What rafters should know:
- This is very challenging whitewater rafting. The rapids are non-stop throughout the journey and very vigorous. Despite what is posted on the website, we didn't experience this to be a "beginner level" adventure.
- Pick the right raft. We picked a raft far too big for my daughter, husband and I. It was a 3-5 person raft, but it was incredibly heavy with mainly my husband and I rowing. Plus, we learned at the end that it was considered mostly deflated, we had no idea. When we were in the raft, it felt like it had enough air, but when we got out we could see it had indeed lost a ton of air.
- Between the raft being too big and heavy and losing air, the river was very hard to navigate. We got stuck on endless boulders and swept into trees more times than we could count. My husband are in good shape to row and stay in control but we were at such a disadvantage from the jump.
- Right at the beginning of our trip we got stuck on a boulder with water literally cascading through our raft and over my daughter at a fast and scary pace. We couldn't get off the boulder and the water was too fast to get out. Another raft bumped us off and toppled my husband and I out. I came up underneath the raft, fearing I was drowning, but pushed myself out from under. Only to see our daughter staring at us helplessly in the raft alone, moving swiftly toward the next big rapid. Luckily we were able to catch up to her, get our oars and get to the shore. It was a horrible and scary start.
- We struggled on countless boulders, as mentioned, and when we hit the halfway point, where we had the option to leave, we were told "there are only three more rapids, the rest is pretty easy". This was not the case, we hit at least 10 more rapids and none of it was easy, including The Mother. We had a couple more scary incidents and were beyond relieved when we got to the end.
- The trip was not what is advertised. Especially if you are not guided toward the right raft! We MAY have had fun in a smaller, more maneuverable raft. BUT the instructor stated that the larger raft is a "smoother ride" while the smaller raft is "faster and bumpier". While this may be true, it led me to misunderstand that we'd have a smoother ride, which we did not. We got stuck constantly, to the point of it not being fun. No one checked to see if rafters were in the appropriate raft. Many reviewers mention that a smaller kayak is recommended, I wish I would've read the reviews before our trip! I highly trusted the info on the website that this trip was safe and for beginners. I was wrong.
- There are no helmets. One rafter came back to camp from the hospital later that evening with staples in his head. Horrible and so scary. One in our group was tossed out of the raft and her leg was badly bruised & swollen. We were told only 10% of rafters fell out of their rafts, our experience on the river seemed more like 80-90%. Injuries DO happen on these trips.
- There are almost zero guides along the river to help these dangerous situations. We saw one guide, the guy that talked us into continuing our journey. I appreciated his enthusiasm and kindness but his advice was incredibly misleading. Plus there are several points in the journey were rafters just needed help and no one was there. Folks fell off their rafts and watched their rafts float away, lost their paddles, got left behind, it felt like utter chaos.
- Lifevests weren't checked. Multiple rafters didn't buckle their lifevests correctly. Guides should be checking all the lifevests or running a tutorial WHILE rafters are putting them on. Instead they throw a ton of info at you and basically it's "good luck" from there.
- I DO have a lot of nice things to say about this journey: camp was super fun, the food was pretty good (especially for camping food) and it's awesome that they cook for you, the campsite was nice, the dance party was a total blast, the river was beautiful, and the movie night was super fun. There are plentiful portapotties with sinks, they get gross but that's just tent camping. I thoroughly enjoyed the camping part of the trip.
But I can say this rafting trip is dangerous, can be downright scary, and not for beginners. read more