tahoe day 2 - rafting down the truckee river

next morning, we went white water rafting along the truckee river.  it was a short drive away from our "resort" and before that we had breakfast at mcdonalds where i had some oatmeal with fruit - i like it so much it has become my standard breakfast most days here in stanford.  i have a bowl with some banana, occasionally some walnuts and some brown sugar.  it's really good.  and it's something you can eat quickly before class.

i thought that was a really good choice offered by mcdonalds other than the usual stuff we get back home like big breakfast, egg mcmuffin etc.  they have that too but i think many food places here in the US are making an effort to offer healthy or healthier choices.

obviously after my last accident with the phone and camera, i don't have pictures of our expedition - i didn't want to risk another accident and did not bring my camera or the phone.  but this time, i did bring my gps watch so that we could track our progress.

this first picture shows where the truckee river is in relation to lake tahoe.  lake tahoe is the oval shape in the middle.

this is the route in red.  the yellow bit is the road.  we met up with the others on the rafting trip at a shop called granite chief in truckee.  we left everything we didn't want to get wet in the car, and then took a bus to the start point.  there were almost thirty people on the rafting trip that morning.

each raft can take up to six, excluding the guide whose main job is to steer while we paddle on his command.  he would issue commands like forward, or backward, and we then paddle, hopefully in unison and work as a team.  most of the time he let us enjoy the ride as we drift downstream and so don't have to paddle all that much.  even when we are asked to, it is only one to five strokes in order to give him some momentum to work with to steer the raft.

sometimes he will ask one side to paddle forward and the other side to paddle backward.  there are also commands where everyone has to move over to one side of the raft to prevent it from capsizing.  another command is for everyone to get off the side of the raft (you don't actually sit in the raft, you sit on the sides) and into the raft.

rapids - the part where the water is fast and turbulent - are categorized on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the most gentle.  other factors that come into play are whether there are other dangers if you do capsize.  so in some cases, the water could be very turbulent but if you can easily get back into the raft, then it may not be as dangerous as one where there are rocks or where the rapids section is long.

there is actually a long safety briefing before the rafting starts.  it was very comprehensive and very well done.  our guide was a chap from new york called tim.  he has quite an adventurous life and spends his time travelling all around the world working in such jobs.  for instance, rafting on the truckee is only done from spring to autumn and in the winter months he may teach skiing at resorts.

according to him we did well as we managed to navigate all the rapids safely.  he said that as a guide, it's not much fun when he gets 6 fat people who don't paddle :)  the last stretch is a little bit more intense as that was where all of the category 3 rapids on our trip would be, and they would come fairly close together with no time to catch our breaths before the next one is upon us.  we celebrated our safe trip by high-fiving with our paddles.  

some of the people in other rafts fell over even before the category 3 rapids.  kids below 12 are also not allowed to do that last part - they get off, together with any adults who don't feel confident, just before that last stretch and walk to the end point.

it was a fun activity though being the one right in front, you do get totally soaked.  and when the raft is suddenly pitched into the air, you can find yourself suddenly paddling air.  so it is quite exciting.  there are pictures coming - we just have to wait for the cd we ordered.