idaho.
“OK, everybody, tighten your life jackets,” yells the raft guide-a tall, lanky college student whose idea of a good time is careening down wild rivers. “That rapid in front of us is a monster. When we hit the chute above the rapid, hold on, ’cause there’s a nasty hole behind that boulder on the right. If you fall out, keep your feet in front of you and try to grab onto the boat.”
You hear the approaching rapids before seeing them-which at first can be a little disconcerting. The noise begins as a low and gentle rumble, then amplifies to a pulsing roar, and finally ends like a thunder-storm on a sheet-metal roof.
As the white froth of the rapids near, the force of the current yanks the raft downstream. For a moment, in the slack water above the rapids, the boat hangs suspended. It then enters the sleek, sharply tapered tongue-a sliver of smooth, green silk unfurled before the churning white water. The seconds seem like hours as you plunge downward into the watery abyss. You hit paydirt.
Like a piece of flotsam in a whirlpool, the raft rocks from side to side as it flashes past the huge holes of the cataclysm, with those inside drenched by its wall of water as they grab onto whatever handhold they can find to keep from being washed into the rocky depths. Amazingly, you endure the intense pounding unscathed, except for a couple of hats and sunglasses washed overboard.
Those fortunate enough to experience the sport of white water rafting learn firsthand the thrills of rapids and the beauty of nature that only a river trip can provide. Running river rapids is not a stroll in the park, but in the hands of a qualified guide, very few accidents occur among the 2 million people a year who take trips with outfitters.
Most companies offer two ways to move downstream: With oars handled by the guide or with paddles handled by everyone on board. Certain advantages apply to both. Oars permit an experienced guide to control the boat while novices go along as passengers, which allows for a less-strenuous trip. Paddle rafting provides for greater participation and a good workout.
Rafting, too, encompasses more than just adrenalin-pumping thrills. Most trips are on the river only five or six hours a day, so there remains plenty of time for other activities, such as hiking, photography and just looking at the wildlife. Camping is an important part of the experience on longer trips, and nights are spent in a sleeping bag and tent or out in the open.
The outfitter provides all the boating and camping gear, passengers need bring only their clothes and personal gear. A good way to become initiated is to take a trip on a mild river, and if the sport appeals, move to more exciting white water. Longer trips, up to two weeks or more, are possible. On the more adventuresome journeys, passengers may be asked to pitch in with portages and other chores, adding to the spirit of the venture. The cost varies, ranging from $50 to $150 a day, depending on the particular river, the duration of the trip, and the difficulty of logistics for the outfitter. Getting to the trip’s departure point usually is not included in the cost.
To aid in this decision,
White water is rated on a scale of difficulty ranging from Class I to VI, with VI being unrunable. Class I and II rivers are relaxing floats. With Class III, the rapids start to increase in size, and while exciting, they are not terrifying.
Class IV is a little more serious. It includes long rapids with powerful and irregular waves, whose constricted passages first require scouting from shore and then precise positioning once in the maelstrom. Class V consists of extremely large and violent rapids, with even more complex (and critical) maneuvering required.
For beginners, it’s best to stick with Class III, and you can move to more exciting white water from there. The next decision (and perhaps the most difficult) is where to go among the many possibilities. All Western and mountain states offer rafting of some sort, but the most popular runs are in California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. The middle states may have less to offer, but it’s here if you look (there’s even rafting in Texas). As you might expect, the sport in the Eastern states is entirely different. Most of the runs are shorter (largely because of dams), but excellent streams abound in Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maine.
Colorado
The Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the rafting experience. And it’s true that the river has tremendously impressive cataracts, such as Lava Falls and Crystal Rapids, which are the benchmark by which other big-water rapids are compared.
A two-week trip down the Grand Canyon is also a geologic odyssey of magnificent proportion, for the farther one moves downstream, the more layers of rock and time are exposed. Not to mention the canyon’s other attractions: cascading waterfalls at Vasey’s Paradise and Elves Chasm; the travertine dams at Havasu Creek; the huge natural amphitheatre at Red Wall Cavern; the polished limestone fissure of Silver T Grotto; the turquoise waters of the Little Colorado; and the coal-black schist of the Inner Gorge-to name a few.
