White Water Rafting on the Salmon River

Are you sure this isn't a gay bar?
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Susan says:

Idaho is famous for whitewater rafting, but I'd never been. Debbie was game, but only after reading on the website that our chosen trip was "suitable for ages 7 and up." We went on a section of the Lower Salmon River, which is completely free of dams and therefore does what it does without any influence from us pesky humans. The scenery is really beautiful, and the banks have natural white sand beaches for taking swimming and picnic breaks. But most importantly, the rapids are big enough to knock you out of the boat if you're not paying attention. It was great fun- just the guide and the two of us were paddling the first day, and for a while it was just Debbie and the guide while I played around in an inflatible kayak. "Ducky" the kayak was great- my only regret is that we didn't flip it for a little more excitement.

Skookumchuck. So says the sign.
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Debbie says:

We stayed in the Lodge the night before our rafting trip since we had to be up early. When i say early, i mean we had to be in the van and on the road by 8.00am but that's still early enough for me. The drive up to the spot where we were to start rafting was about an hour and a half of pretty scary looking windy roads and there was a dodgy bridge on the way up there that looked like it barely had the strength to hold a childrens bicycle, never mind a van with people and a trailer with all the boats but "Ron" (our excellent, but mute, driver) got us all safely across.

Skookumchuck beach
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The first day on the water was pretty cool. I was really nervous about the rapids but Abbie (our guide) was fantastic and she kept us away from all the monster "holes" that would guarantee to flip your boat if you got sucked in. Class III rapids with names like "Tight Squeeze", "Widow Maker" and "I'm gonna git you sucka" (ok, i made that last name up but there was one that should have been called that since the waves came in every direction possible so you were bitch-slapped all around your head.)

Lifejackets are good
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Susan had a shot of the "Ducky" with Kate (an intern for the rafting company). Didn't fancy getting that close to the waves so stayed in the boat with Abbie. Got back to our campsite around 4pm that day (another intern, Nick, had the job of setting it up). Chilled out, had some food, drank some wine. Nice.

Next day we had to pick up a couple of gizzards called Phil and Stewart. Think they were around 60 or 70 years old and they couldn't paddle for shit. Makes you a wee bit nervous when you're trying to get through rapids and you've got guys with arms that could snap like twigs paddling air.

The wave was bigger in real-life. Honest.
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Oh, and i found a decomposed finger on one of the beaches. Seriously. I was going to get my camera and Stewart decided to poke it with a stick and it disintegrated. It really was a finger.

Next we're off to Susan's dad place in the moutains (somewhere in Idaho)

dx