As the water from the attack pail hit my rain-soaked face, I started thinking of how we got here….
The trip out from Long Island on Friday evening was arduous and not all that quick, considering traffic across the George Washington Bridge was blocked by an overturned truck. So a diversion up to the Tappan Zee Bridge got us around that problem and on our way to White Haven, PA.
Arrival and camp setup went smoothly and things settled down as we went to sleep in our tents.
The first hint of an unusual day came with the first few drops of rain hitting the tent at about 5:30 on Saturday morning, signaling the beginning of another rainy weather binge, so at 6:30AM we all cranked ourselves out of the tents and went for breakfast down at the outdoor cafeteria. After eating, it was time to get ready for the day’s journey down the river, so we got our wetsuits, were fitted with PFD’s (life jackets) and boarded the bus to the launch point.
There are 18 of us, so down at the water’s edge we climb into 3 rafts and listen to the instructions from the guides on river etiquette (don’t sink the other guys raft too quickly.) All this, of course while we sat in the pouring rain. Oh, didn’t I mention that?? Well, the wetsuits took care of keeping us reasonably warm, if somewhat gooey. Then it was time to push off into the rushing water of the river, which I might add was really rushing quickly. This is what we came for!! Water in the river, water from the sky, water from buckets and also water from giant water cannons. Water coming from everywhere, now that I think of it.
All thoughts of discomfort vanish as we get swept into the first set of rapids and must paddle quickly to avoid the largest rocks and glide down the whitewater funnel between them. One after the other, with little time for anything (except maybe the not-so-occasional bucket-o-water attack or cannon volley) we continue down the river steeling out nerves against the possibility of being washed out of the raft. OOPPS! There goes Bill Macyk without a raft! The guys in the raft finally catch up and drag him back in. We find that the water is going so fast today that we really don’t get hung up on the rocks very much, just washed over them. This makes for an especially exciting trip. No stops! Of course, I didn’t say we didn’t bump into a few of them. In fact, we hit a few so hard I think they moved! But they stayed where they were and we bounced off, keeping our balance to avoid a dunk in the rushing water. The morning went quickly with the effort to steer our rafts over the rocks for as much fun as possible and also stay away from the water marauders in the other rafts.
The number one target for the marauders was Mr. Businski’s hair, which miraculously remained neat throughout the trip despite being almost continuously doused. Mr. McGovern tracked Mr. Businski with his camera to record evidence of messed hair, although he was only somewhat successful. Mr. Businski later confided to me that his hair is really not hair but very fine stainless steel wire. If I hadn’t seen it for myself I wouldn’t have believed it! Now we know the secret so we’ll have to use something else to mess it up.
Anyway, as I said at the beginning, I was letting the water from the attack pail wash off and thinking about how the morning was going when we were signaled to pull over to the side of the river for lunch. This was easier said than done in the swift moving waters, but we did do it. Unfortunately, the two rafts with the sodas in them ended up beaching well ahead us, and we ended up around the bend with the sandwiches!! So we ate the sandwiches while a search party went looking for the sodas. Since it was raining (pouring actually) we weren’t all that thirsty. The others eventually came to claim their food and we finished our lunch in a record 15 minutes so that we could get back into the rafts and paddle like mad to stop shivering.
We found that the fun got even better after lunch because the larger, faster rapids were ahead in the lower part of the river. For the next 3 hours, we fought the river rapids, drove our rafts over, around and in some cases, under the white water until I can really say we were all waterlogged and weary. Even the water marauders had given up their attacks and concentrated on fighting the water rather than fighting with water!
By 4PM, we were all glad to see the take-out point approaching. And in the end, even that was a hard won battle to overcome the river’s wish to keep us in the stream. Weary, we all climbed out of our rafts, turned in our paddles and squished our way to the bus and our damp trip back to the campsite, with our spirits at full glory and everyone talking about the day’s challenges. Did we all have fun? Well, all I could see were big grins on everyone’s faces including the youngest of our troop who came through the ordeal with a real story to tell their friends.
And the river? Just wait until next year!
Greg Baranec