Sheltowee Trace Outfitters does raft trips at several different locations. They actually do rafting in Big South Fork NRRA, but only in late spring and early summer, when the water levels are higher. At this time of year they are starting their expeditions further north - just below Cumberland Falls.
I had to get an early start, because the trip was supposed to start at 9 a.m. and I wanted to get there well before that. I got there just before they opened at 8:30. I put on my sunscreen and went to check in. I had thought that might take a while but I had plenty of time to wait for the rest of the people to arrive. Then a whole crowd of jeeps rolled in - the group that had booked the rafts for the day was taking a break from off-roading to do a float trip.
At 9:00 they called us together, but it turned out that everyone else still had to fill out the liability forms, etc. so I had more time to wait. At around 9:30 we went upstairs to watch a video about rafting safety and how to properly use the equipment. Afterward we went back down and were assigned life jackets, helmets, and paddles. (The two other times I've done this were in the mountains, and everyone had to wear wetsuits to ward off hypothermia! It was nice to not have to worry about that!)
Now came the bus ride - about 20 minutes to our put-in location, at Cumberland Falls State Park. It was a bit of a walk from the parking lot down to the put-in below the falls. One more lecture, and we were assigned our rafts and guides. I was in a raft with three other people who were not part of the larger group, and a guide who was doing a float on her day off.
It was about 10:30 that we were actually getting out on the river. If I had realized it would be that long, I would have brought my sunscreen on the bus and reapplied it when I got to the river!
We were putting in below the falls, but we were able to paddle back upstream and get closer to them. I had bought a disposable waterproof camera at the shop when I checked in, so I was able to try and capture that unique view! Some of the pictures ended up a little smeary from the water, but the views are still great!
Fellow rafters... The colors on the sandstone cliff across from us looked very familiar. Two of my raftmates had lived in the Southwest and seen it on rock formations out there - and of course I saw the exact same type of coloration on the cliffs at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore last fall.
Since the water level was low, we were able to get right up to the falls without too much work!
I managed to catch a rainbow! Cumberland Falls is actually famous as a spot to come at night and see a "moonbow" - a rainbow cast by the light of the full moon. It wouldn't be from this angle though!
We couldn't resist trying to get right under the falls. Such fun! Very wet.
Now we started heading downstream. It was fairly calm at first - a good stretch to learn how to coordinate our paddling.
Eagle Falls is just behind the trees on the left.
At this point it was another clear section, and we were invited to jump in, so I did. I had the camera fastened to my life jacket so I could grab it quickly without having to put down my paddle, but now I got a few pictures from the water level. A lot of people ended up jumping in.
The problem came with getting back into the raft. It was deep water, so I had nothing to push against, and I couldn't pull myself up to the level of the raft. It took both guides to haul me in, and then they had me stand up in the raft so they could adjust my life jacket, which hadn't stayed down the way it should. It was pretty frustrating. Although at least I wasn't hot any more.
On to the rapids!
The trick with getting these photos was taking the pictures but then taking up my paddle in time to actually help get us through the rapid!
Looking back upstream, waiting for the last raft to come through.
In the calmer stretches between, every time one raft came up to another a splashing war would break out. You can really get some good splashes going with the aid of a paddle! It was really warming up, so a few times I instigated the splashing in order to get a good cooldown!
Jumping rock! People got out of the rafts here and climbed up on this rock to jump off the end. Our guide took us past the rock and over to the bank just downstream, as an easier place to get out. Since it was by the shore I got out - I didn't want to jump off the rock, but I floated in the shade where I had a good view of everyone else doing so!
After a while it became a challenge to get enough of a running start so that they could try and grab the leaves of that sycamore branch on the left. One person finally did, just before we had to get moving again.
For some perspective as to how high the water can get, here is an entire tree deposited on the top of a boulder at least twelve feet above the current water level. Also, here's an entire tree to give some perspective as to the size of this boulder...
Because the water was so low, most of the rapids weren't too difficult to manage. In fact, we had more trouble with getting stuck on rocks because there wasn't quite enough water to go over them! Our most nerve-wracking moment was when we were pretty well stuck on a rock, so we all leaned way over to the end that was hanging off the rock, while the guide got out and pushed. We were really hanging over!
There was one other moment that could have been bad - we went over a rapid, and bumped into a rock with some pretty fast momentum - and one of the people in our raft lost her balance and fell in! She was lucky though - it was a calmer spot downstream, she got pulled into another raft pretty quickly, and others rescued not only her paddle, but her shoe that had come off! Everyone wanted to know where she had gotten her shoes, since they floated - usually a shoe that comes off like that is lost forever.
This was not the first person to fall in, but the only time it happened in my raft. Others had fallen out several times - and sometimes it seemed to be intentional!
As we got onto the last slow section, it was getting hotter. Since we were past the rapids we could take our helmets off, and I used mine to scoop water over my head and legs. Most of the rafts were ahead of us, but I was able to instigate a few more splash battles.
Finally we reached our destination - a big riverboat which we moored up to and climbed aboard. I was very disappointed to find that I had used up all my pictures!
We were served lunch on the riverboat - a sandwich bar - which was welcome, since it was now around 2:00! I thin the ride lasted about 45 minutes, continuing downstream. Then it was another half-hour bus ride back to the main office. And the shower house! I hadn't thought to bring soap, but I took a good long rinse, and dry clothes felt very good.
I was beginning to feel the effects of not having reapplied my sunscreen before starting out on the river. I had worn a T-shirt and shorts over my swimsuit, and my face had been shaded by the helmet, but my forearms and my legs were very sunburnt. I walked back to to the shop, and on the way pointed out the sunburn to one of the guides that was hanging around. The burn went from about 8 inches above my knee to just below it - blocked above by my shorts, and below by the rest of the leg. She laughed and called out,"Hey, look everyone, she's got 'Rafter's Knee'!"
I bought a T-shirt in the store that says "We were all in the same boat!" Then I headed home. I had originally planned to drive back to Cumberland Falls, walk around and get some pictures from the shore, but it was already 5:00, I still had an hour's drive, and I was really wiped out. Still, it's hard to beat the view of the falls that I got - directly underneath!
No comments:
Post a Comment