Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Flipping with Flip Flops!

This morning, my dad corrected my math assignment, which I had finished yesterday.  I completed my work without problems and was excited to go boating on the Upper Seti River.  After my math was finished, we went to the Ganesh Kayak Shop in Pokhara to get outfitted for an afternoon of fun.  We left in a van with three Dutch men and a Canadian couple.  We drove along a majorly bumpy and uneven road until we reached the put-in.  We blew up the raft and my mom and dad got on their kayak gear. 

The raft crew consisted of me, the three Dutch men, the Canadians, and our raft captain.  The kayak crew consisted of my parents and two Nepalese guides.  We heard that the water on this river was class III to IV, with maybe a chance of IV plus.  Soon the fleet was geared up and ready to push off the sandy shores of the put-in.  Our raft was a little too big for the river.  We were all paddling and we managed to get stuck on several rocks.  Otherwise, the raft was doing fine, until the big rapid. 

We stopped for a quick scout of the gnarly, rocky, rapid and were back in our boats.  We were sliding right along, when we hit a rock, got turned around, and crashed into a rocky hole sideways.  A small flash of fear and light and we were upside down and wet.  At first, I was trapped under the raft.   By swimming hard in one direction, I got myself out from under the raft easily.  I, then, plunged into holes and banged off rocks for a minute or two as I continued down the rapid.  A kayaker paddled up to me, and I swam to the front of the boat and held on while a second rafter clung to the stern. The kayak guide paddled us Into a small eddy where we all were safe.  My dad gathered all the floating flip flops and other shoes and we were all happy as wet clams.  From the flip spot to the take-out was not far.  We arrived there in no time.  I got into my dry clothes and we all headed back to Pokhara.

Tomorrow morning, we will all paraglide for the fist time.  I am so excited and will write all about it tomorrow!

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!   

2 comments:

  1. I can hardly wait to hear of your next adventure - not. You all are scaring me (and it's not yet Halloween).

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  2. Me too! That river was knarly!
    Seriously, we're being careful!

    ReplyDelete