White Water Rafting in Colorado: What I Learned

White Water Rafting in Colorado: What I Learned

I continue to tell myself that moving to Colorado was the best decision I’ve made and this past weekend, I realized that even though my move here and living here hasn’t been mega smooth, it has still been the best fucking decision I’ve ever made. The one thing that continues to work is that the more I do things that scare me/ get out of my comfort zone the more I let go and really enjoy life. Last weekend one of my oldest friends came to visit me and after a very difficult Friday we took to Fort Collins on an adventure of a lifetime.

I’ve been river rafting a couple times before when I was younger and lived in Panama, both times I felt an extreme pull from all my emotions creating the most amazing feeling ever. You could say that I can be an adrenaline junkie, at least this new side of me has come out more in the last few years. Michelle had not been rafting before and started to freak out a little more as the trip got a bit closer.

Our plan was to go rafting and then go strawberry picking, the latter didn’t happen, the rafting was INSANE.

Okay, my legs and arms hurt for a couple days after, and when we were driving to Golden after our trip I literally felt like my arms were gonna fall off, I would still 100% repeat the experience. I am making a promise to myself to try to get out there at least once more this summer. Point is if you love adventure, and are into trying new things WHITE WATER RAFTING is totally for you.

As in if you don’t have any plans this summer check out white water rafting, TRUST me it is totally worth it.

As we all rode on the school bus on our way up the mountain along the river, my nerves started to settle in and the fact that I might end up in the river was very much in my mind. First of all the water was freaking cold, I totally thought they were exaggerating with the wetsuits, they were not and I am VERY happy they were required. Meaning: if they are saying it, it has to be a for a reason.

The first rapid came pretty quickly and reminded us all why we were there, the excitement, the adrenaline rush and the feeling of holy shit, we just did that.

Six of us and one guide.

I honestly feel like the attitude of the guide says it all, laidback and chill and keeping their cool when shit hits the roof or in this case the river? I don’t think I could handle the pressure of trying to get a raft down a rapid and also thinking about the person that fell off during that rapid.

Dillon or string bean maybe green bean. I really need to get better with names, our guides name was Dillon and went by something bean was totally awesome and made the entire experience a lot of fun.

We went with A1 rafting and it was the best thing ever. My brother and his girlfriend are coming at the end of the summer and we are planning on going rafting with A1.

Here are the DO’s and DON’Ts that I picked up from my trip that can totally ease your nerves on your next or first river rafting trip.

BABES WEAR SHOES

There are tons of rocks, the rocks in the river are what create rapids and all those fun exciting twists so without them our trip down the river would be completely different. Point is where shoes. Also, make sure that your shoes are comfortable (I would not recommend you break in new shoes) when they get wet and that they have a substantial sole. BTW your shoes will be wet the entire trip, don’t stress. You don’t wanna have to climb over rocks, or if you fall out of the raft worry about your strap getting stuck somewhere. I wore my Nikes and they were totally great, most of the people around me had the same.

LEAVE THE COTTON CLOTHING AT HOME

Most of my closet is run by cotton but when it comes to what you are wearing you want something that will dry quickly and won’t weigh you down. This past weekend it was chillier than expected, I wore a bathing suit under the wetsuit.

STICK TO WATERPROOF

If you are taking anything with you make sure it is waterproof, babes everything will get wet, it will so it’s better to stick to things that won’t get ruined.

SMEAR THE BLOCK ON

Even if you think you won’t need it, don’t skip the sunblock, trust me you will. It was raining during our river rafting experience this weekend and somehow I did get a little sun on my face.

LOOSE THE GEMS

If you love something and are worried about it getting lost, don’t wear it on your trip, from your tennis shoes to a bracelet, skip anything you don’t want to part with. Michelle lost one of her shoes when she fell off the raft.

COMMUNICATE

You wanna talk to the people on the raft and your guide, if you don’t understand something or are confused, ask, better safe than sorry.

ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF YOUR ADVENTURE

Enjoy the ride, don’t overthink your entire trip, just enjoy it and have fun! It is a hell of an experience!

 

Have you ever gone white water rafting before? If you have what did you think? Any tips you wanna share? If you haven’t gone rafting would you want to go? Drop a comment below and let me know and if you do go rafting, let me in on your fun and tag your picture #followourpassionstyle