Miranda = Bad Ass Rafter (part 1)

These posts have been a long time coming. If you don't care about my rafting experiences, the next few months will probably not be worth reading.

Memorial Day weekend I went with Josh, another friend, and the friend's cousin (and douchebag) up to the Lochsa River in Northern Idaho. The boys all ran the Lochsa River at a crazy high water lever (~14,000 cfs) while I drove along the river and video taped their adventures. Jealous that I didn't get to ride along on that trip (we were all worried about the level), I explained that I wanted to ride on the back of the boat the next day. Josh said I could, and the next day was sooooooooooooo fun. The waves were HUGE and Lochsa Falls was even bigger. The ride on the Lochsa River on Sunday went something like this:

Josh rowed while I sat on the seat at the back of the boat. I was decked out in my new dry top, dry pants, and fancy helmet. Though the river is not generally the place where you try to look like a fashionista, I looked pretty cute. Really, that doesn't matter, but I thought you'd appreciate it. Josh and I were able to launch with 22 other Cataraft boaters, including guru, Ted Day. It was pretty cool to look up and down the river and see only Cats! We started coming up to Lochsa Falls (at that level, the water is HUUUUUUUUUGE....I cannot reiterate this enough) and Josh turned to me and the following conversation ensued:

Josh: "I think I want to run it." (Translation: "I want to hit the guts of that gigantic hole down there that is flipping 1/2 of the boats that go through it.")

Me: "Ok babe, just do it."

Josh: "If I do, we're probably going to flip."

Me: "Go ahead. No one is really ever ready to flip, but I'm ok with it."

Josh: "Don't make me regret my decision."

Me: "DO IT!"

So he did. But when we came up to the Falls and Josh realized we were a bit too close to the raft in front of us and couldn't push as much as he would have if there were no one in front of us. It felt like slow-motion as our two Cat tubes punched the hole and jerked us around on our seats. The, the boat started to turn 180 degrees. Josh was out of his seat and his legs dangled in the water below. The current was so strong that it sucked him right under the boat and he went swimming. He was gone and I knew I had to do something....but what??? I took a flying, Super Woman leap to the front bar of the boat, near the place Josh had just been sucked under the boat, and held on for dear life. The gigantic wave rocked the boat back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, until suddenly, the boat turned back around and, ever-so-gracefully, spit me out over the wave. The boat was upright. I was still on the boat. Josh was nowhere to be seen. (Turns out the camping douchbag was good for something - throwing the perfect rescue rope to my man.) I managed to get into Josh's seat while an observer held the boat on the shore. I returned the oars to their proper place, and after securing the spare oar to the side of the boat (it was hanging by one tether), I rowed through the next rapid and found Josh waiting in another boat for what he thought would be a flipped boat and a swimming girlfriend.

For some reason, I can't figure out how to embed the video within this post....so follow this link and watch our adventure in the yellow Cataraft at 2:27 and in slow-motion at 7:02.

Parts 2 and 3 soon to come!