White Water Rafting

As a senior high counselor, one of the things I remember both campers and counselors alike looking forward to the most was white water rafting at the end of the week. For senior high resident camp, it was a long ride on the Tekoa bus to the Nantahala River and the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center). We used to sing camp songs; I remember someone brought a guitar one time. Mostly, it was a time for the campers to socialize. Greg Trollinger was the one who usually drove the bus, but I don't think he went rafting. On the particular trip that the first photo is from James Johnson, who was working with Jack Porter at the time to replace him as director, drove the bus. It had just been refurbished and repainted from its oxidized self to look almost new. In taking the turn to cross the bridge over the Nantahala at the NOC, though, James took the corner too sharp and scraped the guardrail. We all said that the "new" bus was officially christened then, and there was no need to worry about keeping it new at that point! Pictured in this 1997 photo (from L to R) are: Shaggy, Frank Day, Zack Greene, James Johnson, me, and Warren Bevaqua (I know I misspelled it, but I'm sure you are used to it ;) )

After getting our life jackets and paddles, and watching that same video on how to raft, we loaded in an NOC bus and headed upriver. I can remember one time trying to race with another counselor, and my group of campers and I did so well we outrun the water released from the dam. We had to stop and wait for the water to catch up because we were hitting so many rocks.

At the end, there was the customary photo they would always take of your raft going over the last rapids, which was supposed to be a class 3 because of the hydraulics, but I've heard other people dispute it. I didn't buy most of the photos they took of my trip down it, but I did order this last photo, circa 1994, because I knew it would be pretty interesting after the fact. I pulled over right before the rapids, like many people do, to dump out the water, scope the rapids out with my campers and go over some strategy. Then we huddled up for a prayer before jumping back in to the raft. Then things got crazy. I steered too far to the left and hit a rock, spinning us around backwards. I then realized I was going back first down the falls just as the photographer was snapping the photo. I thought for sure I was going to be sucked under the hydraulic and never seen again. The campers were less worried. If you look carefully at my reddened face, you might hear me screaming "Backpaddle!" while two guys are staring calmly downstream, two girls are cheesing for the camera, and only one camper shared my concern (the guy in the front) as I'm sure some sort of profanity was about to leave his lips. And nobody's paddling!!

I'd love to hear some more canoeing or rafting adventures from some staff who worked with Water Adventure. You don't even have to post pictures, just share an adventure!