Near Death Experience in Raft 8.7

Today was the final day of orientation social week activities, and we went out with a bang: whitewater rafting.  I have been whitewater rafting twice before.  The first time, I was in junior high and went with Girl Scouts.  The second time, I was in junior high and went on a family reunion.  Conclusion: It has been a long time for me!

I, along with two med school girls, headed down to Ohiopyle, PA, around an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh.  We met up with the rest of the PittMed-ers and formed groups of six.  My group of six was five girls and one guy, and our assigned raft was number 8.7.  Of the fifteen other groups, no one else had a "decimal-point" raft nor had our five girls:one guy ratio.  From the beginning, we stood out.

The rafting started out OK; we got stuck on a few rocks.  Before departing we were taught this technique in which everyone in the raft moves to opposite of the section caught on the rock and bounces up and down really hard to wiggle the raft free.  I could not take this seriously AT ALL and just burst into a fit of laughter every time we tried the bounce technique.

Around 2 hours into the trip, we came up on the "Dimple Rapids."  There were posted signs along the river that walking was an option at this particular point, which automatically made me wary.  The guides then described the way we would approach this rapid, saying that we needed to follow the hand signals of one guide who would be standing visibly on a rock.  They also explained that we might capsize and go underneath a rock, but that we would likely "come right back out."  UM, WHAT??

Before tackling the "Dimple Rapids," raft 8.7 tried to build up some positive energy.  We were about in the middle of the pack and had the opportunity to watch other groups go before us.  As we watched, we decided that it didn't seem too difficult and that we could definitely make it through.

When our turn came, we paddled hard toward the rapid.  Up ahead, a guide was flagging commands at us.  "Paddle left!  Paddle right!  Stop paddling!  All forward!"  Then, all of a sudden, he got this look on his face that read, "Oh shit, there's nothing else I can tell them to do."  With a huge force, our raft struck the rock that the guide was standing out and catapulted vertically.  We all spilled out into the cold, rushing, scary water.  I could feel my raft mates fall on top of me and panicked that I was feeling the underside of a rock.  Luckily, I surfaced pretty quickly.  Unluckily, I now had to save myself.  Before I had any idea what was happening, a rope bag was thrown my direction, and I grabbed on along with one of the girls from my raft.  I allowed myself to be pulled in.  That is, until raft 8.7 broke free from the rock, tore through the rapid, and smacked the two of us in the head.  It didn't really hurt - I was wearing a helmet, and it was only a blown up raft, but it was really uncomfortable and made holding onto the rope impossible.  I let go, and tried hard to remember "Nose and Toes," a saying the guides went over during training that meant we were to keep our heads and feet above water.  As I bumped down the rapid, my hiney scraped on roughly 6 rocks.  It was seriously unpleasant.  Finally, one of the guides had me grab onto her kayak and she paddled me to shore, where I waited for the rescue boat to pick me up.  At the bottom of the rapid, when the water had calmed down, we were reunited with raft 8.7.

The rest of day, I was very wary of falling in and unemployed a new general strategy: "If the water gets rough, fall into the boat, not out of it."  Raft 8.7 finished the trip strong, and after the "Dimple Rapids" we didn't have any issues.

Now, I'm completely exhausted and ready to rest up for the first day of actual class tomorrow.

Until then,
B