Wenatchee River Rafting
What better way to celebrate summer than to go on a river rafting trip? My wife Linda came up with the idea and I agreed to it. Refusing to grow old without a fight, we choose doing a river rafting trip to show our friends we haven’t given up being young yet. We still enjoy experiencing new adventure and river rafting sounded like it would be fun. Next we needed to select our river and pick our desired trip.
I am constantly amazed at how using the internet can save time, money, plus provide good detailed description of a product to see if it might work for you. We easily reviewed options of overnight trips, mild float trips, wild-class five runs, joining large parties, lunches and driving distances before we selected a medium difficulty, class three rafting adventure, with Alpine Adventures, on the Wenatchee River. Mushroom pickers were still scouring the top of Blewett pass as we drove over and gold miners were looking for riches near Liberty. We wished them well and might decide to join them some day, but rafting was this day’s focus. Cost of our trip $71-$79 per person plus tax, without/with lunch.
We met our guides Alex and Michelle at Riverfront Park in Cashmere where they provided us with wetsuits and life jackets and showed us where we could change nearby. Fleece or wool could be worn underneath the wetsuits but not cotton, as wet cotton would force us to remain cold. Linda wore a fleece garment, while I choose to go without. Valuables were locked in our car while the guides safely kept our car keys. Dry bags were available on the raft for lunches, cameras, eyeglasses, or other needed items. We were advised not to wear eyeglasses without cheaters or goggles to hold them in place.
Our float trip began at Leavenworth. The drive only took twenty minutes but the float back took three hours. Instructions were given on how to handle going overboard, maneuvering the raft, proper seating, and a variety of safety issues. With a quick push off from shore, we were on our way. Michelle handled the oars while Alex stayed near the raft in his kayak, ready to help out if we went overboard. Each rapids, whirlpool or eddy seemed to have a name, and Michelle knew them all. She has been guiding on the river for 12 years. Catching the first big breaking wave in the face was a shock. That water is cold! The wet suit helps, but rafting on a warm day helps a lot too. The raft slipped smoothly through the waves without the jarring felt in a boat. We didn’t feel all beat up at the end. Rafting the rapids resembled in many ways that of riding a roller coaster, especially a big one at a water park.
We cheered each time the sun came out. We really cheered when a rainbow colored “sun dog” appeared in the sky. The sun hit a section of moist clouds just right to provide a wonderful rainbow blast of color without a classic rainbow formation, looking like miniature northern lights hung in the sky.
We passed under a small pipeline as Michelle informed us it was carrying apple juice from Cashmere to Leavenworth and that residents could have a juice tap added to their homes for $50 per month. Both Alex and she laughed when we fell for it. They were light hearted easy going guides and fun to be with. Three hours on the river went all too quickly. We had a lot of fun. Linda’s parting comment “Let’s go river rafting again next year.”
Alpine Adventure 1-800-723-8386 or visit their web page.
