Nenana River Rafting

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What a day!

Our rafting tour is scheduled to pick us up from the Denali cabins at 11:30, so we first went shopping in 'downtown', about 10 miles up the road. Downtown Denali is a lot bigger than downtown Whittier, but still not big by any stretch of the imagination. There are two 'general stores' with small selections of basic groceries and large selections of liquor, some restaurants, a gas station and lots of souvenir shops and tour operator offices. We bought some milk, bread, cereal and returned to the cabins.

The bus picked us up at the Denali cabins on time. Let me tell you a bit about the buses here at Denali. All the buses that work in the area are old school buses that were reconstituted to work the tours here. Your basic American yellow school buses that were repainted and the appropriate logo added.

So, our bus collected us and drove us back to downtown to their main office. Right where we parked earlier! We signed our waivers and were given wetsuits and boots, and our guide Bobby (Borislav from Bulgaria) instructed on how to put the things on and where to leave our shoes. We got on the shuttle with the wagon and rafts attached behind along with another group and drove almost all the way back to the cabins!

The van rolled the rafts down to the river and we got off and got a safety talk from Bobby (what to do if someone falls off etc.).

A few final pictures and we loaded up. The other group divided into two rafts with paddles, while we had a large raft with oars, controlled by Bobby (we didn't have to do anything at all, just enjoy the ride). We set up the gopro and went on our way. The first part of the ride is quite calm, Bobby pointed out some interesting geological features and told some stories. He was interested in Israel and what's to do and see there, so we developed quite a rapport. He told us a little about himself, how he's a business management student back home where he and his father run a rafting company, and he's spending the summer here working, traveling and gaining experience. Quite a deal!

Along the way we went through some rapids, nothing very extreme but still fun, and tested out the gopro.

After a couple of hours we reached the halfway point. We stopped there and collected a couple of new passengers while the paddlers switched groups. Then we got to the real rapids, only to find that the gopro was out of battery! AARGH! (more on that later). This is where the real fun began. We went over some great big waves through level 4 rapids (there are six levels - One is calm water and Six is just about non navigable. Too dangerous for most experts). We got splashed a lot, bounced around and generally had a good time. The other rafts had someone sitting on the front, and Ethan saw and asked Bobby if he could do that too. Gilat almost vetoed the idea, but Ethan did get his way and sat like a rodeo rider sitting on a bronco. He had the time of his life! He and Tamar switched around in the calmer bits so they both got turns riding the bronco. Gilat nearly had a heart attack.

At one point the water got very calm. The river was deep and wide. Ethan, again, wanted more, so he asked Bobby if he could get into the water! Bobby agreed, as long as Ethan held on to the raft. So Ethan (and later Tamar) jumped in - wetsuit, life jacket and all! They both had a wonderful time floating alongside the raft!

Eventually I had to pull them back in before the next rapid.

Several rapids and lots of splashes later we arrived at the end of the ride, cold and hungry but dry. We loaded up onto the bus while the guides loaded up the rafts, oars and our life jackets. Then we were taken to the undressing shed (for want of a better term). All the rafting participants from all the different groups stripped off the boots and wetsuits. We were given the option to buy a picture of ourselves going over a rapid (for $29! Not likely). We thanked Bobby for a great day before the bus took us back to the cabins.

Take a peek:

Later we returned yet again to downtown for dinner and visits to the souvenir shops where we got some shirts.

Back at the cabin I downloaded the few pictures we had of the day and the videos from the gopro. I discovered that it had decided to turn itself on before we started the tour, and it recorded the inside of my backpack for the entire way from the cabins to the beginning of the rafting. Half an hour of nothing but wasted battery!

Despite that, what a great day we had! One to be remembered.

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