The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life.
It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are. - Lynn Culbreath Noel
I moved to Colorado in 2013. My oldest friend from third grade, Andy Kantor, suggested we go white-water rafting. I love boating and water sports, so I was totally into it. We booked a full-day rafting trip on the Royal Gorge with Lost Paddle Rafting. Looking back, it was a cheap and somewhat sketchy outfit, but we had a blast, and I was hooked on the experience.
Since that day, I have booked a white water rafting trip every year, usually with friends and family – but in the last few years, I’ve also included people from my office, which has been lots of fun. A typical trip has been scheduled in the month of June – when the water is cold and fast, and the guides are still having fun. My sister, some friends from church and around often join, a few people from my office, and then a few people I’ve gotten to know from work that have left sometimes join. We often camp the night before, go rafting the next day, and then go home. Sometimes I’ll carpool with either a family member or a work-buddy. All in all it’s an amazing time that’s refreshing and leaves me exhausted when I get home.
Some of the challenges of organizing a whole group include picking a day that works with everyone’s schedule, convincing people that rafting isn’t that hard or dangerous, and getting people’s commitments. Even though my first love is building products…I’m told that I’ve got a gift in administration. Sigh, but it comes in handy trying to coordinate something that I love so much within the guardrails of everyone else.
This year I’m doing things differently. I booked a trip June 1st, right when the rapids are fast and cold – and I did it without coordinating within anyone. That made it so that compromising on dates for other’s sake didn’t bother me so much. It also has the bonus of me rafting twice! Then in July, I booked and coordinated a date for everyone else. For my rafting trip, I’m staying at a hotel for the night, which will be a nice treat, but for July I booked a campsite with my friends, which I’m looking forward to.
I’ll edit this post after this next trip with some photos and the experience – but for now here are some 2023 photos.
2023 Rafting Royal Gorge