When I see the whitewater of the river, I get a little rush of excitement. There is so much fun to be had and, for the most part, there is usually never enough time to experience it all.
I have gone whitewater rafting ever since I was little. The first time I remember going rafting was when I was about five years old. It is a great activity to do with friends and family, but it is extremely important to always go with someone who knows the river and have them be the guide.
I cannot stress more to go with someone who knows the river. There have been a few trips I’ve gone on for boy scouts, where they had people who have never even gone rafting be the guides. I refuse to be put in that situation because how dangerous that can turn out. In my experience, when someone is guiding, and they are unfamiliar with the river, at least one person (if not everyone) falls out during a tricky rapid, and usually someone get hurt. Simply put, it is much safer to go with a professional guide. You may pay more, but at least you are unlikely to take a trip to the emergency room.
Still, rafting is a great way to become closer with your friends and family, especially while whitewater rafting. You are in a raft that carries about six people per raft and everyone is working towards the same goal: going down the river and not falling out. Sure, anyone who goes whitewater rafting will get wet, as it is a water sport, but that also means it can happen in almost any weather.
Recently, we have been getting a lot of rain in Idaho, so the river level was really high. It was raining while we were rafting, but we were getting splashed from the rapids anyway. It was nicer that it was raining, because I did not have to worry about people complaining that they got splashed from the rapids, because we were all already drenched and nothing would dry us until we got to the end.
You can find great deals on a rafting trip, the more commercialized the rafting business, the more you will pay, but the safety factor is about the same (unless the rafts look really beaten up, that is just dangerous and you should not do business there.) Rafting is great fun for family and friends. So long as you know the basic safety precautions, you will be safe and have a blast. Also, if your friends and/or family go rafting a lot, try going on a rafting camping trip; they are a lot of fun and you get to see some great sites most people don’t see.