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Lehigh River Sojourn Journal Day 2 —
Nick S.
June 23, 2002
Once again, we woke up very early. Today we were planned to go whitewater
rafting. We started the morning by waking up and getting dressed right away.
Greg, Mr. Mauser, and I got the bus around 6:30 and ate up at the Pocono
Whitewater Rafting headquarters. We had scrambled eggs, ham, and sticky
buns. When we were done eating we looked around in their shop. Later we
went to a safety meeting and got our lunches. Our group consisted of Greg,
Mr. Mauser, Rick Sherry a.k.a. "Snakebite", Chris Kocher, and
me. After the safety briefing we gathered our paddles and went on the bus.
 When
we were ready we got out of the bus and onto a trail to get to the rafts
and river. Trees and bushes surrounded the trail, and there was a creek
on the left side of it. At some places in the creek it would end in a small
waterfall. At the end of the path were railroad tracks where we got to see
the train go by. There was a small bridge that the trains go over and the
rafts where underneath. The whole rafting group was led down next to the
bridge where we waited to go on the raft. There our rafting team met and
waited to leave.
We went into the path and started paddling. I was in the middle next to
Mr. Mauser, Greg was in the front, and Rick and Chris were in the back.
When we started I knew we were going to have a great time. I was excited
from the start to do this and not really afraid. I trusted the people I
was with so I guess that helped. When we started getting to the rapids Greg
was getting soaked. We were using him as the water shield, but it didn't
work. He wore half cotton, half-polyester shirt so he was drenched. On our
way down the river we saw a woman named Jill fall out of her raft and helped
her out. She paddled with us until we made it back to a resting point where
she went into the raft she started out in. After a while longer of paddling
we made it to Bear Creek for lunch.
At Bear Creek we ate hoagies with chips and a chewy bar. The meal also included
a bottle of water that we saved for after the trip if we didn't finish drinking
it. While we were at lunch Alice Macnow loaned Greg some dry clothes. He
was very thankful for clothing that wasn't drenched. We also saw a black
snake at the top of a tree. Kelly Pollack presented the program we had today
about the treasures of the Lehigh Gorge and its history. She used a map
and asked people to locate names of bodies of water and cities. It was very
interesting and informative.
When we started rafting again I switched with Greg because he got pretty
wet from before lunch. I took my first rapid up front pretty well but got
soaked with water. I thought it was great and it felt good because of the
high temperature. In these situations we just paddled hard and went over
the rock.
The next rest we made was close to the shore and we had a water battle.
Everybody started throwing water at each other. We were emptying water out
of the raft like crazy to lose some weight on the raft. The bad thing was
Greg's T-shirt was drenched because it was lying in the raft and soaked
up some of the water.
When the rafting was over everyone was wet. The bus seats were getting soaked
from all the wet people sitting on them. When we got back we waited for
the busses at the Pocono Rafting headquarters. While waiting we talked to
our friend Ben and his son Ben. Everyone was hungry when we got back on
the bus and couldn't wait to get back to the campsite. For dinner we are
having Terayaki chicken with wild rice, oriental tossed salad, assorted
cookies, and iced tea. A good ending to a fun and exciting day.
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