We again slept in at our own leisure, woke up and ate some breakfast at the Moose. We were scheduled to go white water rafting with a rafting company called AVA ( Arkansas Valley Adventures.) I picked them becuase they sent me the best marketing material. In otherwords, they looked the most organized.
Their outpost was located about 14 miles south of Leadville along the Arkansas River. We had to meet at 11:30 to get geared up and by geared up I mean put on wet suits and water jackets with life jackets and helmets. It was a little chilly that day and the water is assumed to be a bit cold this time of the year, so the wet suits were nice to have on. Our hands and feet were the only parts exposed to the elements (besides our faces) and they did get a bit cold. But for me, it came in spurts and those parts soon warmed up.
The rafts would hold 5-7 people and one of those people was the raft guide. We all had paddles and would follow the instructions of our raft guide. The journey was beautiful through the Brown Canyon. The river was rated a level 3 (intermediate)...meaning between the serene and calm were rapids that were fun and wild, but not to difficult for us first timers. There was one tricky rapid ahead where the rafts pull over and we take a short hike to look at it. The guides then figure their best plan of attack and give us a little instruction and pep talk. Our group didn't lose anybody which was nice because...after the rapid our guide confessed that she lost all but one the day before, but she did say they were a rowdy bunch who kinda wanted to "go for a swim."
The raft trip was a blast. The rapids are the best parts - going up and down - it's like a roller coaster ride. It's amazing that we don't fall off. We went 15 miles down the river and I think that lasted about 4-5 hours.
When all of that was over, we changed back into our dry clothes and by that time we worked up quite an appetite. Vernal suggested that pizza sounded good and I agreed. We drove into Breckenridge and tried a local pizza joint called Extreme Pizza. It was an old house decorated with skis and snowboards that had a room of arcade games and TV's that hungs showing local sports. We ordered a large (leftovers are always nice) and I got a side order of spicy buffalo wings. Mmmmh!
2 comments:
Arkansas Valley Adventures in Colorado?
Four to five hours sounds like the perfect amount of time to spend rafting. I think I would be content with a three. I'd probably be one of those guys who rationalized that "if I do a two and a three, that is the same as a five."
Arkansas, crazy, I know! But I guess it is named after the river and not the state.
The tour we were on is considered 3/4 day (or maybe it ranges from 1/2 to 3/4 depending on the flow of the river.)...but the full day trip is 25 miles and we did 15.
It was a blast. I would definately do that again.
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