Whitewater!

While we were on our caravan west, one of the must-do recommendations while in Glacier was whitewater rafting. With a fairly recent canoe incident, Jackie and I weren’t sure about being back on a river with class 2 and 3 rapids! But we made the reservation anyway and we had a great time!

With our flotation vests, helmets, and paddles issued, we listened to our orientation before boarding the bus to the launch point. We were joined by 5 other rafts, each with 4-6 guests and 1 guide. Our boat elected the teenagers to sit in front and take most of the splashes. They got DRENCHED. Fortunately they seemed to enjoy it enough and didn’t complain at all. Us old folks sat in the back, wedged ourselves in as best we could and we all took direction from our guide Nolan. He shared the typical river lore as we headed through the flat water. He instructed us on his basic commands. Basically paddle, stop or LEAN IN. That last one seemed to be the most important one though.

Nolan was awesome. The river was perfect.

Just enough whitewater to make it fun and exhilarating. Nolan did a fantastic job negotiating the rapids to keep us in the proper lanes and away from the monster rocks that could have been problematic. It was really cool having Nolan direct us and navigate us down the river. Only once did he shout out the command, LEAN IN! Those big rafts are designed not to flip over but in a really rough spot, keeping your center of gravity as low and centered as possible certainly helps.

The raft in front of us actually did have one person go overboard for just a few seconds before being hoisted back in! That certainly encouraged us all to wedge in tighter and brace for those big waves!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip with Glacier Raft Company and Nolan is our new favorite river guide!Read more