Whitewater Rafting on Independence Day

Today featured an exciting (and wet) whitewater rafting trip. Nine of us chose to make what the Glacier Raft Company calls "rafting through the John Stevens Canyon of the middle fork of the flathead river along the southern border of Glacier National Park. Trip includes 9 named rapids, mostly Class II and III whitewater (medium whitewater with numerous waves, narrow passages, eddies and bends), including Tunnel and Jaws."

They didn't lie. It was great fun! The day promised a bit of sunshine, although it was cool (56 degrees) when we started at 10 AM. The rafting company provided wet suits and windbreakers, plus flotation vests, and then bussed us eight miles upstream to the "put-in point." Our excellent guide, Dustin, gave us a safety briefing and off we went...Dawn and I were in the bow of the raft. We started slowly, but once in the current, things picked up. The nine rapids were breathtaking! We took a lot of water over the bow-and us...it wasn't bad at first, but by the third rapid, we were all soaking wet (the water had an uncanny ability to find its way inside our jackets...). Wet and cold, but laughing and enjoying life.

There's a saying about weather - especially Montana weather: if you don't like it, wait a few minutes and it will change. We've gone from blue skies and fluffy white clouds, to black skies and rain, back to patches of blue sky. As I was writing this, a sudden gust of wind came up and blew our RV awning off its brackets, breaking one of them and bending a support post. And then it was calm. Welcome to wonderful Montana...

LATE NOTE: to celebrate the Fourth of July, the RV park (Mountain Meadow, Hungry Horse, MT) provided Huckleberry ice cream AND a dazzling fireworks display--it would rival that of most cities... Against the mountains and dark clouds, it was spectacular!