Friday, May 7th was the last day of our rafting trip in Colorado and Utah, an uneventful day spent gliding down the Dolores River (which means river of sorrow) past its confluence with the Colorado River a short ways, which brought the third annual Bucket Trip to a close. On this trip I had undergone the most incredible day of my life on May 5th when two of our three boats got trapped in a rapids, with one overturning with almost deadly results. (Above: We're all still here. Trip's end. Photo by B.)
We had all survived, and become stronger for it. I brought home from the trip a gimcrack I picked up at the Denver airport, a magnet that has a Native-American saying on it.
The courage inside us is the strength that guides us. I put it on my refrigerator with magnet momentos from other trips because it reminds me of the minute that I spent underwater trying to escape from underneath the capsized boat.
The first BT was the trip of a lifetime, rafting on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The second BT was a wonderful sailing trip through the Florida Keys, gliding through the Everglades some and venturing out into the Atlantic a short way.
The trip on the Dolores River was unbelievable, an adventure that I will never, ever forget. My heartfelt thanks and admiration go to Guy and Joe Vinyard of Colorado for keeping us all alive, and to my other Sewell Hall friends, Amy, Barry, Carolyn, Harrie, Jimmy, Julia and Todd, with whom I shared this difficult and very intense personal experience.
4 comments:
Wow, that was certainly quite the adventure! Glad everyone made it safe & sound. I've only been river rafting once and I can't remember if we had oars. Probably only the guide. Still, it was hard just staying in the boat sometimes.
Pretty amazing trip you've had there, been following it. I loved the rafting trip I did as a kid with the Boy Scouts - a week long venture down the Snake River in Idaho. Still one of the most memorable trips to date...including getting hit on the head by the porto-bucket after our raft flipped during some rapids.
I think next year you guys need to do something more laid back like sailing again :-)
I am SO glad this all worked out okay for you. When you make it through safely there is stuff to take from the experience.
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