White Water Rafting on the Kennebec River

After a 45-minute bus ride to the beginning of Maine's Kennebec River, we got in line for a raft and a guide. The Kennbec, our tour guide told us, is ordinarily characterized by flows of 4,500 cubic feet per second (CFS). Because of all the rain that fell this summer, however, the 150-mile river was now flowing at about 8,600 CFS. This meant larger, faster-flowing rapids for my first whitewater rafting trip.

What is White Water Rafting?

As a sport, white water rafting has been popular since the mid 1970s. It involves navigating an inflatable raft made of multi-layered rubberized or vinyl fabrics down rivers of varying degrees of difficulty. Rivers are rated by the level of skill required for navigation. Class 1 is the easiest and Class 6 is basically un-runnable. The rapids at the Kennebec River are rated at Class 3 and Class 4. Because of the conditions we faced, however, our guide said the waters would be better than most Class 4 rapids.

In white water rafting, hydraulics are areas where water has been affected by a rock, ledge or other object in the river so that the water runs into the object and then rolls back on itself. These formations are often known as "holes" because they can trap a person, kayak, or even a raft full of people. One of the more exciting maneuvers in rafting is when a raft paddles through a hydraulic with enough momentum to push right through.

The Adventure Begins

As our group set the raft in the water and pushed off, I wondered how big the rapids would be - and could I fall out of the boat? As we paddled into the first set of rapids, the waters of the Kennebec looked pretty rough. Yet the boat seemed to push through the waves without any problems.

After successfully navigating the first few rapids, our guide let us know that the next set of rapids contained a hydraulic named "Maytag" that was usable be only when the Kennebec featured at least 8,000 CFS of water. Luckily for us, the heavy summer rains provided more than enough flow.

Our guide then reminded us that we needed to follow her instructions exactly, and that we would need to hold on tighter than normal to get through.

When we first saw Maytag, the hydraulic seemed to be not much larger than the other rapids we had navigated. As we came closer, however, we began to notice a hole in the water and a big wall right in front of it. Our guide shouted at us to row. When we were a few feet away, I grabbed onto a rope in the raft and held on as tightly as I could.

Toes and Nose Up

Our raft's front-end plowed into the wall of water and launched three people, myself included, into the Kennbec River. As the realization that I had just been thrown out of the raft sunk in, I tried to get back onboard as quickly as I could. The other two rafters who had fallen out of the boat were quickly pulled in. But as I struggled to approach the boat, I noticed the rafters' efforts had changed from trying to pull me in to trying to navigate through the rest of the rapids since I was now too far away.

Realizing that I would probably remain in the water through the rapids with just my life jacket on, I remembered the safety instructions I had been taught - "toes up and nose up".. Floating on my back while keeping my face and feet above the water would keep me from getting caught on anything below the surface.

After spending a couple of minutes that seemed like hours in the water, I was able to reach calmer waters and get back on the boat. My life jacket had deserved its name 100%.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafting