The Green Tortoise Part XI

There is a lot of energy and excitement in the boats. I am one of the few people who's never rafted before so I pay strict attention during our emergency training as we sit in the still waters on the shore.

"This here," Justin, our guide says, "is the Chicken Line." He pulls on the long red rope that runs down the length of the center of the boat. "If you feel like you're gonna fall in the water, hang on to this line and fall into the boat, not out of it." He looks at us seriously. "You don't know what kind of rocks there will be when we're crossing class four rapids and the last thing you wanna do is bash your head on some rock."

Bash our heads in? Oh no. I look for the Chicken Line and become best friends with the life-saving twine.

"Remember, if your gonna fall, fall into the boat." He looks at us for eye confirmation. I think to myself...fall towards the boat, fall towards the boat, fall in the boat.

"If you do fall in, depending on where you are, you may end up drifting down river aways until we can catch-up with you." His voice is stern. My breath quickens thinking about this possibility. "Don't panic. I will get you. I haven't lost anyone yet!" He gives a big Idaho smile. "Of course, this is only my third time leading a group." He laughs as he says this and I look horrified to my raft companions.

"Just kidding, just kidding...don't worry. I been using that line for the last six years and before that I was riding with my Dad over there since I was this big." He measures an imaginary height at his knee with his left hand. At that moment, his father looks up at him and they wave to each other, laughing and shaking their heads. Part of the initiation process for white water rafting is checking to make sure your heart works. Mine was pumping just fine.

"Seriously though, if you do fall in, here's what you do when we fish you out. Keep your arms straight at your sides and one of us will grab you from the bottom sides of your life-vest. Stay straight, okay?" We nod.

"Everybody ready?" He asks.

"Yeah! Let's Go!" We say.

"Okay!" Justin says just as excited as if it's his first trip too.

"Now to splash another boat, you gotta hold your paddle down at an angle and keep it straight pushing the paddle out with the back of the ore." He gives us a demonstration splashing his father with the back of his paddle. His father retaliates fast and saturates his son with water. The boat his dad is in has the partiers and they are ready for a splash fight. My boat is not interested. We want to see the sites and hit the rapids and as if we were of one mind, we start to paddle together in unison. Our boat has only six people compared to the others that have eight and we are fast since we are lighter. We outrun the splashing waters and head down river.

"Wow!" Justin says. "You guys are fast!"

"That's right." Carol says. "Let's show those punk kids we've got speed!" We all and cheer.

"Ya know, the Green Tortoise has been a good customer for us, so we made the trip about ten miles longer than usual this time. The rapids are really awesome this year." Justin says. "In fact, we haven't had class four rapids around here in a long time, so it's gonna be an exciting ride!"

The waters were calm and the current of the river was strong, pulling us down-stream. The two other boats had splash fights between them and we paddled enjoying the scenery. I spied a bald eagle's nest with its two golden eagle babies.

It is a beautiful sunny, warm day and the icy river feels refreshing. I drag my hands in the water as we coast. Zeke, a 26 year old socially awkward, unemployed college graduate, puts his feet in the waters. We drift past a the Boy Scouts of America camp and our companions in the other boats jump out and go for a swim. They drift downstream for a mile or two before we start to hit our first series of rapids.

Quickly, the other boats gather up their passengers and prepare for the first set of class three rapids. "Paddle hard!" Justin yells at us as we approach the white waters and we do as we're told. Waters splash up over the front of the boat as we hit a dip in the river and water crashes inside the boat. I stop paddling and hold onto the chicken line with both hands praying I don't fall in the crashing waters. Water is everywhere, splashing all around us and in an instant our boat is half-full of Salmon river water. The waters calm down and I ask our guide, "Should we be worried that our boat is filling up with water?"

"Nah, it's a self-bailing boat!" Justin smiles and says, "Look!" And as fast as he had spoke, our boat was nearly empty of all the water that rushed in.

"Cool!" I say. "That was fun!"

"That was nothing! Wait until after we pass the gold mine!" Justin says always smiling. He loves it job and it shows. We paddle down the river and pass through another series of rapids and I never let go of the chicken line. Sometimes I hold on with two hands although after three or four series, I begin to feel confident and enjoy the turbulent waters.

About an hour into our ride and I spot our Green Tortoise bus. I ask our guide if we are nearly finished, disappointed thinking the ride was nearly over.

"Oh no. That's the gold mine." Justin says. "We're gonna stop and take a tour!" The other boats are near us and hear our guide tell us where we're going and Joe calls out like the old prospector, "GOLD!?!" as he had been for the past day or so and we all start laughing. Our guides shake their heads not getting the inside joke.

We get out of the boats and take a short walk to the mine entrance. Our guides are also our tour guides through the gold mining process. The mine had been closed since the 1960's but there was talk about it reopening what with gold trading at nearly a thousand dollars an ounce nowadays. There were make-shift displays on blasting techniques with old photos of when the mine first began operating in the early 1900's. Photos on the walls showed black-faced miners with candle headlamps, filthy clothes. The men looked old and haggered.

We are guided to a large troff set-up with river rock, sand, stones and are given a demonstration on how to pan for gold. Every time one of the men says 'gold' Joe gives his reply. Each time it is funny.

The guides pass around plates of homemade chunky brownies and bottled water and we enjoy our snack in the hot sun. Some of us step into the mine entrance where it is cold to cool off. Our companions who didn't sign-up for the rafting trip ask us how it is going so far and we tell them about the fun we've been having. Esther, who really wanted to come but couldn't afford it, looked devastated upon hearing this news. I saddle up next to her and whisper into her ear, "It's not so great." She smiles instantly and says, "Thanks Linda."

Time is up and we load back into our boats for the second half of the trip. Many of us give our cameras to the non-rafting members of the Green Tortoise and they promise to take pictures of us crossing over the class four falls up ahead. We watch the bus load and race ahead on the narrow Idaho canyon road.

Almost immediately returning to the boat we are upon the class three and four rapids which will remain persistent until the end of the ride which will not be for another three hours.

Justin encourages one of us to take the front of the boat, straddle it like riding a mechanical bull, and keep one hand in the air, one foot in the water. This is the most exciting way to ride the rapids. Zeke is the only one who takes the suggestion and passes his ore to the back of the boat as he straddles the nose.

We approach the class four rapids and it is an intense, exhilarating feeling. I hold on to the chicken line with both hands, abandoning my ore which hits my boat mate in the head as the waters crash over the boat. I start falling and hear Justing yelling at me, "Fall in! Fall in!" and holding onto the line, I fall towards the inside of the boat being hit hard in the head with a wall of water. Zeke is laughing and holding on with one hand like a crazed cowboy laughing his ass off.

All my fears are gone, having survived this last round of rapids. "This is fun!" I yell to Carol and she nods in agreement.

Ahead in the canyon, storm clouds form. The air changes rapidly. Temperatures drop. One moment cold air is gusting across our bodies, the next hot air comes as relief. That can't be good, I think to myself. The mixture of hot and cold air can only mean one thing. Hail.

"Do you think we'll hit that storm ahead?" Carol asks Justin. "Well, let's hope not." Our attention changes back to the river as we approach another series of rapids. "Paddle Hard!" we hear and obey. During this round of rapids I feel rain drops hit my already soaked body. The thunderstorm comes in fast and the rain pounds hard into the boat.

Justin guides us out of the rapids and turns the boat so the rain isn't hitting us hard in the face. It is raining sideways, the winds are icy and immediately I am freezing cold. I have on only my bathing suit and tank top and thin shorts. I stick my hand back in the water and it feels warm compared with the outside temperature. As we drift down a smooth patch of river, some of the other boaters jump into the waters, this time to get warm.

The storm kicks in harder with thunder and lightening. I watch a flash of lightening and count to myself, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Missi... before hearing the thunder. The storm is about three and a half miles away. We're headed right for it.

"What do you do in thunderstorms?" I ask Justin.

"Ride it out...what else can you do?" Justin says shrugging his shoulders.

"How far away are we from the end?" Carol asks.

"Oh...it's a ways." Justin says.

I'll say. It was not just a ways, it was far, far a ways.

The fun stops as we're instructed to paddle hard through the next few series of rapids. In the icy rain, huge hail balls start pelting our skin. Zeke is still holding on with one hand. I am freezing, clinging to the chicken line and praying it would all end soon.

About an hour later, in a calm patch of water, I look at my boat companions all wet, cold, hungry. They are miserable. So am I. My fingertips are blue. I am cold, tired and cranky.

Carol says, "Wouldn't a nice hot cup of tea and a bath be nice right about now?"

"Oh Carol." I say with an attitude of disgust, "We're on the Green Tortoise! This is our bath! The first one in days!" Our first scheduled shower is still a few days away. I look down and notice pink flesh underneath my blue fingernails, the first time in three days! All the dirt is gone! I try to take a positive approach to watery situation. My feet are clean. I try to enjoy the feeling.

"I know what I'd like." Katherine, a silent, pretty woman from France speaks for the first time since we boarded the bus. "A hot chocolate." Murmurs of "yes" and "oh yeah!" are uttered in agreement.

"How much further?" Carol asks Justin again.

"Oh, it's still a ways." Justin says still smiling but with a guilty look, like he feels bad for us.

I look back at our sister boats and in one of them, all the passengers were waving their hands and wiggling their fingers in a "jazz hands" style. The did this for a while and then started laughing afterwards. A little while later, their boat begins to pass us and I yell to them, "What are you guys doing with your hands?"

Donna yells back, "Kundalini Yoga to stay warm!"

"What do we do?" I yell back.

"Shake your hands and fingers for sixty seconds!" She says enthusiastically. I drop my ore and raise my hands in the air and start shaking my hands and fingers. My boat companions join me and together we start counting to sixty out loud. Donna's boat joins us and it is hard not to laugh at the site of all of us, soaking wet, drifting through this beautiful mountain canyon, in this monstrous thunderstorm with our fingers waving hello to all of nature, everywhere. The third boat doesn't join us but laughs at us as it paddles past us.

I can almost feel my fingertips as we nearly finish counting. Then another series of rapids fast approaches and Justin yells at us to paddle hard. We do as we're told and then begin shaking our fingers again to warm ourselves.

Zeke looks over his shoulder at me and asks if I want to take the boat by the nose. What the hell, I think to myself. I can't get any colder and it is unlikely I'll have another chance to do so, so we switch positions. He takes my ore and I drop a foot into the water. It is warm.

Justin steers the boat backwards as we switch positions and then asks, "Ready?" I look back at him and nod, taking hold of the chicken line with both hands. I opt to not ride the nose like a bull, but straddle the boat.

"Paddle Hard!" Justin yells.

I tighten my grip, lift my left leg that is drifting in the waters as we bounce around the class four waters. "Whoo Hoo!" I yell laughing. "Lift your leg!" I hear from Zeke who was keeping an eye on me riding the nose of the boat. Then we hit an unexpected black pocket and nearly capsize. Water completely fills our boat. Justin looks rattled but keeps smiling as he steers us out of the dangerous rocky waters. He turns the boat around and has us paddle back towards the rapids we just went through. Behind us are the other two boats and Justin stands and gives hand signals to the other guides. They nod and steer their boats around the black rocks that we just rode through.

Ahead, in the distance, I spot the Green Tortoise parked under some trees.

"BUS!" I yell. And everyone in all three boats start cheering.

We all paddle hard through the last series of rapids and race towards our home on wheels. In my mind I began to inventory the contents of my day pack and realized that I did not pack any dry shorts or pants. I would have to sit in wet clothes until the next big-bag stop that was a few hours away.

We make it though the last round of rapids unimpressed, like old pros and all jump into the waters to warm up before getting into the bus in the pounding rain. We grab our bags and dry off best we can before we pass the hat to gather cash for tips for our guides.

Everyone looked exhausted, cold, and hungry when we got back on the bus.

"See Esther...it was good you missed this ride. Next time you come to the states, it will be better."

She smiled and gave me a hug.

To be continued...

So much love,
All the way from over here....
Linda