Whitewater Rafting

For David's present, I made reservations for us to go whitewater rafting. I have never been and David has only gone once in high school. So pretty much it was a new experience. About 10 min from our cabin was a place called the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center). They run about 7 different rivers in the area and many more in other places (I read that they have a location in Costa Rica)! It is an amazing facility! They have shops on site to buy t-shirts or if you forgot something at home, 3 restaurants, a bar, a general store, and a biking and kayak supply store. I think that was everything. Anyway, you can do multiple things threw the NOC like rafting, kayaking, biking, and hiking.
The river we went down run right threw the NOC, so when we got there, they fitted us with life vests and gave us the run down on rafting. Then we got on the bus and drove 8 miles up the river to the launch location. We went on a fully guided trip (which means there is a guide in each raft). They also have assisted guide which is a guide in every other raft or completely independent. The part of river we were on was a class 2 and 3 rapids. (they go 1-5, 5 being the most dangerous) We got in the raft and off we went! Let me tell you, I have never been in water as cold as that! It was only 52*!!!! When you got splashed, it was cold, but the sun dried you off relatively quick, but our feet sat in that water on the bottom of the raft the whole time. It was a 2 hour ride!! I thought my toes were going to fall off! But I came back with all my digits. :)
The rapids were very cool and the whole experience was so fun! Our guide was great and kept us laughing the whole 2 hours. No one fell out of our raft, but there were many others that did fall out (I can't imagine how cold that felt) especially going over the class 3 waterfall at the end of the ride. But it was amazing and I look forward to going whitewater rafting again! I would definitely recommend the NOC for anyone who wants to go. Their website is www.noc.com. And if you can request a guide, ask for Ben L...he was so fun!

The NOC (just one area of it - it was huge!)...

David before the ride...

Me before the ride...

Part of the river...

We made it!!...

This was a class 5 rapid just past where we ended our ride, of course we didn't go down it, way too scary!...

David wants to do it...

Not me...

Us...

I took a pic of the picture we bought of us coming down the last waterfall so I could post it on here. Do you think we are having fun?...

Back at the cabin, this was our view...

Fog the morning we left...