Whitewater Rafting

A while back a bunch of us went whitewater rafting, and what started out as a perfectly respectable outdoor activity descended, very quickly, into total warfare.

On the water

We got the full kit, the helmets and the chunky yellow life vests and the paddles, and piled into these big blue rafts with absolutely no idea what we were doing. The river itself was beautiful, all forest and sunlight and cold clear water, and for about ten minutes we were genuinely focused, paddling in something close to unison, listening to the guide, generally behaving like responsible young adults.

The bucket incident

That lasted exactly until somebody found the bailing buckets. After that it was every raft for itself, scooping up freezing river water and absolutely drenching each other, everyone screaming and laughing and completely forgetting that we were supposed to be navigating actual rapids. I got soaked to the bone, took a full faceful of river, and could not possibly have been happier about any of it.

We crawled out at the end shivering, exhausted, and grinning like idiots. Best kind of tired there is.