Per usual, we woke up this morning. Not per usual, I woke up and the car was already unloaded and ready for us to drive off and spend our rest day white water rafting! Even more not per usual, I ate my breakfast of assorted snacks we had in the car with this crazy view from the porch of our Airbnb.
We left at 10:30 to drive 1.5hrs to the white water rafting location. Unfortunately, they’re making it hard for me to write about anything interesting in this blog since absolutely nothing happened before noon, but we saw some tandem bike bikepackers (bikers on a long-distance unsupported bike ride, easily identified by the many bags attached to their bike) on the drive there which was pretty cool.
When we arrived at the white water rafting, we all signed in and then everyone besides Drew and I immediately ran to the cafe across the street.
We had discovered this rafting late last night, and were deciding between rafting on a Class 2 and a Class 5 rapid. We were told that a Class 2 rapid was “more for scenery than thrill” while Class 5 required “extremely strong swimming ability”.
Class 2 Rapids (left) vs Class 5 Rapids (right).
Only half of the team wanted to do the Class 5 rapid, but we needed all 7 of us to agree to do it for the rafting company to let us go since we would be the only ones going and they need at least 7 people to go to make a profit on the trip. We ended up going with Class 2 after we were told some of us could go in kayaks instead of rafts in order to increase the “thrill”.
Back in the present, we remembered that Drew and Carmen wanted to kayak, so Drew talked to the person at the desk to switch two of our seven spots to kayak spots. We quickly learned about a double-kayak option, so we switched to a double-kayak. Then I wanted to kayak too, so we switched to a double and a single. Then Nunu wanted to kayak, so we switched to two doubles. Each of these changes occurred with a couple minutes of spacing between them. Yes, this is actually how we operate.
With the circus over, the rafting guides started handing out life jackets to the rafters, as well as helmets and water shoes for the kayakers. We then hopped onto a bus that would drive us ~20 minutes to the river.
When we got to the river, us kayakers were taken away for a brief lesson on white water kayaking:
- Follow the path the rafts take
- Go head on into rapids
- Go to shore to climb back into your raft if you fall out
Immediately after pushing into the moderately-paced moving water, both kayak doubles (Drew+Carmen and Nunu+myself) started uncontrollably spinning in the water. Turns out steering on these inflatable kayaks is harder than it looks since they slide very easily on the water. It wouldn’t be until later that we would realize that paddling backwards was the optimal technique for steering, but we didn’t have time to figure that out since the first drop was rapidly approaching.
- Follow the path the rafts take.
After doing approximately 7 full 360 spins on our kayak, Nunu and I realized the first drop was approaching. We also realized we had spun to the far right side of the river where there were many rocks blocking the river, while everyone else was on the left side where the actual fall was.
We paddled as hard as we could to get to the left side of the river, but our subpar steering ability meant we only narrowly avoided the rocks.
- Go head on into rapids.
Because we had to book it to make it across the river and avoid the rocks, we ended up approaching and entering the fall sideways (not head on). We fell down the fall fine, but ended up stuck at the bottom as the rapids pushed us back into the bottom of the fall.
We sat stuck at the bottom of the fall for ~2 seconds before the inevitable happened: our kayak flipped. How embarrassing.
- Go to shore to climb back into your raft if you fall out
I don’t really understand the purpose of this rule, I climbed back into the kayak fairly easily and then helped pull Nunu back in. One of the guides on the raft shouted out, “Go to shore to get back on… or don’t…” after we flopped back onto the kayak.
If you thought this circus was a 2-clown show, you’re sorely mistaken. After having made it down the fall, Carmen and Drew decided to paddle back into the fall to surf it. They promptly flipped into the water.
I don’t know who let these people get into the kayaks.
After everyone was back in their kayaks, the raft caravan continued down some slow moving water, and us kayakers were able to get a better handle of things. At this point, we were spinning willingly and able to actually follow the rafts. We went down some more rapids gracefully and masterfully, I guess to the surprise of the guides because we were asked twice how many more times we had fallen.
