The Pink Helmet Brigade
It cannot possibly be that a month has gone by since my vacation in Tennessee. It seems like last week when we went river rafting.
There is a thriving business along the Pigeon river in Tennessee. It is river rafting. Many companies up and down the river offer guides, boats and equipment for rafting. We chose a company because our dog groomer recommended it.
When we arrived, I was amazed at how many people were going rafting that day. The ages of rafters were as young as 8 and up to 80. Everyone was fitted with helmets and life vests. Don’t we look chic in our pink helmets. I am hidden behind my daughter. She and my niece are the paddlers in the front. The life vests are aired out rarely and are very stinky. We listened to instructions as to how to hold the paddle and how to use it. It was important not to bonk each other in the head. We learned how to pull someone back in the boat if necessary. We boarded an old rickety school bus for our trip to the place where we would start our adventure.
After a twenty-minute ride, we were in North Carolina. We stopped at a dam and waited for the boats to be unloaded. The rafts had been placed on top of the bus. The order and manner in which the rafts were stored on the bus was precise and methodical. The guides knew what they were doing and had done it countless times that summer.
We had ten people in our group so we were split up into groups of five. The guides could have done a better job dividing us because my husband’s raft was full of the guys. Needless to say, their raft got stuck on the rocks more than our raft full of ladies and our male guide.
We were off on our trip down the river! I’ll tell you more about the actual rafting trip in another post.
Can’t wait to hear more about your trip on the Pigeon River! How in the world did your husband’s raft get stuck on the rocks? The channels are really wide open and the water is pretty deep. Just curious.
Stopping by via entrecard.
Have a great day!
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Looks like a really good time. I’ve never been rafting but love canoeing.
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Hey! I recognize those pink helmets!!
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Matt, they are having a drought in Tennessee and were not letting water out of the dam. That made the river very low. You could get out of the raft and stand up in some places.
Oh Sara! I am scared to death to ride in a canoe. How do you keep them from tipping over?
Don’t you love that picture? I do.
Haha! I actually have tipped over before!
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Hey Karen,
I’m well aware of the drought on the Pigeon River. I work as a project manager and as a raft guide for the Nantahala Outdoor Center (http://www.noc dot com). We operate on 9 Southeastern Rivers. We are only operating on the Pigeon on Tuesdays when they release water out of the dam. During a dam release, there is plenty of water in the river to avoid all rocks. I don’t know what company you went with, but if they are running trips at other times than a dam release, they are not giving you the best experience possible on that river.
My intent is not to try to get you to raft with NOC, although that would be great. Just to inform you that you should not be getting stuck on rocks. If you’re looking for awesome whitewater experiences, anywhere in the US, I’d be happy to point you in the right directions, and I would answer questions honestly regarding other companies on other rivers.
Recently I wrote a blog post about why I’m proud to work for NOC and why NOC should be your first choice to raft with on rivers that we operate on. IF you’re interested, you can find that post here: http://michiganrafter.blogspot.com/2008/08/nantahala-outdoor-center-heroes.html
I’m very sorry that the company you rafted with got you stuck on rocks. Really, that should never happen on the Pigeon River.
Have an awesome day!
In defense of the company we chose for our rafting trip, they had called us a few days before our trip to say the river was down. We were given the option of getting our money back or going on another day when the river was higher. We chose to go on the day originally chosen. The guide on my husbands boat was inexperienced compared to the other guides. I would say that we still all had an enjoyable trip despite getting stuck on the rocks.
Looks fun, I think i would have been the one sitting on land tho. lol
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