We’re ending our day camped at Guanella Pass at the base of our target for tomorrow, Mt. Bierstadt. Before setting up the tents we drove to the trailhead to scout it out and I’m happy to report that we all thought it looked very doable. Since there’s no internet here this won’t be posted until tomorrow so you can expect an update on our success very soon.
The real excitement of the day, though, was our first ever white water rafting experience. I didn’t really have any idea of what to expect, but it was absolutely thrilling. I guess my expectation was that it would be a pretty low key float down a river. We had signed up for the beginner trip which was billed as containing class one and two rapids. However, due to the late snowfall and melt this year there were numerous class three rapids on our trip and even one class three plus according to our guide, Crawfish.
We spent the entire hour we were on the river alternating between paddling, getting splashed, and hiding on the floor of the raft to keep from falling out. Everyone in our raft did manage to stay in the raft the entire trip, we saw a rescue from another raft though at the end of one of the waterfalls we went over. I did lose a paddle at one part, it was amazing to feel the power of the river, and a giant rock I hadn’t seen, ripping it out of my hands.
It was also a lot of fun watching the girls as we cruised. Both of them had been pretty nervous about the experience, but they both absolutely loved it. Ellie even remarked that she wanted to go again before we had even finished our run.
We started today in Estes Park and it already feels like a distant memory. Although Mol and I didn’t really like the town this trip I love that section of the Rockies so much that I know we’ll be back one day. We did enjoy a nice evening in Idaho Springs. We’ll have to scout more hiking in this area for a future trip so that we can come back to spend more time. For now though we’re moving on because whether it’s on the road or on the river – life is a highway.
