It was a once in a lifetime thing...

that I hope to do many, many more times.

"... I don't want to disillusion you, but you probably won't get wet... unless you want to."

-KAYA KING




Not only was he A guide yesterday, but he was THE guide. As we were riding in a van back to where we started, we passed this car stopped at a stop sign and waving us around them. I heard the girl in the driver's seat exclaim as we drove by... "That's our guide!" like she was the first person in the U.S. to ever see the Beatles in person.


The day was over.


He'd reached celebrity status.


That's something I'm sure KAYA ends up doing on many, if not all of these trips. You see, he is a guide with Whitewater Adventures, Ohiopyle, PA. After 9 years of knowing KAYA, the stars finally aligned, and our schedules both lined up to allow me to go rafting with him while he would be giving a guided tour. In other words, he was paid to take me along with 87 other people who probably had no business near the water out for a day of pure adrenaline.

The morning started with us arriving at about 9 am. It was a bit cool so I had worn a long sleeved t-shirt (emblazoned with the WVU logo - what a way to start a season!). I'd soon exchange it for something lighter. I met a few of KAYA's co-workers and we helped inflate rafts. There were probably 15-20 rafts total. They have this great pump that's basically a vacuum cleaner without any ability to clean, and they could inflate an 8 man raft in a matter of a minute or two. I watched, helped where I could, and took a good look at the waterfall right beside our launch point.

It was a pretty site and KAYA told me that people kayaked over it regularly; he had pictures of him doing it himself. I can only imagine. It didn't seem to me anyone in their right mind would want to go over that thing on purpose - at least that's what I thought at the beginning of the day.

KAYA asked me if I might like to take the "Thrill Seeker". Several of his co-workers had suggested that he let me take it. I get the impression they wanted some entertainment watching me drag myself out of the rapids, and KAYA had steered me away from it before he realized he was running the show for the day.

I also think that asking him about leaving my glasses in his SUV weighed on his head too. I feel that he thought it would be a let down if I didn't have any chance of hitting the water. He informed me that the girl that I'd be rafting with would owe the staff beer if I fell in so I was also a bit concerned that I'd be somewhat disappointed in the adventure of it all.

"Well, what's a 'Thrill Seeker?'"

It's an inflatable kayak - single-occupancy.

That seemed to be more my speed. There was a certain amount of risk that I'd end up in the water, but it didn't seem I'd need a lot of training to operate it. The paddle, on the other hand, was a different story.

The blades on the ends weren't aligned. They were diagonal with each other. This forced you to rotate your right hand as you paddled on your left side. This actually seemed to put your upper hand in a better position all the time as you were paddling. It wasn't a big deal after I got used to it, but it was something that was very difficult to get used to at first.

"Well, was it cold?"

I worried about that too... for all of about .5 seconds before I hit the first set of rapids. As you start into the rapids you don't know what to look at or where to go. I didn't even know how to paddle at the time! So, the water temperature was the last thing on my mind. Staying upright was much more at the time.

The first set of rapids turned out to be small as compared to the rest of them throughout the day. They were a little bit more difficult because I didn't know what I was doing at all. The next time I go I should zip right through them, not because I am a wise, veteran paddler, but next time I'll know what to expect.

I believe the second set was the group where my picture was taken. It was a pretty good picture, and I'll post it as soon as I get it scanned. It was a bit more exciting, and as you pass one of the guides (SEPTEMBER) was yelling "Smile!".

"Did you end up in the water?"

Yes, twice.

The first time I was sideways going into the rapids and it was described to me that it all happened in slow motion to observers. I rolled over the side after fighting to stay vertical. It wasn't a big deal. I just kept ahold of the paddle and swam to the boat. One of the guides was already there. I threw my paddle back in the kayak and hauled myself in. The guide told me he liked the ones who rescued themselves. No big deal, I've been water skiing, tubing, canoeing, swimming in rushing rivers under waterfalls, and jet skiing, this was an extension of all those.

The second time was a bit on the unnerving side.

