We had planned to do a float trip so that we could see more of the scenery. They assured us that this trip was family friendly, and they didn't have any concerns about an 8-year-old going. They put an extra guy in our boat just because Emmy wasn't big enough to paddle.
I started out pretty uneventful. We were asking the extra guide (Christian) how often he did this and how long he had lived here. He told us he typically rode bulls in the nightly Cody Rodeo. He apologized for being quiet, he said that he had rode 11 nights in a row and he was just tired. Our other guide was nice enough but not personable at all. As we got farther down the river there started to be areas where you actually had to paddle kind of hard. Christian and I switched places at one point just to even out the strong paddlers because Abby was struggling a little. A couple minutes after we switched spots we got to a spot where the water was running pretty fast, and we were instructed to paddle hard through the small rapids so that it didn't push us around it. Well, that failed, and we got tossed to the side of the rapids and were up against the bank running into all the tree branches. Caleb was up front and was able to duck and paddle. Abby was freaking out a bit and rightfully so. She was getting hit in the face over and over again by branches. She eventually had to just put her head down and the guide sitting by Emmy shoved her to the floor to keep her from getting hit. It was scary. At one point Christian tried to push off of the bank and fell backwards into the water. The raft kept going and the other guy got us stopped and pulled us up on the shore. Christian had stood up at one point so we figured he had just walked to the bank and would make his way over to us. The guide kept yelling for Christian and I started to get really nervous for him. Finally, our guide walked on the bank around the trees, and we couldn't see him for what seemed like forever. At this time, we were all pretty shook up with what just happened. Finally, the guides came walking back and Christain was holding his arm which was at an odd angle. The poor guy had broken his arm when he tried to push off. The force then threw him out of the raft and into the water. He stood up and the rapids pulled him back under and he hit his head. He wasn't in the best condition when he got back to the raft. Both guides sat there for a minute trying to decide what to do now. We told them that we didn't care about the experience and just wanted Christian to get the care that he needed. They informed us that the pick-up area was the only area that was accessible by a road, and we would need to make it to that point. Christian took the lead position in the back and the other guide became a paddler on the side. At this point it became very evident that Christian was the experienced guide, and the other guy was new and may have even been training. Things went smoothly the rest of the way with Christian as the guide. We finally got to the meeting place and the van driver helped us get ourselves and the boat out. Poor Christian would not be riding bulls that night. He headed to the hospital with a broken arm and possible concussion. It was for sure a memorable float trip!
Beautiful views!
No comments:
Post a Comment