This weekend we decided to take a break from Moscow and head to Riggins (white water rafting capital of Idaho) to do a little RAFTING! We left Friday afternoon and took the 2 1/2 hour drive to Riggins. The drive was through the mountains and most of it was right along the river, so it was very pretty! We got to Riggins and stayed at the Best Western. It wasn't like our Best Western in Moscow, it was very similar to a lodge! It was pretty awesome and sat right on the river. These pictures are from our window in the room. Not too bad, huh?
After we checked in, we went to dinner at the 7 Devils Steakhouse. It was pretty good. After dinner we went back and sat in the hot tub for a little while.
The next day we got up and headed to Mountain River Outfitters for our rafting trip. We suited up in wetsuits and splash gear and waited for the remaining groups to get there. We rode a van up to the put-in point and loaded up the rafts. Our group was suppose to go on a raft trip, but the water was at 50,000 cfs so the group canceled the trip. We decided to go anyways and the night before we went, the water went up to 85,000 cfs. Our raft guide said he had only seen it this high one other time! The water was MOVING!!! He said that the rapids all change when the water gets that high.
So we loaded the rafts and headed out. The water was around 42 degrees. Kinda chilly but not so bad. We went through most rapids fine until we got to "Ruby". Ruby was a class 4 rapid, right on the border of a class 5. It was AWESOME! The raft behind us didn't quite think the same thing though. We made it through this HUGE rapid, but shortly after making it through, we heard, "FLIP!!!" The raft behind us had flipped completely over and lost all of its passengers in the water! The raft guide's mother was on the raft (her daughter was the guide). She ended up in our boat and was hilarious. I laughed so hard at her after she got in the boat safely and we knew everything was ok. She was FREAKING out but the first thing she said was, "Where's my daughter, is she ok?" After all of the excitement--everyone was safe and sound and we headed on down the river.
We stopped about half way through and had lunch. The guides had packed our lunch and it was really good! French dip sandwiches and veggies & dip. Cookies, too! After we ate, we went on down the river and experienced some more pretty intense rapids. It was so fun and Robert and I loved it!
It was a good day and a nice get-a-way. Today, Sunday, we are just lounging around and taking it easy before Rk has to hit it again next week. Here are the pictures from the day! Beautiful!
