“Left side back, right side forward!” I scream.
The paddlers in front of me, clients taking a day trip down Browns Canyon of the Arkansas River, respond quickly, without having to mull their lefts and their rights. Our raft turns in the nick of time to squeeze through a slot between two giant boulders in Pinball Rapid. But there’s no time to pat ourselves on the back.
“All forward! Dig, dig, dig!” I command next, to avoid another obstacle. They do, as if their lives depend on it, and we glide through the rapid’s final hole, a splash of sparkling water crashing over the bow into their beaming faces.
It doesn’t matter if the passengers are doctors, police officers, politicians, or janitors. Here, everyone’s equal and must work as a team. It’s a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts — the whole being the course our raft takes through a maelstrom of white water. Few gravity sports, other than maybe bobsledding and road biking, require such teamwork. Done correctly, it’s a thing of beauty. Incorrectly, a sinus-irrigating catastrophe.
Colorado’s other main sport, skiing, is a solo one — just you and the mountain. But when that snow on our Rocky Mountains melts off, it spawns another activity relying on that same precipitation and gravity — and in a paddle raft, teamwork.
The Colorado River Outfitters Association reports nearly 550,000 people take outfitted trips here every year on more than 30 rivers, from the Animas and Rio Grande down south to the Poudre and Yampa up north — all providing the same thrills, spills, and chills. And the Arkansas leads the pack, in both statistics and splashes, with most of those trips in paddle rafts.
Although you can hop on an oar boat and let your guide do all the work, paddle rafts — whether with friends, family, or strangers — provide that sense of accomplishment that can only come from joining in on the action (and they let you put your blades up for a congratulatory high-five afterward). They’re the embodiment of that “together each achieves more” — TEAM — adage, which is what we hope will get us through the rest of Browns Canyon. We might’ve made it through Pinball, but ahead still lies Class 3-4 Zoom Flume, Big Drop, Staircase, Widowmaker, and Raft Ripper.
I tell my passengers these names and that’s all they need to kick into gear.
“All forward!” I yell. “We’re in this together.”
Eugene Buchanan is a writer from Steamboat Springs. His articles have been published in The New York Times, Men’s Journal, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Forbes, Life, and more.
HEADING TO THE RIVER?
Always wear a properly fitting, U.S. Coast Guard–approved personal flotation device at all times on the water.
