June booked us a tour with the Lewis and Clark Whitewater rafting company to explore Snake River on a raft. So to prep, we donned our standard Hawaii beach gear (trunks and rash guards) and grabbed food-a Reuben and an Italian sandwich from Creekside deli before our meet up at 10:15 a.m. The tour runs around 3 hours total, including drive to and from our site. We didn’t want to spring for the $4/person tabi rentals and so we wore old sneakers which was not a bad idea because at the end of our adventure our sneakers ended up getting cleaned pretty well from the river water.
Driving out of town was reminiscent of leaving the outskirts of many other towns we’ve visited consisting of a large, mostly straight roadway with a river running alongside dotted with farm homes. It must be automotive infrastrusture basics.
Our group had around 10 people. The actual time on water went for around an hour and a half. We did mostly class 1 with a few class 2&3 rapids. Pax, Hud and I got to sit up front. Riding those rafts is pretty cowboy because instead of riding in the center of the boat like you would normally, instead you sit on the sides (putting you in a perfect position to fall out) and to keep in place you just kind of wedge your feet into whatever crevices are available to stay put. I kept my gear in a wet bag that I bought years ago for the West Coast Trail, clipped into a strap so it wouldn’t fly out. That way I could bring my camera and phone. We sat in the front row and got blasted more than anyone else with that cold river water. We caught air a few times but we didn’t flip over and no one fell out. We did help out another flipped boat by pulling off to the side and recovering someone’s floating slipper. This was definitely not June’s favorite part of the trip.
My fingers and toes were still tingling and numb as we rode the bus back into town. Hud’s teeth were chattering along the river. Poor kid gets cold so easy. But we had so much fun! We got to see osprey, bald eagles, and a marmot while on the river. The experience was beautiful and exciting at the same time. Being at the front of the raft meant being the first to go over ledges and into those rapids. Paddling consistently in water and suddenly in open air was definitely a challenge.
On the drive back, we ate leftover sammies and planned on warming up and visiting the hot tub and gym at the inn for a short while when we got back.
Hudson for some reason decided that he wanted 6 pack abs so we both did a light workout. After a quick recharge we headed back out for huckleberry ice cream and shakes. We even ran across some other Hawaii people at the Five and Dime in Jackson whose daughter remembered Paxton from swim class at Kanewai.
…and some geocaching. Doing this in town was new for me but apparently it’s pretty normal to look and feel suspect while geocaching in town.
Here’s one of the four antler decorated corners of the park I was mentioning when talking about the airport.
We headed back into the park for fishing and wildlife spotting. Although we saw a male moose, that was about it, not counting what I thought were prairie dogs at the Mormon homes.
Theres something beautifully relaxing about casting a line into a calm body of water.
We stopped at Mormon Row for some pics. We could easily imagine what it might have been like decades ago with the Mormon settlers.
Non GFCI and no weatherproof cover! Talk about living dangerously. How is there even electricity there?
On the way back the weather turned dark, and we watched lighting fire off around the Tetons into the mountainside.
We headed back into town and ate at a sports bar called Sidewinders. I had the buffalo steak. Lean. Sorry no pic, it wasnt much to look at.
Added bonus (kind of) was that they had a game room with a pinball machine. Transformers. It was missing the left button but because Hudson wanted to play, we tried to figure a workaround. We were able to kind of make it work using a straw but it was still kind of the sucks. Throughout the rest of the trip we tried to but couldn’t find another pinball machine. Not even another broken one.
It was pretty frustrating but good enough to get a free play!
More random pics…
The WOO family page 