Dean and I returned on Friday from the trip of a lifetime! We rafted down the Colorado River into Cataract Canyon with 13 other couples from our area. I've always heard about Cataract and how hard it was, but I never in a million years thought that we would actually have this experience. Thanks to some good friends, we were cohersed into going on this trip. Wow! what a rush! I will NEVER regret or forget it!This is just a sample of the beautiful landscape that we experienced. This is Dead Horse Point. Everything was gorgeous and the weather cooperated all four days.
These are three of our five guides from left to right - Bryan, Honey, and Jessica. Shadrack and Josh are missing. I wanted to adopt them all. They were
such hard workers and made everything so fun and perfect for us. The food was great!
This is our group of 28 people. Everyone was so nice and even though we didn't know everyone, by the end of the trip we were all very close friends.
Calm water made it easy to relax a bit on the pontoons and enjoy the scenery.
Josh is in the background in the tan shirt. He was the lead guide and was prepping us for what was to come. Why was he so calm and confident?????
We're ready to take out of Moab on Tuesday morning. We had 2 J Rig Rafts with sixteen people on each one. Here were are together all ready for a calm day on the water. The first day was actually kind of boring. Nothing happened, but we were able to get better acquainted with everyone.
Days two, three and four........not so boring. This is Dean, Josh, myself, and Shad at the warning sign where we had to register for the last two nights camp spots. As you can see, the rapids are a mere two miles downstream.....We didn't know what we were in for. It's a good thing because I would have definitely jumped off the raft and swam back to Moab.
Big Drop One and Two..........OH MY GOSH!!!! Is the raft going to endo?
Here we go again! We had about 20 of these to go through on the last two days. The water slaps you with such force that it was easy to lose your grip. I was so proud of Dean and I. I swore that I wouldn't ride in front on the pontoons. Turns out.....that's where I spent all of my time. Towards the end of the third day, I wasn't only sucking rubber, but I was praying my guts out! PLEASE DON'T LET ME FALL OFF THE RAFT......PLEASE HELP ME TO HOLD ON JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER!!!!
On the fourth and last day, the second rapid, one of the ladies in our group, Rochelle Clark, broke her wrist. OUCH! That is her in the tan cap, lying down under the umbrella. She was in a lot of pain, but the guides got her wrist wrapped up so she could make it the rest of the day. Needless to say, we didn't hit the rest of the rapids very hard because she couldn't hold on and we had to keep her safe. Shad did a great job manuevering through the rapids to calm water.
Another lady, Dixie tore some ligaments in her hand as well. It was a rough day on the water!
We stopped a few times and went on some awesome hikes. They were challenging as well. Sometime I would like to go there just to hike!
Dean and I at the top of one of the hikes.
These are two of the five Cessnas that took us all back to Moab on Friday afternoon. You have GOT to take this trip. It was incredible!!