At this point, things must’ve been going too smoothly, and Tatiana must’ve been in a violent mood, because she started trying to splash all the kayaks. Shortly after, she put down her kayak and locked eyes with Drew sitting in his kayak – at that moment, I knew exactly what was about to happen.
Tatiana stood up from her raft, and jumped on to the front of Drew and Carmen’s kayak. She then grabbed Drew by his lifejacket and tried to drag him into the water. Funnily enough, she fell into the water first, but poetic justice was not in the cards for Drew as he got dragged down by his lifejacket into the water right after.
I can’t really say what injustice has been inflicted upon Tatiana to fuel her spree of violence, but right after her and Drew climbed back into their respective floatation vehicles I start hearing screams from behind us. The water was so calm, sky so clear, and weather so nice that you’d almost think some people would like to enjoy the peace. But no, I look around to see Tatiana trying to shove Aarushi into the water. If you are a relative or close friend of Tatiana, please reach out to her I think she needs help.
There is certainly no rest for the wicked, because right after the aformentioned chaos subsided, we immediately went into another rapid. This time, we might’ve followed Step 1 of kayaking (“Follow the path the rafts take”) a little too closely because the two kayaks came up on a sharp turn into a cliff side pretty quickly and crowded right behind two rafts and all four groups crashed together onto the side of the cliff.
Picture of boats crashing on a cliff
We were fine though, I just like tossing in a bit of suspense. We kept going for a bit longer through a few more rapids, until we arrived at a 30ft cliff for the cliff jumping portion of the trip.
I don’t think anyone was really comprehending what we were getting ourselves into, or how tall 30ft is, as we marched up the cliff in single file like thoughtless ants. By the time you get to the top and 10 year old little girls are jumping off the cliff though, there’s no going back. So off we went, because we all know what they say about jumping off a cliff when all your friends are doing it.
As we got ready to finish off the trip, Drew, Carmen, and I switched out of the kayaks so that Aarushi, Tatiana, and Caroline could give them a try. Unfortunately for them, our guide let us know that all the rapids were over, but I guess it’s the thought that counts.
We floated down the river for ~30 minutes before reaching the end of the trip, pulled our rafts/kayaks out of the water, and hopped onto the bus for a ~40 minute ride back to the car.
When we got back, we changed out of our wet clothes and munched on the many snacks that we conveniently always carry in the minivan.
We also gave copious amounts of pets to the rafting company’s dog mascot sitting outside. I think this must be the fourth time I’ve taken a picture of Caroline petting a large white dog, related it to Max, and put it in the blog.
Caroline is a team of 1 MIT students biking across America reconciling with large, white dogs along the way.
With very empty stomachs, we decided to drive to a nearby food hall for dinner. The market was cool, very millenial vibes, but super overpriced. Nunu and Drew got a burger for upwards of $20-25, and Aarushi, Tatiana, Nunu, and I got a couple of empanadas for ~$6 each (!). Feeding a team of bikers at that price would cost a small fortune so we decided to drive over to a nearby Chinese restaurant and order takeout.
In terms of quantity, the food did not disappoint. My beef lo mein was so densely packed that it felt like a brick that could pose danger to a small child. I ate some in the car on the 1.5hr drive back to the Airbnb, but started getting full without it even looking like I dented the noodle brick. This is really saying a lot since usually I vacuum food without feeling a thing.
After we got back, I got serious and cleared out the rest of my food – can’t let them forget how things work around here. Then, Nunu and I spent 2-3 hours going through receipts and expenses from the trip to update our badly out of date budget tracking spreadsheet.
Various members of the team enjoying their food (and some REALLY enjoying their food) on the patio.
Sometime during then, Aarushi’s friend Margarita arrived at the house after her 2 hour drive to hang out and stay the night with us before driving another 2 hours back in the morning to go to work.
After finishing finances, we decided to test out the Airbnb’s sauna (test failed I think) and then finish out the night in the hot tub before going to bed for a very long Continental Divide climb tomorrow.
Goodnight.
– Nate
MIT Spokes 2026 
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