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From Away.com

A Whitewater Rafting Primer


By Eugene Buchanan

You think running the river would make a great vacation but you don't want to run yourself ragged getting there. There are some key decisions that will ensure your time on the water is less tumultuous.

Pick Your Craft
Foremost is the type of craft you want to travel in. Most river trips are offered in inflatables, whose design ensures safe passage. Perhaps the biggest innovation to hit the inflatable scene is on the floor, many of which are now self-bailing. Water that pours in from a crashing wave simply flows back out, leaving you free to paddle instead of bail. Many outfitters offer a variety of options, allowing customers to ride in paddle rafts, captained from the stern and paddled by passengers, or, oar rigs, where a guide controls the craft from the center, leaving passengers free to gaze at wildlife, canyon walls and rapids.



Another popular option is to travel in self-bailing inflatable kayaks, which carry one or two people and let you control your own head-drenching destiny. For the latter, guides are always close at hand to right things should they go wrong.

Level of Difficulty
If you're enrolling in a whitewater school, no experience is necessary. If not, know the difficulty level and be familiar with the universal scale of rapid rating, which ranks rivers on a scale from Class I (fast-moving flatwater) to Class VI (considered unrunnable). Commercial trips run the gamut. If you want to test your adrenaline, sign up with a reputed outfitter on a Class IV-V section. If you'd rather sit back and enjoy the wildlife, select something in the Class I-II range.

Length of Trip
The length--and difficulty--of the trip you choose will determine your location. Day trips are offered all over the country--from the Kennebec River in the far northeast of Maine to the Kern River in Southern California, from Tennessee's Ocoee River to the Willamette River in Washington.

Perhaps the best river experience comes when you can sleep under the stars on an overnight or multi-day trip. Waking up to fresh coffee, pulling over near a waterfall for lunch and unpacking camp on a secluded beach add to the entire river experience. For the most part, multi-day trips are restricted to the West, where rivers run larger and longer. Some trips, like the Grand Canyon, take up to 21 days. Others, like Westwater Canyon at Utah's Colorado River, can be done as a simple overnighter. States with the best-known multi-day trips include Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Utah.

The same applies to overseas. You may plan your whole trip around a weeklong river trip down the Zambezi, but may combine it with safaris or other legs. Or you may tack on a one- or two-day paddle with a tour of another variety.

Solo or Packaged Trip?
You're almost always going to be dealing with a commercial outfitter to get on the river. You can run your own trips if you know the river (kayaks are easily rented at lots of places). But especially if you go far, you'll want the outfitter to provide the equipment (at least) and pick you up at the bottom of the run (even better). Depending on your expertise and the difficulty, you may want one or two guides along, perhaps even in your own craft.



Eugene Buchanan lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he has worked as editor and publisher of Paddler magazine since 1992. He is an accomplished freelance writer whose credits include The New York Times and Men's Journal, Outside, Powder, Ski, and Sports Afield magazines.