Timmy & Mac’s Summer Camp Adventure:

Shooting The Rapids

I was glad the camp turned in early that night, I was really, really tired. We were supposed to get up really early tomorrow. It was an event the whole camp looked forward to. We were going to ride the whitewater rapids.

It was a long bus ride up into the mountains, mostly in early morning darkness. They had us all put on wet suits that didn’t fit that well (the crotch stitches on mine were frayed and I lived in fear my balls would pop out!). There were 9 man rubber rafts (8 to row, 1 to steer – steersman is supposed to know what he is doing) , no more than  4 younger kids allowed per raft. I noticed that they kept the sides evenly balanced by weight. Made sense.

35 miles, 20 class 2-5 rapids.

As Timmy so often says, “Awesome!”

At some point you expect to get bounced out into the rapids. They spent some time explaining how to handle yourself in the waves, among the rocks, etc. Of course, we didn’t pay attention. If one of the other rafts didn’t pick you up, there was a chase boat with a motor to collect stragglers.

There was a problem at first. Our group of campers was mixed in with a family of three. The son (who had an attitude problem) was fat. Really fat. He also couldn’t or wouldn’t row when we needed him to. The raft became lopsided and more likely to spin in circles than go straight. The kid who steered (so-called “Professional”) pretty much gave up early on and we careened in every direction and hit every boulder we were supposed to avoid. We kept getting washed up on rock shelves the others avoided easily, so we were slower than everyone else. At some point the chase boat gave up and passed us!

Still, lots of parts were scary-wet-fun!

We hit a section with awesome rapids, it was like a scary elevator ride. At one point the fat kid finally gave up and we hit a huge boulder, two kids flipped out including Timmy. I saw him go spinning away down a side stream, trying to kick and get to shore or an outcropping. Something was wrong though. Timmy wasn’t a good swimmer. I shouted to the kid in charge, but he either didn’t hear me or ignored me. Must have figured the chase boat would get him, but the chase boat had passed us, by then.

No one was watching my friend bobbing up and down. Up and down. Down. Down

I don’t remember the decision to go in after him. I just found myself in the white water trying to get into the same side stream. I was out of control, spinning in the first few moments. So much for being a better swimmer. I lost track of the raft and Timmy. Just trying to stay alive. I heard the waterfall over the sound of the white water before I saw it. I was trying to reach out, grab anything to stop from going over. I wasn’t thinking about Timmy.

I wasn’t even sure what I snagged. I was blind underwater then bobbed up as we hit the falls. And didn’t go over. Timmy and I had washed up on a flat hidden boulder just under the surface at the edge of the falls. It was a 10-15 ft drop. But in the rushing water it looked like a mile!

Timmy had hit his head; I could feel the lump. There was some blood on his cheek. He was a dead weight. I was barely able to hold onto him and keep from going over myself.

I can admit now that I’m not really that brave. Frankie and Goo think I am because of some stuff that we went through at The Home. But I know I’m not. When the waves suddenly pushed me to the edge. I almost went over three times, sure that I would. I thought about letting Timmy go to save myself. No one would know.

I am ashamed of that.

I am glad that I held onto him. The chase boat eventually came back for us, about the time Timmy woke up. Over two hours!