Next: Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel.

In the last weekend of August, I went white water rafting for the first time with some friends from work. The White Salmon River is fed by underground springs, making the water awfully cold, so we had to put on farmer john wetsuits (legs and torso were fully covered, but the upper portion was tank top style), plus neoprene booties, life jackets and helmets. Unfortunately, we had to put all this gear on in the middle of the afternoon under a blazing sun and we were soon roasting to just a few degrees below well-done.

I offered to go in the front for my boat, but somehow it was decided that Simon and Dave would be in the front, Christine and Lisette in the middle and Catherine and I in the back. This turned out to be a very good thing, because while I only got soaked a few times, Dave got completely drenched the most out of anyone in the boat and Simon didn't escape either (he was violently shivering by the end of our trip). The expression on Dave's face after we went through yet another set of rapids and he was yet again the only sopping wet person in the boat was most entertaining (at least to the rest of us).

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go over Husum Falls initially, but the competence of our guide on all rapids beforehand convinced me that I wouldn't get smashed to little pieces on the rocks. Plus, it wasn't as high as I thought it was going to be - the "12 feet" measures the entire length of the waterfall, and it's not a completely vertical waterfall as you can see from the photo. And amazingly, I managed to stay in the boat for the entire trip, including the waterfall (falling into rivers and lakes is a specialty of mine). Actually, there were no swimmers in either of our boats (there were some boats in our group in which multiple people ended up in the water) and we didn't hit each other with our paddles (which is apparently the most common injury in white water rafting trips).

We bought photos of our boats going over the waterfall from a professional photographer who was positioned at the base of the waterfall.

Paddling hard to gain momentum before we go over (on your left, from front to back: Simon, Lisette, Wei; on your right from front to back: Dave, Christine, Catherine, our guide Candice).

We're trying to get down on the bottom of the boat and get our paddles out of the way so that we don't hit each other (or ourselves) with them in the turbulence of the waterfall.

If I look scared, it's because I was.

Everyone is pretty much submerged except for Catherine (although you can see my helmet). My body flew off the bottom of the boat (people in the back are most likely to get tossed out), but thankfully my grasp on the thoughtfully provided grips was tight enough to keep me in the boat.

WE'RE ALIVE!!!

The other boat took a different approach to the waterfalls, so the angle of the photos is subtly different (on your left, from front to back: Naoto, Robin (Amanda's mom), Phil, their guide DJ; on your right, from front to back: Jessie, Amanda, Joe).

Joe is making sure that his fake tooth didn't get dislodged during the ride over the falls (it didn't, but Jessie lost a contact lens).

Another boat in our group, just after they went over the falls. Check out the guy on your right in the front...

Christine and Simon brought their camera in a river bag, so once we hit a calm portion of the river, we took some photos.

And finally, a photo of Mt. Adams, just because it was there.

I would highly recommend White Salmon River to anyone and everyone, even beginners (since I was one myself until this trip), and would in fact do it again because it was so much fun. I can also enthusiastically endorse our white water rafting company, All-Star Rafting & Kayaking, and in fact, we plan to do Wind River next year with them.