The One Where We Flipped a Raft
June 25, 2021
Our family traveled up to Afton, Wyoming to stay with Sean and Melissa for the weekend, with plans to run the Snake River and do some four-wheeling. We were excited to try rafting- This was an activity that most of my family had done a couple of times, but for some reason Mark and I had never been able to go. Sean and my Dad planned the route going through the most popular series of rapids on the river, the same route they had done before. When they had gone before it had been August and the rapids had been quite small, so Sean wanted to try it earlier when they would be a bit more exciting. The rapids are known to be very dangerous during Spring run-off but he thought that by the end of June it should be safe but still fun.
Our rented raft only held 8 people and there were 11 of us who wanted to go, so we decided to make several trips. I offered to stay home for the first run with little Harper and Chase, and Rachel and Will stayed with me. We traveled up to the river about an hour or so behind everyone else, and were able to meet them right at the end and take some pictures. That first group was Mark, Bruce, Sean, Papa, Madelyn, Melissa, Anne, and Sage. Mark and Bruce were in the front steering the raft, and they had a great time. They didn’t hit any rapids very hard, the little girls got splashed and screamed quite a bit, but no one was too scared. It wasn’t a super hot day, so after that run when Melissa went home with Chase and Harper, Anne, Sage, and Madelyn were all happy to be done and go with her.
That left me, Mark, Sean, Papa, Bruce, Rachel, and Will as the raft crew, with Papa and Bruce in front and Mark and Sean in back. We headed up the canyon to the spot where we put in the river, called West Table (we pulled out at Sheep Gulch). I joked the whole time about how it was my birthday and we had to have an amazing time. Mark and Bruce told me that they had named all the rapids after people as they went along, silly things like the “Big Annie,” or even funnier when Bruce named the totally calm section of the river “The Big Provo,” joking that it was as exciting as the Provo River ever got. They had one particular rapid in mind that we started calling “Mandy’s Birthday Party.” It was so funny as we went that first time as Bruce kept assuring us over and over that we had already passed Mandy’s Birthday Party, and everyone kept saying that there was no way we had. Finally, much further down than he remembered it being, we finally hit that particular rapid, and it was quite a bit bigger than Bruce recalled. We hit it just off center, which caused one side of the raft to pop up and knocked my dad and I both off balance. We both struggled to regain, butcouldn’t quite and without any handles or ropes to grab on to, we both were tossed into the river. It was a little scary while the river was still moving fast, but it quickly calmed and Mark was able to help both of us back into the raft. We navigated the rest of the river pretty easily, including the most famous rapids, Big Kahuna and Lunch Counter, which come close together. Will didn’t have an oar, and it was getting a bit cooler, so he announced after that run that he wanted to be done. Unfortunately, there was nowhere for him to go- Melissa had gone home, and several of the rest of us wanted to go one more time. The sun had just come out, it was feeling a little warmer, and there was time for us to try it one more time. So we convinced him to stick it out and go one more time.
The sun stayed out, nice and warm, until we had gotten about 100 yards down the river…just far enough that there wasn’t any turning back. Then the sun went behind the clouds, and it began to rain, a cold drizzle. I let Will have my oar, which actually meant that he was distracted from the miserable situation. He was having a fantastic time rowing with all of his might, anddidn’t seem to mind the rain too much. Then it started raining harder. Then the heavens opened, and it was just pouring. We legitimately wondered if we would need to bail rain out of our raft! The wind also started blowing upstream, so hard that it was almost making our raft stand still. This was all within about 15 minutes of putting in the river, and it is about an hour-long raft ride. I wondered with the wind blowing us almost backward, how long we were going to freeze to death on that river! Sean actually kept it fun by continually making jokes about how everyone who could see us from the road must be wondering who these incredibly hard-core rafters were! His stream of self-congratulation on how amazingly tough and rugged we were, and what our observers must be thinking made everyone laugh instead of hunkering down in absolute misery. After what felt like forever, we finally started to see some rapids, which got us moving a little, and the rain settled back into a sprinkle. We decided to still have some fun and began trying to find the most fun routes through the rapids. We managed not to lose anyone on Mandy’s Birthday Party that time, which I counted as a win!
At this point it started to become a little noticeable that the river was running faster and rougher than it had before. Maybe it was the rain, maybe the time of day, we had no idea, but the rapids were definitely getting bigger. Finally we got to Big Kahuna, and I remember Sean saying that we had never hit it just right, and he really wanted to get that biggest wave on this last run. He was in front with Bruce this time, so he steered us right where he wanted to go. The last thing I remember is us beelining dead-center on the biggest wave, and Sean whooping and throwing his arms up. Then the raft seemed to go straight up, almost vertically, before, in slow-motion, it continued all the way over and completely flipped. Everyone had a different experience here. I went under for a second, but popped back up in front of the raft, frantically scanning around for my family. Rachel says that she got sucked by the rapids right down to the bottom of the river. She could feel people’s feet above her, but she couldn’t get back up to the surface. Finally she was able to grab onto my foot and pulled herself up. She was only under for maybe 5-6 seconds, but she said it was terrifying. Bruce’s experience was like mine- he went under, but came up quickly and grabbed the raft. He really wasn’t that scared and even now looks at the whole thing as another crazy adventure. Sean was next to me at first, but didn’t grab onto the raft. He started to be pulled away by the river, and when he called for help I was able to extend my oar and pull him back. Then he freaked out because no one could see my Dad, who it turned out was ok, just on the other side of the raft. The raft was so big from down in the water that you really could only see the people right next to you. I saw Mark quickly, and we both panicked for a second when he yelled, “Where’s Will?!” But then he quickly found him and I saw that they were together. They ended up on the other side of the raft from me, but I assumed they were ok. This is when I started gathering oars. I was just seeing them all floating away and no one else was holding them, so I started grabbing everything I could reach. I ended up holding 4 oars and the boat pump, which also happened to float by me for the rest of the time, while only holding to the raft with one hand.
