How trips work

How a trip works
  • Check your gear packing carefully before leaving home. Make sure you show up with everything you need. Remember you’ll need your helmet, PFD and float bags as minimum safety equipment in order to paddle on the trip.
  • Bring your own lunch and water bottles, ready to stash in your boat.
  • Make sure you know how long to allow for the drive. Show up a bit early, so you have time to get yourself and your boat ready by the appointed rendezvous time.
  • Make sure you arrive with plenty of gas in your car for doing a shuttle.
  • Make sure your put-in gear (EVERYTHING you’ll need on the river, including your lunch) and take-out gear (what you’ll need right after the trip) are separate and as ready as possible when you arrive. Your put-in gear will go in a vehicle headed for the top of the run; your take-out gear heads towards the bottom. You may sometimes not see the put-in car after the trip; if you’re unsure, ASK about this before planning to leave some bag or basket in that car.
  • If you’ve driven, expect to participate in the shuttle. Generally, the trip leader will do the advanced math required to figure out the shuttle. The usual plan is to get all the boats and people to the put-in using as few vehicles as possible, while driving all the other vehicles to the take-out, with a spare car to carry all those drivers back up to the top, so they can go boating, too. After the trip, unfortunately, somebody has to drive back up to the top, to bring drivers of put-in vehicles to reunions with their vehicles. There are many variations, depending on the location of the put-in and take-out relative to the road back home at the end of the day, the length of the trip, the length of the shuttle, the quality of roads involved, the numbers of people and boats, and the schedule constraints of individuals.
  • The typical trip has 8 to 10 paddlers, but fewer are usually better. The group may include 1 to 3 first-time-on-the-river paddlers, 3 to 4 paddlers who have been on previous beginner trips, and a few intermediate paddlers as safety boaters or to warm up after a break from paddling.
  • On beginner trips, the trip leader will probably begin with a safety talk. Pay attention; ask questions about anything on which you’re not absolutely clear. If you have any special medical needs (such as bee-sting allergies), make sure the leader knows the situation and knows where your medications are, with any special instructions for administration. (Pack them in a dry bag and bring them with you.)
  • The group will usually have a competent paddler assigned as the lead boat and another as the sweep boat at the end of the group. The rest of the group should stay between these two boats. Try not to get ahead of the lead boat; if you find yourself ahead, eddy out as soon as possible. If you are having a difficult day, don’t dawdle at the rear with the sweep boat, as it would be difficult for paddlers who are downstream to help if you get in trouble. So, stay somewhere in the middle of the pack, don’t bunch up, and keep an eye on the lead boat.
  • The objective of most trips is not to get down the river as soon as possible. We’ll take time to play on waves or holes, scout rapids or work on alternate routes or moves through a rapid.  It’s not end result, but the journey that makes the trip fun.  On beginner trips we take extra time to work with new paddlers and find good spots to try surfing, ferries and rolling.
  • Remember to thank your trip leaders. They are mere mortals just like you and I. They just have more river experience, with an interest in passing on some of their river sense and enjoyment to the next group of paddlers. Even experienced trip leaders are fallible; don’t expect them to be perfect. Let’s all appreciate the efforts they make to try to give us fun, valuable days on the river.  Everybody makes mistakes; on the river, we hope they are minor ones. The trip leader’s function is to basically provide the guidance and organization needed to provide a safe and hopefully enjoyable trip on the river. The point here is that whitewater boating does have some risks associated with it, as with any other outdoor activities. Each person is responsible to a large degree for his or hr own safety. Do not try to delegate this to the trip leader. Remember, our trips are basically a cooperative effort.

What to Bring

Here’s a list of the kinds of things you should be packing for a trip.  Everybody adapts their equipment list to their needs and paddling situation.

  • Boat
  • Paddle
  • PFD
  • Helmet
  • Spray skirt
  • Float bags
  • Appropriate paddling clothes for the weather and water conditions. 
  • Take-out bag with dry clothes
  • Footwear 
  • Dry bag 
  • Lunch
  • Water bottle with water
  • Suntan lotion
  • First Aid kit
  • Spare paddle
  • Gear bag for put-in and one for take-out gear
  • Throwbag
  • Whistle
  • River knife
  • Rescue gear
  • Sun glasses
  • Chap stick
  • Map to the put-in and contact phone numbers
  • River Safety management plan and other river information
  • Small bills to help pay for put-in, take-out & parking fees
  • Extra car key
  • Racks and extra straps if you’ll be running a shuttle with your car