Summer 2K11 Part 2

 In July, we went on the annual river trip hosted by Kiley and Kennan!! We had a blast!  The water was really high and REALLY COLD.  Cold enough that I felt pretty good about not pushing anyone in until one of the last trips.  We had a big group of people come up and we made some good runs!  Jaren and Kennan brought their GoPro cameras, so we were able to REALLY capture ALL of the action. ;)

One trip down, I was riding in the little kayak with Kennan's brother, Brandon.  I was SO nervous the whole time because I had never been through Lunchcounter in something that small before.  I kept making Brandon promise he wouldn't let me drown when we tipped over.  As we were dropping down in the HUGE hole, I was sure we were goners.  But then... we hit it perfect!! And we didn't even tip over!  And then we bragged about it for the next fifteen minutes.  And the GoPro caught it all.  :)

Well, all was still well, and Brandon and I were still reminiscing about the awesome run, when we realize that Champagne rapid is coming up.  Eh, just Champagne, no big deal.  We got through just fine and took on a good amount of water.  Just after the rapid, a big whirlpool came and flipped us around pretty quick. Brandon stuck the paddle in to turn us around but the current caught it just right, sucked him and the back of the boat down, and I feel him go out.  Luckily, (or so I thought), I stayed in the kayak.  Brandon started floating down river and then I realized... I was stuck in an eddy.  With. No. Paddle. The rest of the group was way down river.  .  .  .  .  .  Great .  . . . .

So I did the only logical thing.  I hunkered down and started paddling with my hands.  After a minute or two, I finally got myself turned around and caught the current.  I could see the boat up ahead pulling Brandon in with an escape rope.  As I got closer, one of the boys on the boat grabbed a second rescue rope, wound up, and..... was only about 50 feet short.  Ok, no big deal, I think to myself.  They will come catch up to me in just a second.  I look ahead and see that I am quickly headed towards Cottonwood, one of the longest rapids on the river, which at this water level has some pretty good sized waves.  Oh no.

The boat in the meantime, had fished Brandon out of the water, almost left Nathan Spencer on the banks of the river, but was headed my way.  I hit the first little rollers of Cottonwood, still steering with my hands trying not to let myself flip sideways cause I knew I would flip.  The people on the boat were paddling hard to try to catch me.  We all cheered as they passed off the paddle and I was rescued!