Water Gone Wild

It was an almost-perfect Memorial Day weekend this year near Moab. My friends, the Bowman’s, invited me to join them on a river-rafting excursion along the Colorado River. We ran the Westwater section of the river, which is just a few miles west of the Utah-Colorado border. The sky was absolutely gorgeous and so blue. Only after our rafting trip did small white cloud puffs appear, but they were a welcome sight in the face of the hot desert sun.
Though the weather played along nicely, the river did not. I haven’t been on very many river trips, so the Bowman’s informed me that the river was high and that high water generally washes out the rapids. Apparently I received a gentle version of the river. Gentle is a relative term here. The river was not as wild as it would have been if it were lower, but because it was so high, it was washing trees and debris down the river. We had to be careful to avoid logs and sharp ends of branches, especially in the rougher sections. The vegetation along the river received none of the river’s gentleness. Even some campers were victims of the river’s deceitful gentleness, judging from their empty canoe that floated by our campsite in the morning. It’s easy to imagine that they trusted the river to stay at the level it was and didn’t bother to tether the canoe to anything. Big surprise in the morning for them. Guess who just signed up for a hike?
I have to explain that I am deathly afraid of dark, murky, calm water; you know, the kind of water that monsters live in. A river can be dark and murky, but generally not calm, so I was mostly fine on this trip. I was still afraid of going into the water, though. Entering the water, any water, is like hanging a foot out of your blankets at night for the boogieman to grab. That’s how water monsters operate: even though you’re just above the surface of the water, easy for them to reach, they will wait for you to come closer to them. If they were always lunging out of the water at people, they’d scare most of their food off. If a predator can help its prey feel complacent, that’s half the battle, and water monsters know that. Sneaky rascals.
Anyway, because of my fear of water, I consider myself lucky to have been able to raft with the Bowman’s. The family has been enjoying water activities for years and is extremely experienced. In fact, if you’re considering any whitewater trips and you yourself have no experience with rivers, hire a professional to guide you. It could save your life. The father of the family was helpful, as he would shout out orders, such as, “Left! Left! Okay, right! Watch out for that log that looks like it could be part of a river monster’s tentacle!” His orders were instrumental in navigating the rapids successfully. Every time he would yell out a direction, I would freeze up and wait for the others in the raft to take action, and then simply follow their leads. It seemed to work well. I didn’t die. Or fall out of the raft either, though I did fall into the middle of the raft a couple of times. I suppose I was trying too hard not to fall out and overcompensated.
Though monsters in the water are something to be worried about, there are other dangers too. From what I was able to gather as I observed various Bowman reactions and statements to parts of the river, there are phenomena known as “holes” in the rapids that are not very nice. I’m not completely sure what happens if you enter a hole, but it’s probably similar to a wormhole in space: you simply disappear. Large voids in the bottom of the river create a wicked recirculation effect, able to stop large vessels in their tracks or possibly pull them underwater. If the hole is not very powerful, kayakers can use them to play in. I’m convinced a hole is where a monster has opened its mouth and is now just waiting…
For the most part, the river really was a relaxing sightseeing tour. We stopped a couple of times to go ashore: once to check out a hovel that was built back in the late 1800s, and once to eat lunch. The hovel was interesting. It was a squat building built with logs and had a dirt floor; just enough shelter so a person could work the land and make a meager living. We also passed a cave that outlaws used back in the day to hide from the law. Unfortunately we couldn’t check the cave out, but it was still cool to see.
About four hours after starting out, we reached the end of the Westwater section. We had two vehicles waiting at the take-out so we could get back to camp. As we laid equipment and clothing out to dry, my friend, Trent, walked up to his wife, Jen, and asked, “You have the keys to the car, right?” She looked at him and retorted, “Why would I have the keys?” I suppose it goes without saying that if you leave a vehicle at the take-out, you probably want to bring along keys to operate said vehicle. Luckily, the other vehicle we had parked there was a truck that could unofficially fit seven people. It may not have been comfortable, but it got the job done.
White-water rafting was the perfect activity for such an amazing weekend. Part adventure, part discovery, part relaxation, and voila! Pure enjoyment! Like any other outdoor activity, though, know before you go and inform yourself of the dangers and precautions of the specific activity you want to enjoy. And most important: don’t underestimate the water monsters!