Down the Lehigh River

For the long weekend, Lex and I joined the SFC (Singles for Christ) group Whitewater Rafting at the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. It would be the first time for me and the second for Lex as he had done this before while assigned in Michigan. We wanted to do something totally different for the weekend so we woke up at 5AM on a Saturday to hitch a ride with some members of the group. The river, incidentally, is just a short 2-hour drive from New York.

I admit I was a bit concerned about going on this adventure. It can get scary being on the rapids and with, as our guide calls them, the SFR "small friendly rocks" and the BFR "big friendly rocks" all coming towards you. But what the heck, I have to do this at least once or I'll forever live with Lex's teasing. And besides, I saw 10 year olds going on this ride so how bad can it be? I got my answer when we were made to sign a Waiver Form before we could start. It stated there that "The risk of injury from the activities involved in this program is significant, including potential for permanent paralysis and death." That's how bad it could be. The form continued on to say in bold capital letters that "I KNOWINGLY AND FREELY ASSUME ALL SUCH RISKS... and I assume full responsibility for my participation." This is going to be fun, I thought. Hehe.

There were six of us in the raft, 3 boys and 3 girls. One of the them is Lex's friend, J, from college/dorm and she was actually the one who invited us to join the trip. We were having a grand time navigating through the river and being splashed by the other rafts until we encountered this BFR. Believe me, there was nothing friendly about this particular rock. We were paddling our way through some rough waters when we saw another raft, full of shrieking teenage girls, stuck on this rock. We weren't able to maneuver out of the way so we slammed right into the rock and overlapped with the other raft. Our side was the side which overlapped so we were pushed right up. The other side of our raft, however, got completely submerged in the water. It happened so fast. One of our girls was holding on for dear life but we were having trouble lifting her up because of the strong current. But that was the least of our worries. J was missing. We couldn't find her anywhere! Images of her being stuck underwater, unconscious and under our raft came to mind. We were all scared for her. Some of the guides came to us and told us to first concentrate on trying to get both rafts out of the rock. To do so, Lex and I would have to transfer to the other raft to remove the weight on our raft so it can be lifted off. It worked and both rafts were free. However, one of the teenagers on the raft that we were now on was so scared that she hysterically said that we shouldn't be in their raft because they might sink. I never felt so unwanted in my life! I wanted to shove my paddle down her throat. But we somehow managed to get back on our own raft before I could do so. Sayang, hehe. We went on our way but we were still missing J! The guides assured us that she might have already been pulled up by another passing raft. And thank God they were right. We caught up with her some time later... she's a little bit bruised but otherwise okay.

A very bad picture of us rafting

So that was my first whitewater rafting experience. A bit too exciting for my taste but otherwise really fun. I wouldn't mind doing it again =).

Lehigh River Rapids during Spring are rated as Class II-III. Class I is the easiest and Class V is the most challenging.