A Day "In" The River

We started out "on" the river this morning. Nathan was in the kayak and my dad was in a one-man canoe. Shawn, Garrison and I were in another canoe.



It started out great and we were having a fantastic time. The current was fast and we were surprised at how quick we were moving down the river.


This was Garrison's first trip down the river.


We made it under and past this first fallen tree.


This was the calm before the storm. I'd passed off the camera to my dad. He took this picture of me, Garrison and Shawn. Garrison is sitting behind Shawn in the bottom of the canoe.


This is where the water started to get rough. Unfortunately our canoe drifted sideways and capsized, throwing the three of us into the rushing water. Thankfully, we all had life jackets on. I have no doubt that those life jackets made all the difference. My dad and Nathan were too far downstream from us and with the current running so fast they couldn't paddle back to help us. Shawn and I fought the current with Garrison holding onto Shawn for dear life. It was a harrowing experience. I grabbed hold of the canoe and we struggled towards the embankment. The river is 10-15 deep and there was no touching the bottom. The edge of the river was too steep for us to climb out, so we clung to roots to keep from being swept away. Garrison was quite the trooper! Even though he was scared he never panicked and he did exactly what we told him to do. We spent quite some time in the water, but eventually Shawn was able to get the canoe turned over. Garrison and I were able to get back in the boat. Shawn held onto the canoe keeping us from being taken off by the current until a park ranger showed up with a rope. With the rope they were able to help us climb up the steep embankment to safety.


A happy ending!