I love how much our stake values hosting great activities for the youth! Yes, they are a TON of work to put on but the bonding, opportunity for spiritual growth, providing a chance to do something many kids have never been able to do make IT ALL WORTH IT!!
The past couple of years that stake has combined the Priest and Laurel raft trip. It's been awesome to have an event like this that is challenging but super adventurous for the youth to experience together. This year Tyler and Alysee were both able to go. Birch and I were some of the lucky leaders to attend.
The first day was spent on the Deschutes River which runs through central Oregon. We did two sections of the river with a pit stop for a delicious lunch put on by the rafting company, Sage Canyon. I've decided I am not a fan of the Oak Springs and so I opted to take the less intense route this year. Birch was a good sport and stayed with me in the boat even though I know he would have loved to have hit the rapid face on.
 |
| Tyler's boat |
 |
| This was not one of our family's boats -- but these kids sure loved telling their tale of how they got dumped. |
We finished rafting the Deschutes around 3 pm and so the rest of the day was spent doing food preparations, laying around, playing spikeball, and playing card games.
 |
| The food was all delicious and the kids were great and helping prepare and clean up. |
 |
| It was fun having Ryan on the trip with us this year. He got dumped and had bruises on his arms to prove it! |
 |
| One of the best parts of the two days is the evening firesides. There are so many great parallels to the raft, your guide, etc...to the gospel topics. |
 |
| Birch gave a great little talk. |
The next morning we woke up and prepared to leave for the White Salmon River back on the Washington side of the Columbia River. The kids were all excited to be with a new rafting company and experience a different river. The White Salmon river is FREEZING and so we were all outfitted in head-to-toe wetsuits and helmets.
 |
| Look at all those happy rafters!! The air was super hot so it was hard for the kids to see why they would need wetsuits until the bus drove us up the river. |
The most part this section of the river had some great but not ultra scary rapids. I, personally, really liked this rafting company as they emphasized safety and preparing everyone for each rapid. The day before the kids spent a lot of time jumping in and out of the rafts and fooling around. The White Salmon was not for messing around.
Husum Falls is a 12 ft. waterfall. It has gained a reputation as one of the tallest commercially raftable waterfalls in the country. The guides spent a lot of time preparing us for this waterfall and gave us the opportunity to get out just prior. You had to be 16 years old to go down this waterfall -- Alysee was shy of 16 by just a couple of week so we kept out mouth shut.
Only a handful of us opted to not go down the waterfall -- ME included. Between my neck being so sensitive to injury and then honestly me not being a thrill seeker I was happy to get out and watch all the boats come down. NOT ONE of our groups boats flipped over!!
Then Birch and my boat (without me)....
Then Alysee's boat....
Next up Tyler's boat...
We had fun at several other rapids as well!!
 |
| Birch and my boat |
 |
| Tyler's raft |
After everyone finished rafting we walked across the street and had a picnic lunch and the kids jumped off the bridge.
 |
| Tyler and Birch were some of the last to get to jump before they were asked to stop since rafters were trying to go under the bridge as well. |
 |
| Sure love this man! |
 |
| In the evenings the kids had fun going down and just playing in the river and mud. Alysee had a great time! |
 |
| I love that I get to share in these experiences with my Lover!! |
