Oh yeah, let's do some rafting! First, the usual process of picking leaflets around town and finding out the most suitable one. Free spaces, good price, not a big driving distance from Gatlinburg, good time of a ride… Prices vary according to the trip you want to take, the time of the year, and even the time of a day. I chose the Smoky Mountain Rafting that had it all. We went together with my friend, who has never done rafting before.
First we got to Winery square-half mile from Gatlinburg traffic light #3—look for the big green wheel. In this office we received a description how to get to the river, about a 45-minute ride. We started heading there right away and had lunch once arriving. As you get off the highway, turn left instead of right to find places to eat.
After lunch, we made the last 1 mile to the rafting center and started getting ourselves ready for an exiting afternoon. Pay, register, change clothes, lock the car, leave the key at the register office, and wait in the shelter. There were seven rafts leaving that day for an exciting 2-hour ride with class III and IV water fun.
Everyone was assigned to a raft guide, who gave us safety jackets and helmets. Being securely dressed up, we went to listen to a security instructions. My friend was getting quite pale as the guide was explaining how to get back to the boat once fallen in the water. After being threatened by a one guide, we got onto the bus and another guide took over in explanations. "Now we will take 3-hour ride to North Carolina…it was 15 minutes. This is the oldest bus driver in the area, he is blind, but don’t worry, he knows his way. Ooops, that was a stop sign…" Well, it is about having fun.
Time passed quickly and we were boarding our raft. We were quite lucky, as our guide was the boss, so he was doing with us all kinds of spins as we rafted down the white water.At some point he jumped from the raft to the water to rescue a paddle. When handing the paddle to his friend-guide, he said to not worry about that. I have a man there and he doesn’t know how to swim. Well, between us, you can not really swim having that rescue vest on.
Seems like they rescued him. The conversation afterwards quite surprised me. Why didn’t you stop? Well, you were showing all is OK. NO, I was showing there is a swimmer in the water. Ooops.
Well, they seem to clear that little misunderstanding and now they are all using the same signals, so no worries, just go for it. It was really a fun day.
And hey, you will get wet! Have fun.
Details at: www.smoukymountainrafting.com or (800) 771-RAFT (7238).