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The best video of rafting trip crash and burns
When picking a rafting trip like one down the Grand Canyon, whether it's the day long or several days version, make sure that the trip is a good fit for you. How much excitement are you after? How does the thought of dumping out of the raft grab you? Are you up for a crash and burn experience or is a leisurely float more your style?
For a rollicking look at what dumping out of a raft in white water rapids looks like, check out this video. The footage is strung together vignettes over eight years of rafting trips. Amazingly, according to what I've read in the comments, no one was hurt with any of these dump and tumbles. If you have never figured out why a life vest is important even if you know how to swim, here's your answer. Plus, a helmet is your friend.
The rivers featured are: Gauley River in West Virginia, Zambezi River in Africa, the Moose River in New York and the Black River, also in New York. Click on each river for a link to a raft company that runs trips down it. The music for this video is a perfect fit.
Filed under: Paddling, Stories, Africa, North America, United States, Video, Ecotourism
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James L. Moore Dec 1st 2009 2:46AM
This video makes what we do in Washington commercially (http://www.orionexp.com) seem pretty darn tame by comparison --- other than the knowledge that we are wearing wetsuits 90% of the season due to the water being either glacier or snow melt or both.
Regardless, this is some remarkable footage and makes me want to experience the Gauley River before I hang up my paddle. . .
shaywren Dec 1st 2009 4:49PM
A fun video, however, it is unfortunate that in the first paragraph you chose to equate this video with a trip down the Grand Canyon, (none of the footage is in the Grand Canyon). It gives people the misconception that a raft trip down the canyon is something like the footage in the video, which it is not. The Colorado through the GC is over 95% smooth water and while the rapids have huge waves, there are very few holes and rocks in most of the rapids, that would cause the kind of carnage seen on this video.
Jamie Rhein Dec 1st 2009 4:56PM
The sentence includes the leisurely pace you mentioned. If you click on the Grand Canyon, you'll see the post about rafting on the Grand Canyon that's linked to this one. The time of year a person goes on a trip also affects the amount of white water. Thanks for adding in details in case people missed them.