We really only had a brief reprieve. Once we made sure everyone was ok and with the raft, Sean hoped to flip the raft back, but that is so hard to do. They are made to be hard to flip, and there really is no way to do it in deep water with no leverage. So then we realized we were going to have to ride through the next rapids outside the raft and we had about 10 seconds to prepare. We hit the rapids called the Lunch Counter and this is where Mark really struggled. His life-jacket was not keeping his head above water, and the way he was holding the raft kept pulling him under the raft. He had a couple of disadvantages- his life-jacket, and also he didn’t hear Sean’s reminder to float up on top of the water. If you keep your legs up you are less likely to bang them on rocks, and it also keeps the current from sucking you down. Mark was being sucked under almost the whole time, and even when he could get up, his head would hit the underside of the raft and he still couldn’t get air. When he did finally get his head above water for a second, the cold water made it so hard to breathe deeply that he really was just getting the occasional gasp. Of all of us, Mark came the closest to being drowned, which was crazy because he was by far the strongest and in the best shape of all of us. As a result, he was even more terrified that his family was experiencing that same thing he was! Luckily, we weren’t. On the other hand, Mark’s struggles meant that he lost track of Will very quickly, when I was assuming that little Will was safe with his dad. Fortunately, Bruce noticed Will floating off to the side, not holding to the raft and going under. He was also being sucked down and couldn’t keep his head above water, and couldn’t get to the raft. Bruce let go of the raft, dove for Will, yanked him back and made sure he was hanging on, and then held onto him all the way through the rapids. There is no telling exactly what could have happened, but based on Mark’s experience, what Bruce saw, and what Will has said about feeling like he was drowning, I think that Bruce may have saved Will’s life. That was certainly how Will saw it, which made for some sweet moments of brotherly love afterwards.
When we hit Lunch Counter I was in the very front of the raft, and all I could do was hold onto all those oars with one hand, the raft with the other, try to keep my feet up in front of me while praying that I didn’t slam into a rock and break my legs, and hold my breath. We could not have hit that rapid any harder. We went over (or under) every single big wave. It was terrifying, but in that helpless way where all you can do is hold on for dear life. Thankfully it was short. Lunch Counter really only has two huge waves and some rough water, but it felt pretty crazy from outside the raft. There were a lot of people on the shore, and most of them were recording us! I imagine its not everyday a family including children goes through some of the Snake River’s biggest rapids outside of their raft. No one tried to help us, but I’m not sure how they could have anyway. After the rapid we started trying to pull the raft to the side, although for a bit the water is still going really fast and the canyon narrows to pretty sheer walls on the sides. Rachel was nearly crushed against a rock until I yelled at her to get out of the way and let the raft hit it. Thankfully she listened and the raft bounced off the rock. Shortly after that we finally were able to tow the raft to the side. I still had some strength in my legs, and I honestly felt like I was practically towing it by myself. We got into a slower eddy, managed to get close to some rocks and were able to stand up and flip the raft back over, although it was really hard, even with a couple of us on rocks. The saddest part of all of it for me was watching Will scramble up out of the water and curl up into a little, shaking ball on a rock. He wasn’t talking or moving, and when I went over to him and told him we needed to get back in the raft, all he did was look at me with big eyes and say, “No. No, please, I don’t want to.”
After that we were all pretty traumatized. We carefully navigated the rest of the rapids with the oars that I had saved, plus one more that I think my Dad hung onto. Mark had to stop paddling at one point because the cold water caused his latmuscle to seize up and he could hardly move it. Will sat next to me with his face buried in my lap all the rest of the way and never looked up once. Somehow, in the whole huge mess, all we lost was one oar. I was very grateful that I had instinctively gathered up those oars, because I don’t know how we would have made it through the rest of the much rougher than usual river without them. We likely would have flipped again, or at least had a terrifying ride.
We drove to the Lunch Counter hoping that someone recorded the experience, but unfortunately we couldn’t find anyone who did. When we got into the car with our kids, Mark and I opened up about how scary the experience was and how blessed we were that everyone was ok. It was kind of a quiet ride home. The kids were internalizing their experience, while I was trying to hold down PTSD crying. That night I struggled to sleep, andkept thinking of what could have happened. Even Mark, who had just barely been given a Fitbit by Sean, noticed that he had an elevated heartrate for the rest of the night. He also read several news stories that night of men his age “flush” drowning on the river over the years and the theory that cold water immersion syndrome contributes to these deaths. This confirmed Mark’s feeling that he really was drowning and could have died.
After some time has gone by, I am just grateful for a few things. One, that somehow no one was hurt. We have learned after the fact that we actually went at a dangerous time of year, and that people die in that stretch of rapids almost every year. Secondly, we are all incredibly grateful that Anne and Sage had gone home, and that nothing like that happened while they were on the boat. Neither of them is anything like as tough as Will, and he could easily have died. Another is that my kids don’t seem too traumatized. Will snapped out of it quickly, and Rachel, who is normally a little timid, hasn’t been too phased. Finally, I am so grateful that Bruce saved Will, for so many reasons. I love knowing that Will has a brother who would risk his life for him. I love knowing that Bruce didn’t think twice about doing so. And I love knowing that even if I can’t physically be there to help and save each of my kids in their times of need, they are there for each other. All of it feels worth it to know that.
