Travel Blog

Would you go on a Colorado rafting trip and not follow the instructions of the rafting guide? Probably not but according to one Colorado rafting guide we talked to, some people will do just that. Occasionally they end up dead because they failed to follow the instructions their guide gave them. Some guides are not forceful enough. Although they will tell their customers not to go swimming in the fast cold water of the Colorado, they will not enforce this rule.

As a result some people will have a little too much to drink. Or just ignore what they have been told. They go swimming in the water which is ice cold. It is melt water from the mountain snows. Next thing you know they are experiencing hypothermia. They may fall into the water and get swept away by the fast flowing water.

Colorado Rafting – Use a Guide

Colorado rafting can be a lot of fun especially if you follow the guidelines laid out by an experienced guide. Avoid drinking a lot, follow the rules for camp that your guide provides. Avoid going into the water unless it is specifically approved by the guide and you have someone with you who can swim and rescue you quickly.

A guide we talked to said that if his guests would not follow his directions, he would call in a helicopter and have them taken out at their expense. He would rather have a mad customer than a dead one. Which is exactly what would happen if they went into the water in places where it was really unsafe.

Some guides are young and although experienced on the river are not experienced in handling people. In situations like this when older adults who should know better start talking down to the guide and use their older adult influence, the guide may give in. This is the worst thing that can happen for everyone concerned. If you end up in the water you are going to get hypothermia very quickly and you may not even realize what is happening to you until it is too late.

Falling down in the water only makes it worse and if your body is dashed against rocks in the fast flowing water you will have little chance of getting out alive. Follow your guides instructions, they know what they are doing and what is safe for them and their guests. This is so important and it could be your life that you save simply by following your guides instructions.

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