I went white water rafting today for the first time here in Pucón, Chile on the Rio Trancura. It was mostly class 4 rapids and one class 5 rapid that sent everyone flying out of the raft, absolutely AWESOME! The river was all meltwater from the Andes though and it was frigid, even with a wetsuit on.

Where have you rafted and how was it?

9/7/2006 10:08:03 PM

I've done it once. I went this summer with my girlfriend and her family. We went down the French Broad River near Asheville. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think we saw mostly class 2 rapids, one or two class threes and possibly a class four. I don't know much about classes or the sport in general, but I'm told that's pretty tame. It felt tame, but it was still fun as hell. I can't wait to go again when I'm with a group who feels up to the challenge of some bigger rapids.

9/7/2006 10:18:02 PM

I've only been down the Nantahala and the Ocoee river. Both were fun, but I really enjoyed the Ocoee the most. I'd like to do some more sometime. Those rafting trips through the Grand Canyon sound like they're a blast.

9/7/2006 10:53:47 PM

I want to go on one so bad.

9/8/2006 12:09:47 AM

french broad and nantahala are pretty tame. i usually just slap on a wet-suit and tube down the nantahala.

if you want to go around here i'd suggest the ocoee in tennessee, the gauley and the new rivers in WV or the chattooga in georgia. those 4 are your best bet around the southeast. they all have class threes and mainly class 4 and 5. awesome rivers.

[Edited on September 8, 2006 at 12:23 AM. Reason : ,]

9/8/2006 12:22:40 AM

I'm living in WV now so it's only a matter of time before the wife & I try out some rapids

9/8/2006 5:35:03 AM

did the new twice labor day weekend on a mini 12ft raft, first day was with 3 people total with the river running at over 3, 2nd day it dropped to about .5 and we had 4 people total, a lot of fun, best part of the trip was it only cost gas and food

going up for gauley fest using the same raft but this time with 5 people total, that's going to be fun!

9/8/2006 7:58:10 AM

what's gauly fest?

9/8/2006 10:23:37 PM

Quote :

"I've only been down the Nantahala and the Ocoee river. Both were fun, but I really enjoyed the Ocoee the most. "

Me too. The Nantahala had a lot more slow moving parts where we all jumped off the raft, but it's really good for first-timers. Ocoee was pretty fast all the way through.

9/8/2006 10:29:18 PM

I've done Nanthahala and the Nolichucky. Nanthahala was pretty weak, but Nolichucky was fun. This summer, the water was way down at Noli and it was pretty quiet, but if the water's up, it's much better.

9/8/2006 10:35:40 PM