River Monster

There was a LOT of water.  More water than I had ever seen flowing down the Snake River.  Or for that matter, any of the water tributaries coming into the Snake River.  We expected it.  In Utah, we had experienced a very good winter (lots of snow), and then we were hit with a cool, WET spring and early summer.  So as we were preparing to go on our annual trip to ride the River, we had this fact in mind.


However, we had NO idea what a LOT of water meant until we were actually on the River. 


On Friday morning, we woke up.  But we woke up later than we had planned the night before.  We decided that we didn't need to rush to get on the River.  We were getting to all be together this year on one raft, and we decided that we could leave when we wanted to and do what we wanted to.  So, later it was. 


As we were preparing to leave, I had an uneasiness in my heart.  But I kept it to myself.  We headed down to Alpine to pick up the raft.  We played fun music, and my uneasiness was side-tracked.   We loaded up the raft and headed up the canyon.


The last thing my dad mentioned to me as we were ready to launch was "a guy died in Lunch Counter earlier this year from a commercial raft"...and the uneasiness was back again full-force!  But again, I kept it to myself.


This year's trip was E's first trip.  She was five - old enough to go down by Roberts' standards.  But she was nervous from the very beginning.  And it was cold.  Not the outside temp, but the water.  So, so cold!  All of that run-off made the River frigid.  As we floated down the first "cold-crotch" rapids, poor E was frozen and scared.
 
We approached a new set of rapids caused by a recent landslide in the canyon.  Not knowing what to expect, we were surprised to encounter that amount of white water.  Poor E was not impressed.  She was in tears in no time.


On the other hand, C was having the ride of her life.  She moved up to Adam's usual position - up front, center.  And she was lovin' every second of it! 


About an hour later, we were quickly approaching Lunch Counter.  We had just made it through the early rapids and as we quickly (this year) floated through the "swim area" we tried to lighten the mood.  (E was not happy.  She was nervous and tense.) We sang a couple of rounds of "Chicky Chicky".  It was so much fun to see Grandma and Grandpa get their groove on while on the wobbly boat!


As we turned the bend, we knew Lunch Counter was on our horizon.  See there is something unique that happens when the River is high - instead of the Kahuna being the exciting rapid, Lunch Counter grows in her enormity.  We knew this.  Dad had prepared for this spending time the day before watching the rapid to map out the best path to enter her waves.  That uneasiness persisted, but again I tried to suppress it.


We made it through Kahuna without really thinking we went through a rapid.  It was so mild.  But we were moving swiftly to the BIG one.  Dad yelled out our directions "Hard right side!  OK, now left!"  We knew we had to pay close attention to his demands.  We placed both girls in the center, and every one had a spot where they could hold on, when time, to the boat. 


It is hard to explain the image that is ingrained in my mind as we dropped down into her mouth.  The wall of water was honestly 10 feet high as we dropped in.  All we could do was hold on tight!  The power of the water was incredible.  It was so forceful.   As we emerged through the monster rapid, I heard Cami turn to E (who was filled with terror) and said "We made it through the hard part!"  But any relief we felt at the point was premature.  The next thing I knew Rachel and Brent turned towards me, and I saw them being sucked into the water with gaping mouths.  I don't know where I got the idea to reach out and grab E, but I did.  Just in time.  She too was being pulled into the River.  Thankfully, she was safe in the raft when we tried to assess the damages.  When the water calmed, we realized that not only Brent and Rachel were sucked out of the raft, but also Mom, Dad, and Crystal! 


Our boat was swirling.  People were floating, floating away, with their ores (our tool to move the boat and get our missing passengers).  It was complete chaos.  Lacey and Cami pulled in Brent, Crystal, and Rachel quickly.  I tried to get E to calm down despite the insanity.  I had C hold her hand and talk to her.  I was trying to locate shoes, hats, and ores.  Most importantly, ores.  We needed to get moving because as soon as we got the first group of dislocated rafters back, we noticed Mom and Dad floating much quicker than us down the River. 


One thing needs to be clear - despite the fact that Mom has ridden the River each summer for the past 20 years, she is TERRIFY of the water.  This fact motivated us to try to reach her as quickly as possible.  But the River was in control.  We were whirlpooled, slammed into rocks, spun around, and forced to work as hard as we could to make it to her.  We watched Mom and Dad travel down the River getting knocked around, slammed into logs, and ride the next set of rapids (the Ropes) free.  Crystal stopped to say a prayer with E to calm her nerves and ask for continued safety.  We all needed that prayer then. 


Mom and Dad finally found a chance to make it to the water's edge, and seeing this, we fought to get our raft to them and be reunited.   Relief flooded over us as we reached them. 


We were pretty quiet.  Not knowing what to say.  I had been scared.  Not just scared, but the realization of how closely we had come to losing someone so easily made me silent.  I was humbled by the gift we had been given.  So many different scenarios could have occurred that could have been deadly - Mom could have been thrown out without Dad, Crystal could have held on to E as she finally went in the River, we ALL could have been thrown in the River, Rachel could have been stuck under the raft for too long, our raft could have completely flipped over, and the most terrifying - E could have been sucked into the River.   Thankfully, we made it back together safe and sound. 


Poor Mom was frozen through and through.  Luckily, the sun shine was warming the rocks on the edge of the water.  She cheered her way back to warmth ("Good Ole' Weber"), and then we headed back down the River.


We made it back with little struggle.  (Well, except Champagne took my leg and pulled me out of the raft!)  Once we made it back to the boat ramp we started to ease up again.  At that point, I finally confessed my initial (and continued) uneasiness.  Once we started talking, we realized that we had all had different impressions as we approached the river trip of concern.  Cami said she felt impressed that morning, before getting on the water, to say a silent prayer of safety.  Mom said as she woke up, she felt nervousness about the day's ride.  Brent said as the rental company went through the legal statements with him - telling him that they do not recommend allowing children to go down the River, but they realize he probably would - he had concerning feelings.  But we all kept the feelings to ourselves.  Probably not the best idea.  Thankfully, the Lord knows our hearts' intentions and blessed us with incredible safety that day.  All our silent prayers were answered.


I hope that E will ride the River again.

Heading into to Lunch Counter's open mouth

The last shot the photographer got as we thought we were through with the hard stuff...and just before the entire left side of our boat was sucked into the River.

See Crystal's perspective here.