Nantahala Summer Trip Day 3 Whitewater Rafting

How you doin’? I hope you’re doin’ well because we certainly are! This is Shay reporting our wonderful day on the rivers! Our day began with Mr. K playing reveille at 6:00 (very early to those of us who were up after midnight I might add) and a breakfast of pop tarts and cereal. Then half of our group departed at quarter after seven to go whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River. The other half left around 8:30 for the Ocoee River. Finally, the Wiley’s and Grandpa P. sacrificed their day and stayed behind to stain the picnic tables we built as a service to the troop that allowed us to stay here. I went on the Ocoee so I’ll be reporting that half, and Patrick and Declan will be along later to bring you the story of the Nantahala.

The Ocoee group got up to the river at about 9:30. And then we got to wait for about an hour and a half for the guides to arrive (they had an accident). After that is was smooth (actually not so smooth) sailing for the rest of the day. In other words, we had a blast! With the class III and IV rapids, we were constantly soaking wet. The guides were very experienced and a ton of fun! Most of us didn’t fall out, but some of us fell in multiple times *ahem Mr. Cu cough cough hint hint nod nod wink wink*, and then some us BROKE the PADDLES (Luke Cu.). Another one of those people who fell in was Michael. The younger Scouts finally learned where he got his nickname, Banshee. Anyway, we went down the river twice. The river was full of hydraulics (mini whirlpool waterfalls) and rocks. About halfway down there was a concrete tunnel that channeled a small creek into the river. The water ran about an inch high in the 15 foot wide tunnel, and we formed what the guides called a “butt dam.” Basically, we all sat down as close as possible to each other in the tunnel the water build up to wash the others into the river. It was awesome! After our final trip down the river we reluctantly changed into dry clothes and said goodbye to our wonderful guides. Most of us fell asleep on the car ride home. Now here’s Patrick and Declan to report on the Nantahala rapids.

Patrick here. If you rode the Nantahala River (Nantahala in Cherokee means River at midday) you wore a wet suit (looked like tights), a life jacket, and a helmet, and yes you looked really manly in the tights. When we got up to the rapids, Parker, Mr. Kane, and I flipped over but we were brave to stick it out. Anyway in the end we had a blast and that group had a great day.

               Hey this is Declan here. I’m trying to be a bit more specific about the Nantahala river journey. We first went down some class II and class III rapids in big 12 foot long and 5 foot wide rafts with our guides. Many battles of splashing and crashing into each other ensued. At one point one of the guides threw some of our scouts out of the raft. I was not one of them. Afterword we donned our manly-tastic skintight wetsuits and descended into our individual ducky (inflatable kayak). I was pretty good at piloting the birdies and the day flew by in an instant. After a good meal some of us went swimming and canoeing. Halfway out into the lake I found a small leech on my leg. I named him Henry and had him removed. That is about all that happened today and I hope you all come back tomorrow. Have a nice day.

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