Today is a day full of fun and excitement! We have reservations for a full day of white water rafting on the Colorado River through Glenwood Canyon. We arrived early at Glenwood Springs Rafting Co. ready for fun on the river. The weather was beautiful, sunny, and warm. We eventually got suited up in our life jackets and helmets and they gave us a fairly scary safety talk. We were all getting a little nervous now.
We got on the shuttle bus to take us upriver where we would begin. We all had to pitch in and carry the paddles and rafts down to the river. We shared our 16 foot raft with 3 other people and our guide, Pebbles. Rodney and I were placed in the front because we were the biggest muscle of the group. The kids sat right behind us.
We got down to business right away and soon found ourselves in the Shoshone Rapids. Pebbles would tell us the names of each section as we were approaching. They were all names like Maneater, Razor Blade, and Tombstone. Yikes!
Morgan turned out to be quite the adventurer! She was loving the rapids. Caleb was still a little nervous, but he was a good sport.
After the most intense rapids were over, Pebbles asked if anyone wanted to "ride the bull". This means sitting on the very front of the raft and holding onto just a rope. Rodney volunteered to be the first.
Soon Morgan was asking to "ride the bull"!
This is where the Roaring Fork River flows into the Colorado River. This is taken looking back at the fork. The Colorado is on the left and the Roaring Fork on the right.
At the very end of the ride, there is a choice to make under this bridge. On the left is called the Play Wave and on the right is the Tongue. The Play Wave is more exciting and was recommended by Pebbles so that's what we did. It was a big drop and it was surprising!
We docked back at the rafting company and enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch. They have a great little area down by the river with lots of picnic tables.
At this point, we had another choice. We had paid for a full day of rafting, which generally includes the Shoshone Rapids in the morning and then continuing down the calmer stretch of river for more rafting or inflatable kayaks in the afternoon. However, we were the only people who had purchased the entire day so they said we could do whatever we want. We could choose the calmer river float or do the same rapids again. Rodney and Morgan were on team rapids. Caleb was ready to just go home and I was fine with whatever. Caleb eventually agreed to go down the rapids again and this time we had the boat all to ourselves. Pebbles was our guide again.
Pebbles is from Santa Barbara, CA and has the accent to prove it. He is 28 and spends his summers as a raft guide and his winters as a ski instructor. He also likes to skateboard and surf. He liked to refer to the good rapids as crunchy. I don't know what that means, but it seemed to be a good thing.
We all agreed it was even more fun the second time. We enjoyed having the boat to ourselves and Pebbles did some new "moves" like the Ninja Star to keep it interesting. Caleb said that the Maneater rapids were his favorite.
Morgan hopped on the bull again.
There are a few deep parts of the river where you can jump out and swim if you want. No one swam the first time because that water is COLD, but Rodney was brave enough to get in on this trip. He decided to back flip out of the boat.
Pebbles showed Rodney how to get himself back into the boat, which is very difficult. Usually those inside the boat just pull you back in. At one point, Rodney and Pebbles were both in the water and I was really hoping I wasn't going to have to pull them both in! Rodney did it, though, and Pebbles said that he is only the 2nd person he's seen actually be able to do that.
We passed by Refrigerator Rock again, but Caleb didn't want to bump into it this time. Instead, Pebbles "beached" us on the MiniFridge. It's the smaller rock in the center of the picture below.
He steered the boat up on top of the slanted rock for a minute and then we spun off of it. It was fun. He said this was his specialty because he got the nickname Pebbles because he hit a lot of rocks during his raft guide training.
Morgan kept asking Caleb if he wanted to "ride the bull". He would say yes and then change his mind. This happened a few times. Finally, he made it up there and even went through a few small rapids. He loved it! Way to go, Caleb!
After Caleb's turn, I also "rode the bull" for a little while. It was fun! Caleb is a sweet boy and he was worried about me on the rapids while I was up front.
We were nearing the end of the trip once again and Caleb was very clear that he didn't want to go down the side of the Play Wave again.
So we chose the Tongue instead. It was much milder. Caleb was happy.
Back on shore, we took a picture with our new best friend Pebbles. He was a great guide and he made our first white water rafting experience a lot of fun. And no one fell out! Thanks, Pebbles!
There is a Dairy Queen strategically situated right next to the rafting company so we thought we all deserved a blizzard!
Tonight we are staying in Rifle, CO. It is a quick 30 minute drive down the road toward Utah so we made our way to the hotel. We skipped the pool this time since we'd spent all day on the river and opted for a picnic in the hotel room and a movie night on the TV. We got a great view of the sunset over the mountains from our hotel room window. What a day!
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