Travel Blog

Safety is a huge concern when anyone goes river white water rafting. Participants can be dumped from the raft at any time. Equipment can be bounced around the raft hitting some of the people in the raft. Rivers are categorized in various levels of difficulty and it is important that participants meet the levels of proficiency and health to enhance their safety. Before you book a rafting trip take the time to learn about safety rules and what you are responsible for during your trip.

White Water Classifications

Calm rides with minimal rapids are usually fine for just about anyone including young children and older adults. Everyone must wear a life vest to protect them and keep them floating should they accidentally fall into the water. On these calm rides there is little chance of this occurring, however better to be safe than sorry.

At the other end of difficulty, only expert white water rafters are allowed to goes on these trips. It is routine for people to be thrown from the raft and both guides and participants need to be able to work hard at navigating through the rapids. If you do get thrown from the raft during a particularly rough ride, participants must be able to stay afloat and swim to shore to be picked up later.

Real Life Experience with Rafting

If you cannot swim or cannot swim for any distance, then do not go on these trips. These trips are really meant for people who are very fit, have excellent stamina and can swim well. We also recently talked to a river guide who mentioned that you can suffer hypothermia and be dead within 5o minutes if you do not get out of the water. You will begin to cramp and feel the effects in three minutes and some people will die much quicker. If your guide tells you to stop fooling around or get out of the water, do what he says. It could be your life that you are fooling around with and no one wants to die on a trip.

This particular guide rafted on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and other places. He also mentioned that younger guides might be afraid to take on an older adult tourist. It is an age thing and a respect thing, however this also can mean the difference between life and death. When a guide asks you nicely to stop drinking or not go swimming in the water follow his or her instructions because you could be playing with your life here. You could also jeopardize the lives of the people who try to save you. You do not want to be responsible for other adults, or your family not making it along with you! It is that simple.

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