Vacations are supposed to be a time to relax, right? So I find it funny, that many travelers find the need to fill every minute of their vacation with stuff to do. Ok, I admit it, sometimes I’m one of those people.
I guess I was pretending to be a Pocono tourist this past weekend. I crammed my weekend full. After biking for 13 miles on Saturday in the Lehigh Gorge State Park (see my previous post) we did indeed go rafting on Sunday. For $55 per person my daughters and I spent the day paddling on the Lehigh. We went with Pocono Whitewater Adventures on Route 903 (1-800-whitewater). The weather turned chilly overnight after a warm and pleasant day on Saturday. Asking for two good weather days in a row is apparently out of the question.
We rented full wetsuits. They stunk like sweat or mold or both. Mine was, well, wet when I put it on which was unfortunate because although I was quite willing to get wet I would have preferred to do it at the river.
We chose to raft the Gorge section of the river where the rapids are a little more exciting instead of the family float. Our group was small, just 4 rafts. We geared up, boarded the bus and were transported to Drake’s Creek to launch our rafts.
Launching our rafts was probably the most dangerous part (for broken ankles). We had to heave our raft through a washed out gully, balancing each step on river rocks. The river guides said a major flood caused the damage. Thankfully two other adults were added to our raft because my two young daughters and I would have had trouble getting the raft to the water in those conditions.
Finally, we were launched. Morgan and Madison upfront, two teachers from Bethlehem in the middle and me in the back. Somehow I got the job of captain. Within 3 minutes of working on the river, we were all hot! That’s right working. We’re paddling, we’re steering and we’re bailing.
I definitely had the wrong image of rafting. They instructed us back at the rafting center to leave everything in our cars (dry clothes, dry towels, cameras, cell phones, etc). I did. I thought that things could get wet, through some splashing etc. I had no idea that water was going to seep into the bottom of the boat or worse yet, that we were going to hit “45 minute” rock and have water fill our entire raft! There’s no time to bail when your running the rapids and trying to avoid rocks but when we got to flat water, we bailed and bailed and bailed. At least the heavy water pushed us off “45 minute rock” very quickly. Apparently it’s called 45 minute rock because it’ll take 45 minutes to get rescued or freed from the rock.
Although my daughters were disappointed that they didn’t get to go for an unexpected swim, I’m thankful that they stayed in the raft the entire time. I got dumped out twice (once when we stopped abruptly, (of course on a rock) and the other time when I was ruddering in the back and just rolled out.
My girls loved the trip. It was a real life roller coaster. They loved the class III rapids. I would not go if the river was any lower, in fact, if we go again we’re going to watch for special water releases. I think fall is a good time to go rafting. The water is still warm and the river is not too low.
In closing, let me say that it is a long day. We arrived at the rafting center before 9:45 am. I don’t remember what time we actually got on the river (who can check their watch when they are desperately trying not to break their ankle). We got off the river around 3:30 and were back at our cars at about 4:00 pm.
Every muscle in my upper body hurts (my shoulders, neck, obliques, forearms, pecs, just everything!). I tried aiming the jets of a Jacuzzi on my shoulders. I applied BenGay and finally I took an Advil. Obviously, I tried to muscle the river too hard. Maybe we should have tried throwing the paddles in the boat and letting the river just take us.
Rafting while on vacation has its advantages; you don’t have to use a sick day the day after. How about you? Have you ever felt like you needed a vacation after you had a vacation or participated in a "leisurely" activity? Let us know…
Tina Dowd
