What a Dump!

By Robert Forto, PhD

On Sunday the team from Denver Dog Works went white water rafting in Buena Vista, Colorado with an outfitter called Highside Adventure Tours. It was a blast and I am glad that we got to live to tell about it. This was one the best things that we have ever done as a team and it was a memory that will last a lifetime.
Early Risers
We awoke at 4:30 am for the two-hour drive to Buena Vista early Sunday morning. It was a clear day and very cold in Denver. The temperature read 37 degrees. We met Derrick at a King Soopers parking lot and hoped he wouldn’t get his car towed while we were on our trip. We drove down U.S. 285 through the Turkey Creek turns over the mountains and through the woods through Bailey and over Kenosha Pass and into the wide expanse of South Park. It is an awesome site to see in the middle of a mountain Valley just how flat and desolate it really is. I have been told millions of years ago this area was a huge lake. We stopped at a gas station in Fairplay, now famous because of the South Park cartoon, and marveled at the $4.13 a gallon gas prices, thirty-five cents higher than in Denver. We grabbed a coffee and headed back on the road. The temperature now read 43 degrees. Boy that water is going to be cold!
Our guide--Jay
We arrived at Highside Adventure Tour’s Buena Vista office at about 8:30 and signed all of the necessary forms and waivers, pretty much saying that we are doing this at our own risk and that it was a dangerous activity. No problem. The guy at the counter told us that our trip that we had signed up for, known as the Narrows, was washed out and we would be going through Browns Canyon instead. He informed us that the water levels were at their peak and the highest it had been in almost a decade. No problem.
We waited for about thirty minutes while the guides were busy loading up the rafts and gear and we psyched ourselves up for the day. We had planned this trip over a month ago and we were all ready to get on the river. At 9:00 am the guides called us over and fitted us with life vests and splash jackets. I said no to the splash jacket. I didn’t think I would need one. That is for sissies. The guides told us not to unbuckle the lifejacket and it was meant to be tight so that it can do its job—save our life!
We met our guide for the day. His name was Jay, a college student from Illinois and an experienced rafter. He seemed like a nice enough guy and we were looking forward to “working” with him on the river. Little did we know that we would get to know Jay really well and if it had not been for him we would probably not live to tell this tale.
Drop in
That day three boats were going out through Highside Adventure Tours—two full day trips and a half-day. We all loaded up onto an old school bus and signed more waivers while Beardsley, another guide, gave us the “speech” about self rescue, the importance of our life jackets, listening to commands from our guide, highsiding the boat, wrapping the boat and more. Of course most of it went in one ear and out the other because we were excited to get on the river. Hey, we would worry about the particulars later right?
When we arrived at the drop-in there were literally hundreds of people and many rafting companies preparing to launch into the Arkansas River. I made a quick calculation of just how much money this activity was bringing in and was totally in awe! From the top of the hill all the “rafters” looked like little ants in their blue splash jackets and life vests. Many had on helmets. We didn’t need no stinking helmets! We were told later that helmets were totally optional on this river through Highside Adventure Tours.
We unloaded the boats and got a quick two-minute paddling course from Jay and we picked up the boats and headed to the river. It was an absolute gorgeous day and it had warmed up now and it felt like 70 degrees. The water was freezing however and we were going to get wet real quick. Hey that’s what we signed up for right?
We picked our positions in the boat. Derrick was front left. Jay had said that is the most important position in paddling because we would follow his lead. I picked right front. Kyle was directly behind me, Tyler and Michele were behind Derrick. Jay was in the back and his job was to steer us out of danger, give us directions on when to paddle—or otherwise keep us alive!
We hit our first rapid relatively soon—a small bump with a little bit of waves. Jay had warned us not to cheer until we were out of the rapid so that he could give us proper directions. But hey, we couldn’t help ourselves-we were shooting the rapids.
