Rafting!

Saturday after Lunch we headed to the Cle Elum Canyon of the Yakima River. We were so excited to raft! These pictures are courtsey of Dusty Jones as my camera has yet to be developed. I will get on that today (hopefully). See below, Our boat. Chris, Tony, Connor, Joel, Miriah, Lesley and I took off ahead of everyone, the boys wanted to paddle hard and hit all the rapids and the girls and I mostly sat in back and enjoyed the ride.

Here's Traci and Brandon's boat, they were right behind us most of the time and seemed to keep up with us fairly well.

We sat in the eddy for a little while and other rafts caught up and we got completely soaked! We also dunked our heads over the side because it was so hot out we had to do something to cool off!

Soon after the eddy we gained the lead of the rafts once again. We were having a great time and finding that the river was still going but our drop off point should be any shore line now. We started to get near the right side of the river because there's really no contingency plan if we miss the drop off point. Chris & I's boat missed the drop off point by 300 yards or so. We got close and found a very small shoreline and I jumped out, the current took my shorts to my ankles, and I stopped the raft and got the kids & Chris out onto dry land. Chris and I stood in the river holding the boat on shore when we heard another group behind us. It was Traci and Brandon who had also missed the drop off point. We caught their boat and brought them into land safely too. Then we sat, and waited while Chris and Brandon bushwhacked their way through the thick woods to get help. There was no hope of going back up stream. Traci and I stayed with the kids and soon the guide from Rills adventure (our rafting guides) came down stream with an inflateable kayak. After being a complete jerk to us he finally got us to deflate the rafts and carry them through the thick brush. Those rafts weigh close to 200 pounds! It was insane!

Here's a pic of the search party that went out after Chris made it to find help. They didn't find us but were quick to greet us when we came back through the brush. (Tim, Valerie, Chris & Luke)

And here's Traci and I completely covered in mud, scratches and soaking wet! My legs and Arms still hurt but are starting to feel better. I know this should deter me from rafting, but I still had a great time!