white water rafting

I went white water rafting with my buddies at Players (the resturant I work at). We drove about 4 1/2 hours to Kern county and rafted for over 5 hours. It was AWESOME! A few people were a little nervous, but I've been once before for my senior trip so there was no fear in me!!! There were a total of about 8 or 9 class 4 rapids. Class 4's aren't so bad, but they're enough to tip someone out of the boat or flip it. Neither happened to me. Although, on the first rapid four out of our seven passengers (including the guide) took a swim in the middle of the rapid. We started barreling for a huge boulder jetting out of the water, bumped harmlessly into it and picked up our passengers. The weather was amazing. It was overcast, but the wind was really warm and the water was just perfect. You could take a quick float down the river while waiting for a rapid, get back in the boat and be dry in a few minutes. There were a few rapids that got me nervous, but the last one was the best. It's called "pinball". They call it pinball because there are about six rocks throughout the rapid so you have to manuver through the beast. We only got a few feet into it when our boat slammed up against a rock and started sinking. We quickly clammered up to the side of the raft that was above the water and and stopped it from sinking under. The boat was in such a position that one side was pinned against the rock. To the front of us was a drop off into another rock just a few feet away, and it would be impossible to row it backwards. If we leaned too far to the left the boat would sink, so we were stuck on the right hand side. Finally, our guide said, "Ok, everyone to the front of the boat" I paused. I said, "There is NO way I am getting into the front of this boat!" because what lay in front of us was just a big hole for the boat to go face first into. But, into the front we went. The boat lurched forward into the swirling water as we clammered back into our positions. The guide immedtly started shouting out directions and we flew through that rapid like nobodys business! We ROCKED that thing! Man, what a blast! -BRiAN