A reminder this weekend that I am not as powerful as I thought I was. We spent the weekend rafting on the Kern River. It was a great time but the water was very high. In fact it was the highest I’ve ever seen it. We ran it mulitple times Thurs, Fri and Sat. On Sat a couple of my friends were going down in a kyak and got hung up on a tree at about the only place you could. I went through the rapid and then did a 1/4 mile sprint back up stream to check them out. They were fine but I needed to get out to them. So, I did the hero thing and swam out in the rapid and to the tree they were on. After getting them comfortable I figured out they were going to have to go into the water. First person made it ok but the second got hung up and ultimately swam the whole rapid (it was big) she was fine though a little scratched up. I tried to get the boat off but ended up falling and and swimming out. Later that night I came back with 5 grizzled veterans of the river who saw it as a challenge to get the boat off the tree. I just watched in awe as they put together pully systems and tried a number of things. Unfortunately it was getting dark and we couldn’t get it off. Chances are good though someone will get it for us this week.
Bottom line is that it was a great weekend and if there aren’t mishaps sometimes things get a little borring and you feel invincible. I have a new respect for the river.