KAYA asked me to follow him. I did, but he stays in one place much better than I. (The river IS moving you know.) So while he was holding to get a good path I slipped down a rapid in a much different route than I had expected to go. I don't really think that was where he intended me to go either. As my boat caught on the rock at the top, I looked at him and said something to the effect of "This isn't going to be pretty."

Next thing I knew I was under water with the boat pressing down on me. It couldn't have been but a few seconds, but those things always seem like an eternity. My first thought was that the bottom of the boat was on my head and not moving. That wasn't going to be good at all if that was the case.

After some probing I found that the boat was upside down and that I could get my head into the inside - where there would be lots of air. Soon after I got my head out of the water KAYA was there flipping the boat over like we were playing hide and seek or something. "There you are! You ok?" he said laughingly.

"I'm fine but I dropped my paddle."

I tried catching up to the boat but it was a spot where the rocks weren't very deep in the water. So, I had to ride them down til the water deepened. Turns out the bottom of the river isn't "made by Disney" as KAYA said in the speech to the other boaters.



Another fact - rocks are hard.



Can't get anything past me.

I did get to my boat and someone brought me my paddle. I had to get myself to stop burping up river water while continuing. lol. That was probably the most intense part of the action.

The abandoning of the ship... not the burping.

Lunch was much better than I had expected. We stopped, they set up lunch meat, bread, cheese, condiments, apples, cookies, and a few other things - including wraps (for the low carb contingent?) on a big, flat, table sized rock. They brought water and tea. Everyone fended for themselves and seemed full when they left. I was impressed.

Lessons learned:

One guy said to me directly after my more intense confrontation with the water. (He was in a boat with a guide, and they were really worried when they didn't immediately see me come back up for air). "Before, when you were paddling down you seemed so laid back, and relaxed, and dry. Now, after all that, you still look laid back and completely relaxed... just wet now. What gives? What rattles you? You're completely calm and people in rafts out here are freaking out."

This reinforced what I have believed for a long time. You can do anything you want. You may even be able to do it well if you'll just do a couple of things. 1. Follow someone who is an expert at what you want to do. 2. Trust them implicitly. 3. Do whatever they say without question. 4. Keep your expectations low and focus on what they've told you to do, not what you think you can do. They'll take you further if you're ready. 5. Don't let anything rattle you. Early success can be that simple.

Was my trip something I'd consider successful? Absolutely! Was it successful to someone like KAYA's standards? Probably not at this point in their careers or hobbies, but I thought it was extremely successful for my first time. I did every single thing I wanted to yesterday - and smiled the entire time. I cherished every second I was on the water.

Lesson 2? This is one that I need to learn a lot more about.

You can't control everything.

I once said... "There's a difference - he wants power, he can have it. I want control."

If there's one thing you will quickly learn on the water it's that the river is in control. It is going to take you where it wants to go. Your only option is to make minor adjustments to the overall path that you'll take.

I kept finding myself, in the beginning, trying to put myself in exactly the right spot to go through the rapids. I found out quickly that the river doesn't always agree with that, and it responds by placing you where it wants you to be - or dumping you outright. By the end of the day, I understood that I was going to end up at point B from where I was. I would just have to pick my way through most of the time and take shots at getting a more exciting ride when I could take them.

It was kind of nice to relinquish control of my life for about 5 hours.

Lesson 3, big rapids mean big fun. Aka big risks equal a big reward. They also meant big consequences if you didn't make it through, but when you're enjoying the rewards you quickly forget about the risks involved.

I know that KAYA reads this all the time, and I can honestly say that I had one of the most exhilarating experiences in my entire life. I can't tell him how much I appreciated the trip.

Please tell me... how do you thank someone for that? When you receive gifts it's easy to reciprocate. When you receive a once in a lifetime adrenaline rush, do you send a card? All I can say is this:

KAYA KING absolutely lives up to his name.

Take care all. I hope you too will get to enjoy the Youghiogheny River from the same perspective I did, as a matter of fact I'm hearing rumblings of another "sponsored" trip for next year.



-Mo


CALYN, I hope things are well.