Day 7

  Yesterday was really kick ass! I woke up early as usual, I went to fill up w gas and found a coffee shop to upload photos.  Then I was off to go white water rafting. I drove up to Fort Collins to meet up with some friends for the trip on the Poudre River. My buddy Marshall moved up here from Austin to be a rafting tour guide. My friends Ogden, Kirk, Claudia, and Brian met me there- it was a great crew! Malcolm was our main guide, as Marshall is certified but still learning the river. They both did a great job.

Such a great crew on the Poudre River! 

We went to rental shop and rented wetsuits (the water is 40 degrees!), helmets and life vests. We started heading up to the put in spot and we came across a group that got wrapped around the Killer Bridge. It is named that for a reason. We stopped to help them get the boat free of the raging water. It was quite the ordeal. I think it is something like 3,600 cfs (cubic feet per second) is what the river is flowing.  For a visual, imagine 3,600 basketballs floating on the surface passing one fixed point in one second, for every second.  That is fast! So when this boat hit the bridge sideways, it literally wrapped around the bridge pylon.  Malcolm told us that bridge pylons are one of the most dangerous structures in the river. 

Guide tying rope and letting air out. The rope is looped around a tree and pulled my 7 men to get it out. Video posted soon. 

In order for them to get the bridge unwrapped someone had to get down on the raft from the bridge to let some air out and tie multiple ropes to the raft and wrap the rope around the nearest tree for leverage. From there about 7 men pulled the rope to try and pull it free. It didn’t budge. That’s how powerful the river is. I mean 7 full grown men could not move this thing - at.all. After several tries and tying more ropes in different spots and letting more air out, they finally set it free. The customers that were on that tour headed back to on the bus so there were two rafts that still needed to get back to the end point. They aired up the raft that had beeb stuck and we rode it down for them. Since our guides knew the other guides we helped them out. So we got a little taste of it before we actually started our trip—two hours later we were able to start our trip.

Poudre River 

                 

We got to our spot and took turns airing up our raft.  We suited up and got ready to take off. We had a safety meeting and told us everything we need to know about the river and what to do in all scenarios- what to do if we fall out, if the boat flips, how to pull someone back in if someone does fall out- and so much more. I think that was my first safety meeting that was an actual safety meeting- lol.

The water was about 40 degrees. Chilly! But we had booties and wet suites so it wasn’t bad. We had class 3 and 4 rapids and the river is the highest it’s been in about 10 years they said- so it was a fast and awesome ride we got to experience. I don’t think my GoPro quite did it justice. There were some big rapids. And my camera auto turned off on the biggest rapid…the class 4. I was so pissed! It was on my helmet and so I couldn’t see if my light was on. It was by far the gnarliest one. It was so amazing.  Empowering. Wow. We worked as a team well. We really had to work together, I love working as a team. There’s something about all working together to get something done, because you couldn’t do it alone, that is really amazing.  “You win together or you swim together,” Malcolm told us. And he is right- if you don’t paddle together and work together people fall out or you hit things you don’t want to hit.  We hit a few places where someone almost flew out and Marshall pulled them back in! Wheww! I had my feet locked in that thing! That was such an amazing experience, I can’t wait to go again--- Thank you Marshall and Malcolm for the amazing ride. I will be back at some point!

We all went to eat- I was craving a burger, that river wore me out! After we ate, I went back to a campsite that on the river we rafted and set up, watched my GoPro videos and passed the f out! Up and at ‘em at 5 30 this morning. Made it to the coffee shop for some intwerbs. It’s crazy how I was out of my campsite and in my car at 7 and its already 8:45. I feel like its so late! Haha. But Im about to post and head to Moab.. I’ve been waiting for this! Eep- I can’t wait!!

I don’t think I will have service for the next couple of days but I will be sure and write everything down so I can update you on the beauty of MoabJ 

I will post videos of the trip soon- I need to get on the road! 

 Talk soon. xoxo