Grand Teton Adventure Part Two: Whitewater Rafting in CO

I only vaguely remember the drive to Boulder since I was curled up in a little ball in the backseat, dead asleep. We drove to a former OAR member's house (Rachel) near the Flatirons. The mountains were gorgeous, so Mike, Logel, and I decided to go on a short hike. We ended up at a playground and sat around on the swings for a while. I was still tired, so I just kept spinning myself around in circles on the swing. We headed back to Rachel's and followed her and her friends to the Poudre River, where we were camping for the night and whitewater rafting in the morning. Unfortunately, the group was so large that I had trouble keeping all the names straight, though I know that our raft guide was named Ryan and Rachel's girlfriend was named Molly. They had brought food, so we chipped in for that and the raft rentals and spent the night by the fire. 

The next morning, we woke up and hopped on the first run down the river. We thought the Poudre was only a class 3 so you can only imagine our surprise when we discovered that it had class 4 and 5 rapids. Our guide, despite getting thrown from the boat a few times, was excellent. He had never guided this particular river before and considering the difficulty of the rapids, he did a great job getting us through the thick of it. I only had one close call; I flipped backwards but my leg and feet were wedged so far and so tightly under the middle bar that I didn't end up in the river. I also kept falling into the middle of the boat for some reason, but that wasn't a huge deal. 
 

Additionally, we also saved a kayaker, who had been apart of our camping group. He reclaimed his boat but, alas, his expensive paddle was gone for good. The river was beautiful, carving through steep canyons. Unfortunately, however, it was snow-fed and therefore very cold. Mike and I were both freezing, especially when we were in the shade. Nonetheless, we had a blast and we all survived the run. It took us several hours though so by the time we got back to the camp, we no longer felt like climbing. We had noticed some routes while we were on the river but it was getting late and we needed to head for Wyoming. We watched the second run and then packed up again for a seven hour trek.

Events occurred: June 21-22, 2013