Pinball
Pinball was just that. Our raft was bouncing from one side of the river to the other and back again. We felt just like the ball in the arcade game. We were in this section of rapids for what seemed like hours, but really it was probably just a minute or two. We nearly got dumped on the last section and we all fell into the boat. Jay had told us to use our oars to stabilize us and keep us in the boat when the river got rough. I guess we didn’t listen. At the end of the rapid I saw several people with cameras taking pictures. I told Derrick to smile because you will see these pictures when we get back to the outfitters.
Widow-maker
They don’t call this section the widow-maker for nothing. It was a heaving swirling mass of water, rocks, overhung trees and waves. Legend has it that many a man didn’t make it through this pass and we lived to talk about it. It was quick but not without some hard paddling on Jay’s command and it brought our attention to the forefront on what is to come during the rest of the trip.


The 7 stairs
The rapids known as the seven stairs were totally cool. The first ones were a bit washed out. Washed out means that the water is too high to make for a nice rapid and a nice ride. You see rapids are really just huge boulders in the river that re-direct the water and cause froth and waves and of course fast moving water. The rest of the seven stairs lived up to their name and we shot out the other side with huge smiles on our faces and a feeling of real accomplishment as a team.
Lunch
At about 11:30 we stopped at a campground and warmed up and rested while our guide made us a hot lunch of top sirloin, beans, potato salad, cookies and lemonade. As Highside’s website says they believe that you should get a hot lunch on the river not just a soggy sandwich. We were all pleased with the food and the exceptional cooking skills of Jay and Beardsley.
The Hike
Not ten minutes down river from our lunch site we pulled the boat over to shore and went on a hike up river to look at the next rapid that we planned to maneuver. With me being an experienced kayaker I knew what to look for but the rest of the team had no idea. Jay explained the route we should take and told us what to watch out for. It was intimidating to say the least a swirling cacophony of spitting rapids and froth. On our hike back Michele jokingly said, “Should I Velcro my Teva to the side of the boat in case we flip?” Jay said he wouldn’t recommend it and we got back into the boat to tackle the monster that laid ahead.
The Dump
We all climbed back into the raft, a bit worried but gung-ho to get it over with. As we began paddling toward “the Hole”, Derrick began singing “The Final Countdown”. As we approached, Jay began to take on a more serious tone in his voice. He set us up to hit the rapid after two other companies went through ahead of our other team guided by Beardsley. Sort of a safety net. Little did we know that we would actually need them. As we began to traverse “the Hole” we tried with all our might to stay to the right as Jay had told us to do.
“Forward-Hard” was an understatement! As we went over the ten foot drop paddling our arms off, Michele looked back at Jay as she realized the top of the raft was so high that Derrick and I weren’t able to grab any water in our strokes. Jay was in the water up to his chest and he yelled one more Forward before our demise. When she turned back around I began falling off of the boat, so I jumped to safety. I went under the water and I heard Bob Dylan fainting singing: “Knocking on Heaven Door”. As I did that the boat tipped end-over-end sinking Jay and Michele first. All of us were in the water while the people scouting out the rapid are on the cliff navigating their own way through the Hole. What a sight we must’ve been!
We dumped the raft! The cardinal rule in all of rafting: STAY IN THE BOAT! Everything that the guides told us during all those important rules, regulations and procedure talks will actually come to play at this very moment. Man, we should have paid attention!
Derrick, I mean, Iceman, made it to shore first. Followed by Tyler, I mean Maverick. I was right on their heels. Once out of the water I began counting heads. Kyle and Michele were still in the water. Michele’s foot got stuck under the grill that was in our boat, but she had been turned over before kayaking so she knew how to pop out. She hit several boulders before coming up for air. When she did she was about 50 yards from where we got dumped. She was gasping for breath and having trouble swimming. Kyle popped up close to her and later said that he had come up under the boat first. As Michele and Kyle floated quickly down river Michele was trying to follow the directions and keep to the right (hey, she did listen to the guides after all)– this had her bouncing all over the river. Kyle wasn’t swimming. Then came the rescue.
