This semester I'm taking a whitewater kayaking class at school. I've never done anything like this before and I found out it's fun and can be scary...
The first time we ran a river I slammed into a rock, flipped and got to practice my wet exit. Since I was wearing gloves, I couldn't feel the grab loop on the spray skirt. Thankfully somehow I got stuck on a rock and was able to briefly pull myself out of the water for a breath. That kind of freaked me out and now I don't wear gloves.
This spring has been really dry and combined with a snowless winter, the rivers are running low. Tons of rocks are exposed and running a river is really just scraping over a bunch of rocks. Before taking the course, I didn't expect the rivers to be so shallow. Even when the water's running "high," there are a ton of rocks.
Since we got some rain this past week, we were able to get off the dam-controlled Deerfield and check out a different river. We ran some class II rapids, and since nobody swam or freaked out, I'd say we're getting better! :)
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