White Water Rafting

Morning sunlight filters through the leaves of the cotton wood trees lining the Snake River just south of the Hoback Junction in Wyoming. The air is cool and crisp and everyone around you is excited and happy with the prospects of the adventure. If you’re lucky you might see some deer or elk. As you look around the sky is a cornflower brilliant blue, and the pine trees line the opposite bank. The water is cold. Not quite freezing but cold enough that you don’t want to fall into it. It’s calm and inviting on this stretch and the crowds or forming as the big-name guides roll in with their trucks full of paddles, life jackets and gear towing their trailers of stacked white-water rafts. Vans follow down the dirt road kicking up dust and gravel bringing in the experienced rafting guides and customers.

 You can go down the river with a guide, your own raft or a kayak. If you aren’t experienced, I would recommend a guided raft company out of Jackson Hole. The river is a level 2-3 with calm stretches, and several harry rapid sessions. It’s suitable for children over the age of ten. The most notorious rapid on this river is Lunch Counter rapids with whirlpools a good drop, and a standing wave that you can often find brave souls surfing on. As you approach you can hear the screams of people ahead of you and feel the butterflies in your stomach. There is a small parking spot and hiking trail down to Lunch counter if you want to stop and just watch the action. Lunch counter has a dip so if you don’t hit it just right you will see your raft go down into the dip and comeback up at 45-degree angle! This is where most people get popped out of the boat at. This is a fun river with slow calm stretches to relax and take in the breathtaking scenery of the mountains.

Things that are must haves to take with you: quick dry shorts, upstream shoes with a nonslip sole, a good camera, a change of clothes and shoes, a dry bag to put everything in especially cell phones and cameras.