The Rescue
The other three teams that were ahead of us about 200 yards were giving Michele and Kyle directions, or should I say screaming directions, as Derrick, Tyler and I, walked down the tracks to try to meet them. As we were walking I picked up two of our oars and almost managed to rescue my sunglasses! My two hundred dollar sunglasses floated by right before my eyes. Hey, the told us to leave everything behind that we did not want to lose. I have never been one to follow all the rules I guess. In the meantime, Michele somersaulted over the largest boulder in this part of the river. The guides told her it was the best somersault they’ve seen! Kyle and Michele swam over to the closest boat and were pulled in by their secure life jackets! A few bumps, a scrape, and a mild concussion for Michele. A few bumps and disorientation for Kyle but everyone was fine! Our guide Jay, managed to turn the boat over which he is required to do – stay with the boat. Michele and Kyle met up with him on the other side of the river while Iceman, Maverick and I caught a ride with Beardsley’s team and traversed across the raging river to them. After catching our breath and realizing that we were all okay. We got back into our boat and realized what had actually happened. We survived “the hole” and lived to tell tall tales about.
The rest of the day
The rest of the day was really just us reeling in from what we just had survived. Yeah, people flip rafts all the time but this was OUR raft. The rest of the rapids were fun but nothing like what we had just went through. We even named that section of river Stijder. Stijder was a dog that we had at Denver Dog Works a few months ago. He was a male Dutch Shepherd that was a bit psycho to say the least. We had all survived Stijder and he was known to bite and otherwise just go crazy when you tried to get him out of his kennel. Stijder means “warrior” in Dutch and Stijder, the dog, required respect. Just like this river. Because just like the dog, if you put your guard down it will come up and bite you when you least expect it.


Pick-up
We reached the end of our trip and pulled over to the side of the river. Jay had told us that this would be a technical exit because the river was so fast and to be sure to follow his directions so that it can be a smooth retreat. We exited the raft and headed up river a way to “catch” Jay and Beardsley as they came in “hot” towards the bank. We had to hold onto Derrick’s life jacket so that he wouldn’t fall in as he caught the raft and pulled it towards shore. Who would have thought this was a “working” trip? We worked, paddled, swam, and held on for the better part of six hours. Boy, are we going to be sore in the morning!
The Pictures!
As you can see by the pictures we had a great time. They definitely do not do the river justice and of course the camera always adds ten pounds (at least). Check out my grimace on the fourth picture and you will see how intense the day was. All of these pictures were taken in the ‘Pinball’
The drive home
On the way home we decided to see the sights and drive up through Leadville. The whole trip was story after story of events of the day and how we all felt they unfolded. We went over the dump 100’s of times with each version getting wackier and wackier. Kinda like those fishing stories where you catch a minnow and by the end of the day turns out to be a fish the size of Mobey Dick! Leadville is steeped in history. About 8 years ago Robert ran one of his first Colorado dog sledding races at Camp Hale. Kyle ran his first race and lost his team and Michele ran her first race and lost her team as well
Back to the trip… the drive down I-70 was uneventful except for the fact it was made abundantly clear that Michele’s 1995 explorer is ready for the auction block. That old truck has given her all she has. It was difficult to maintain speeds of 40 miles per hour and we were passed by one of those new smart cars!
Tommy Knockers
We stopped and ate at Tommy Knockers brewpub in picturesque Idaho Springs and scouted out or next white water trip along Clear Creek Canyon. Our guide, Jay had told us that this is a trip worth pursuing as it is all Class-III rapids similar to Pinball on Brown’s Canyon. We’ll do that next year!
We all filled up on burgers, garlic fries and beer (for the adults of course) and headed down the mountain. Great food for a great day.
Home!
We made it home by six. Sunburned and sore from our trip and lucky to be alive. It was an adventure that I would do again in a second and was well worth it just for the experience alone. I thought it brought us together as a team and as a company. I have been told that corporate trips, retreats and activities build up company morale and the motivation can be exemplary in relation to employee retention. That being said, we can now say that we did this together and it will be an activity that we will share for the rest of our lives.
___________________________
Dr. Robert Forto is the training director for Denver Dog Works in Colorado. He can be reached through his website at http://www.denverdogworks.com/ or by phone at 303-522-1727.