JENNIFER FINE
Abpve: Susan Langas and David Feber: Relaxing in West Virginia.
Left: "I couldn't help thinking how incredible it felt, dangling in mid-air."
Before we stopped for lunch, the river was generally
rapidless. However, as we continued down it, the scenery
and the amount of rapids changed dramatically. Slow-
ly, the river began to narrow, the rapids became more
frequent and the trees that lined both sides of the river
were replaced by rock formations.
The New River is one of a few to flow south to north
(just an interesting piece of trivia and a potential "Jeop-
ardy" question).
The raft, large enough to easily seat the 10 of us, felt
sturdy enough to take on water from any size rapid. We
started off sitting on the "cushions" in the middle of the
raft, until our guide told us where the correct seats were.
Each of us sat on the side of the raft, tucking one foot un-
der the "cushion" and putting our other foot wherever
we felt comfortable and balanced.
The 10 of us who shared a raft made a pact in the
beginning. None of us would fall in and our raft — no
matter what — was not going to tip over.
We made good on our word and everyone stayed safe-
ly inside the raft during the six-hour trip. There were
times, especially in some of the more violent rapids, each
of us felt we would be thrown from our raft. Paddling
helped us keep our balance, except on a few occasions
where the rapids lifted us so high off the river there was
nothing to paddle except the air.
According to our 21-year-old
rafting guide, Josh, we were a split-
second away from capsizing.
"Oh...!" yelled our fearless leader.
"Get right," he said, giving the com-
mand for everyone in the raft to
move. "Get right," he said again.
We did, and saved ourselves from
flipping our raft.
At the time we didn't know how
close we were to going for an un-
intentional swim. Josh, who looked
barely old enough to shave
and wore his favorite Ohio State
baseball hat, explained that "some
kid" (another guide) didn't wait his turn and threw us
off the course he carefully set for our rubber raft.
Each time we approached a rapid, Josh talked about
what to expect in the way of rock, where to swim to if we
fell out and drifted away from the raft and how we would
make our way through each rapid.
Our raft was a self-bailing boat, which meant that as
water splashed in, the design of the floor allowed it to
drain. Others were not as lucky. Their guides brought
along buckets to bail out excess water.
Many of us felt a rush of excitement as we conquered
PHOTO BY J ENNIFER FINER
Below: Rock formations in the West Virginia wilderness.
the rushing rapids. Of course, our success depended on
our ability to work as a team. We had to be sure we were
paddling in sync and listening to Josh's commands.
Each time we rode a rapid, the cold water splashed in
our faces and absorbed into our wet suits. After each dif-
ficult rapid, 10 paddle blades touched in the air — a raft-
ing high-five.
One of the things that surprised me was how many
people I did not know. After all, everyone knows every-
one in the Detroit-area young adult community. Aside
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