Rafting the Tieton

Saturday Michelle and I headed up north to Yakima to raft the Tieton river with family (including my surrogate brother Brent) and visit with other family.

This was Michelle’s first rafting trip, and currently the Tieton is swelling with water that is being released from Rimrock dam to make room for this winter’s water. I’d rafted the Tieton twice before with the Manfredis, but this was the first time I’ve ever been in a paddle raft.

My mom won the tickets on the radio. I’m not sure how or when, but it was quite a score. Osprey, the guide company even had wet suits for us to use, which was an improvement over long underwear and rain pants.

The five of us shared one of the smaller play boats and our guide apparently though us the adventurous and responsive type because we got a great ride. The difference between this trip and previous was that I’m used to safely avoiding obstacles, and our guide (since it was his boat), playfully spun off a few rocks, and dipped us into a hole.

The pictures are great – and we got them from Osprey. Sadly, the one missing picture is the failed “Bow & Arrow” affair. You see – our guide instructed the paddlers on the left to hook their paddles onto a low-hanging cable as we passed under it. The idea was that they would hold on as long as possible and then let go – shooting the paddles back at the other rafts. But he didn’t tell us that. And, I missed the part about the people on the left doing it, so I stood up and hooked the cable too, and then didn’t know what to do so I held on as best I could and was pulled out of the boat, (Canoers aren’t supposed to ever let go of their paddle) pulling Brent into the water with me.

It was hilarious, and the water was fairly shallow and really quite warm, so we drifted a bit and go back into the raft to the cheers of the other boats in our flotilla. I suppose I should be more embarrassed, but it was fun, and the water was nice.

The ride lasted roughly two hours and was followed by a satisfying lunch. People were smiling knowingly at me. “There goes the guy who didn’t listen to his guide, then didn’t let go.” Yeah, well it was fun and I don’t regret it. I just hope Brent didn’t mind going for the ride with me.