Salmon
One of the country’s finest wilderness river trips is a weeklong float down Idaho’s Salmon River, the famous “River of No Return.” Down through its mile-deep chasm this large and powerful river idles, swirls, races and thunders its way from springs and snowbanks in the Sawtooth Range to its meeting with the Snake River.
The scenery along the way is magnificent. Pine trees inhabit the imposing canyon walls whenever they can find a roothold among rocks and cliffs. Sunshine streams into the gorge to warm the white beaches spotted with lichen-stained rocks. On the shore roam deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, otters, martens, kingfishers and herons.
Gauley
Those in the East looking for exciting white water have a number of choices, especially in the Appalachians. But of all the streams, the Gauley, flowing deep into West Virginia, has been called the most intense.
Its 1,000-foot-high walls, shrouded in impenetrable forest, contain unbelievably fierce stretches of white water following in quick succession. In just 30 miles there are 60 major rapids, including several rated Class V. Individual rapids have been dubbed with intimidating names like Mash, Heaven Help You, and Pure Screaming Hell.
Chattooga
Along the Georgia and South Carolina state lines, the Chattooga was made famous by the movie “Deliverance.” Now the river is one of the country’s most popular daylong white water raft trips. On a tough section of the river, from U.S. Highway 64 to Lake Tugalo, the banks are sheer cliffs at the edge of a thick, green forest. The major rapids, ranging from Class III to V, are steep, narrow and extremely complex. The Chattooga is testament to the fact that there’s great rafting in the South.
Kennebec
For a combination of intense white water and unspoiled wilderness, try Maine’s Kennebec. The 13-mile stretch below Harris Dam is a daylong bob-and-weave affair through some of the most continuous white water in the East. Almost immediately below the put-in are rapids as provocative as their names: Alley Way Rapids and Magic Falls. The forested scenery along the banks is magnificent, as is the side hike to 90-foot-high Moxie Falls.
Arkansas
Colorado’s Arkansas River is a wild, tumbling maniac, flowing unencumbered from the snow-crusted peaks of the Continental Divide. There are a number of options for day trips. The river rushes through Pine Creek Rapids (Class V), and then a Class IV stretch which is often the site of national kayaking championships. Next comes 10-mile-long Brown’s Canyon, with its raft-eating Siedel’s Suck Hole. Farther downstream the walls open, and although the rapids lessen in size, the river remains like a washing machine. Finally, Royal Gorge encloses the river, with steep pool-and-drop rapids in quick succession.
Snake
Between the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon and the Seven Devils of Idaho, the Snake River-well-snakes through Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge-7,900 deep-in North America. This magnificent canyon is bound by beautiful volcanic bluffs rising from sandy beach campsites; above the pine-covered ridges are higher, sometimes snow-mantled, peaks.
Usually clear and warm enough for delightful swimming, the section of the river used by rafting outfitters features several noteworthy rapids during a three-day run. The first, Wild Sheep Rapids, contains a hole that regularly flips professional boatmen. The second rapid, Granite Creek, lies just two miles below and is equally terrifying in spots.
Rio Grande
The canyons of the Rio Grande offer a subtle beauty, and river runners floating its stark and jagged folds invariably find its appeal irresistible. Here you can spend a day, or up to two weeks, on the river. The desolate stretches through Big Bend National Park were tailor-made for John Wayne movies.
After traveling through the wind-swept ridges and crags of Santa Elena, Mariscal and Boquillas Canyons, it’s easy to see how stories of the Wild West became legends. Below the park, the Lower Canyons are magnificent for their sheer remoteness, rugged beauty and crystal-clear hot springs.
Tatshenshini
A stone’s throw from Glacier Bay, the Tatshenshini pulses through the corners of northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska. The river is extraordinary, and the far-flung, 10-day journey from Dalton Post, Yukon, to the confluence with the Alsek River and the take-out point at Dry Bay, Alaska, is unforgettable. Most striking are the massive, translucent, turquoise glaciers which line the river.
San Juan
For a leisurely, four-day desert float, there’s the San Juan in southeast Utah. This is surely the finest example of a river whose canyons have been sculpted by wind ruffling its way across fluted contours of sandstone, limestone and shale.
The terraces along the river’s walls contain numerous cliff dwellings and carvings on rock walls of the prehistoric Indians called Anasazi, a Navajo word for “Ancient Ancestors.”
