Hey there folks,
The rafting trip was a blast! The two night trip was definitely more relaxing, and it made travel easier. Definitely the way to go. We drove up Friday night, stopping for dinner on the way. Sat morning brought pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We took it easy through the morning, prepping for our trip down the river. We ate a light lunch, and then got ready for our adventure.
Rafting is always a good time. I have rafted the Nantahala about 7-8 times, and it never gets old. It is a family class, so that leaves you time for goofing off and such between rapids. The rapids are fun, and the water is cold...48-52 degrees cold! We had a group that was made up of about 6 churches with over 15 of us from St. John's, so we had 5 rafts rolling down the river. Splash wars were a common occurrence, and occassionally a raft might steal someone from another raft. It isn't uncommon for a boat to get caught on rocks, and there were a few times that people got tossed out of boats. Ashley Sprott from St. Michael/David's got tossed, run over by another boat (mine), thrown around by the rapid, and almost drowned before being snatched up by another boat. And then Natahala Falls is the only Class 3 rapid on the river with it coming at the end of the ride. One of our boats (William Axson, Keith Axson, Jack Moore, Kane Baumgartner, and Lena Lee) got to experience a dump truck...in other words, the boat's load got dumped...everyone was in the river! Great times.
On Sunday, on the way home, we stopped at Sliding Rock. It was pretty darn cool (I hadn't been there since middle school), but it was crowded. So after one run per person, we had a picnic a few miles down. The spot had a small cliff over the river/creek that people were jumping off of into a 8 ft deep swimming hole. That ended up being an amazing amount of fun! All in all, it was a phenomenal trip. Check out the photos below.
blessings,
dorian
