After Saturday’s exhausted adventures, my fam and I were pretty psyched for Sunday to roll around. Not only was it beautiful outside, but we had some whitewater rafting to look forward to!
My family’s boat is in the front, Will and I are in the back
Here’s the ironic part of the story: way back when we realized my sis would be in state for my mom’s birthday, we decided to go rafting. My sister booked the trip with a company she found online and it was a done deal: we would be rafting Clear Creek outside of Idaho Springs. In light of that, you can imagine my amused surprise when a PR gal contacted me a week ago, offering up some comped rafting trips in exchange for my honest review. The kicker? The rafting trips were through the same company that my family and I had already booked with! Small world, no?!
After it was all said and done, the seven of us booked a half day intermediate trip with Arkansas Valley Adventures (AVA), a local white water rafting and zipline company based in Breckenridge. My sis and I had originally chosen AVA because they have a wide range of white water trips (beginner through advanced), along with a variety of locations throughout Colorado. In short, you can pretty much find a trip that isn’t too far away and suits your groups’ skill level. Pretty perfect!
The rest of the photos are of my sister’s raft
The herd of us met at AVA at 8am and quickly filled out our liability paperwork. Unfortunately, none of us were impressed by the hospitality of the gals at the front desk, but we soon learned that our rafting guides would more than make up for that. There were two other people who would be rafting with us, so we split into two boats. Mom, Dad, my sis, her boyfriend, and my cousin went in one boat, and Will and I went in the second boat with the other couple from Denver. Our guide was named Bryan, and right off the bat, we could tell that he knew his stuff. He has been a guide with AVA for four years, and a rafting guide all over the country for an additional five more. He told us stories about rafting in Tennessee, West Virginia, and the Amazon in Ecuador, just to name a few!
Bryan took us into the supply tent where we were each loaned a wetsuit, a splash jacket, and a helmet (all included in the cost of the trip). After we got dressed, we all loaded into the van and headed upstream to where our boats would put into Clear Creek. Once we arrived, the nine of us broke into our respective groups for a brief lesson on the day’s necessary instructions. Bryan walked us through simple instructions such as “front two” (paddle two strokes forward) or “back two” (paddle two strokes backwards). These were all the types of commands we would hear on the river, so it was good to practice. Once he was confident that the four of us could handle the class III-IV rapids that we would be encountering, we hopped in the raft and set out on the adventure!
Clear Creek is a river that starts up at the Continental Divide and flows downwards towards Denver. Because of this, the water is comprised entirely of icy glacial runoff. Bryan estimated that it was 41 degrees on Sunday, so we were all very glad for our borrowed wetsuits! Additionally, Clear Creek has a ton of history, so it was nice to check out the scenery in between all of the larger rapids. Tons of gold mining was done along the Creek, and ancient mines still stand on the banks of the water. However, as much as we loved hearing Bryan’s historical facts, we were all more psyched about the rapids!
Our raft spent about 90 minutes on the water, and we were able to tackle everything from mellow, bathtub water all the way up to larger, class IV rapids with names like Superman. Because we had fewer people in our boat, we had a tendency to “fly” over the rapids a bit more than the other group, which made our ride a lot more bumpy….and fun! AVA sends a safety support truck to stand at every large rapid with a guide rope in case someone goes for a swim, but fortunately, no one in our group fell out of the boat. I dread to think of how cold that water would’ve been!
However, there is only so much that I can tell you about our whitewater rafting adventure. Instead, I think I’ll show you! Since he was the front of our raft, Will wore my GoPro and was able to snag some sweet footage. Luckily for y’all, I narrowed down the 60+ minutes of film to a miniscule two minutes, so I promise it won’t take too much away from your work day!
Even better? AVA has been generous enough to offer up a half day trip for one reader and a friend! The winner will be able to choose which location they want visit (Breckenridge, Buena Vista, Canon City, Idaho Springs, Glenwood Springs, or Kremmling), along with which ability level they feel most comfortable with. Take a look at the Rafflecopter below since there are quite a few ways to enter. Good luck!!
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