White Water Rafting
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Today’s post comes to you from beautiful Durango Colorado. The Frailey family is on vacation so I thought I would post one of our adventures.
This past Saturday shortly after arriving we arranged for a white water rafting trip on the Animas River. My wife and I had done this a few years back and thought we would go again along with our 8 year old. I wasn’t sure if she would make the trip with us or head for the chicken exit. She ended up surprising both of us and jumped in the raft.
One of the things about rafting is the water, and more importantly how cold it is. As the guide told us, “24 hours ago this stuff was snow”. Water temperature was right around the mid 40s (F). Brrr. I’ll go on record right now and say that 45 degree water is freaking cold. During a calm section of the water the guide asked if anyone wanted to go for a swim. The air temperature was around 88 so a quick dip didn’t sound too bad. As soon as I hit the water I could not get back in the raft quick enough. I literally lost my breath.
Our trip was a short 2 hours down what is known as the “lower” Animas. It is filled with Class 2 and a few Class 3 rapids. The “upper” Animas has class 4 and 5 rapids. One of these days I want to do the upper and experience that ride.
Picture info: in the picture above, my daughter is in the back to the guides left, I am directly in front of my daughter, and my wife Carol is to my right wearing the hat. The other family in the boat are friends of ours. In the picture below we are hitting one of the class 3 rapids known as Smelter Rapids. Good times.
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Until next time…
I love the expression on your face, so hardcore and ready to tear into that river. I have never been white water rafting, but it sounds like a good time. Fun shots!
Awesome! Looks like an amazing time and glad you got to enjoy it instead being behind the camera! Well done!
This must be the same river we went down when I was in high school for our senior trip.
I remember the water being brutal…in fact, it was so cold, our feet were numb when we got out of the water and felt like we were walking on stubs.
The guides who took us down said you would suffer hypothermia in 60 seconds if you fell out, so better get back to your boat fast 🙂
They also said a raft full of army guys flipped over earlier that day, so we all assumed we were dying 🙂
Looks like a great time Chris, enjoy the time away!
Now that is awesome dude! Gotta give that a shot sometime!!!
Looks like you guys have a great time! 🙂
Nice shots 🙂
This is just awesome!… I love the expressions on everyone’s face here, there are a 1,000 stories in those faces… awesome shots, glad to see you guys are having such a great time!
Great shots! Looks fun (except for the frigid water…)!
That’s freaking awesome man. Sounds like lots of fun. Id be afraid to fall out, lol.
Great action shots!
Looks like everyone really enjoyed this thrill ride.
Nicely done!
Fantastic shots Chris – looks like you all had a fab time!
Looks like a lot of fun indeed! 🙂