Kristin's excellent adventure on the Truckee
We were drifting somewhere around the McCarran Bridge when the margaritas began to take hold.
The roar of the water filled my ears as the bridge passed over my head. Suddenly I received a spine-shaking smack across my backside that left me breathing like I was in a Lamaze class. I reminded myself, I must lift my butt in rocky areas when riding in an inner-tube down the Truckee River.
My friend Laura Hurley and I had a rare synchronized day off, free of responsibility, and decided there was no better escape than an inner-tubing adventure on the Truckee River. We bought two inner-tubes from Les Schwab for $33 each and two bottles of Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita which fit perfectly into our 32 ounce water bottles. The nearly three-digit temperatures couldn’t have felt better. I was regularly refreshed with chilly splashes of Northern Nevada water as we went hurling down the rapids.
The river is gloriously unpredictable as each bend alternates between moments of pool-lounging sun worship, and wide-eyed, white water excitement.
After my earlier run-in with the rock I tried to keep an eye out for where I was going. Not that it did much good. When seated inside my giant tube, I felt like my feet and hands had as much leverage as a turtle spinning on its back.
As Laura and I drifted, I saw a couple of clever tubers had brought a paddle to help them navigate the treacherous waters. Others floated along in pool lounge chairs with built in cup-holders.
No matter what shoes you’re wearing, “good traction in the water” is an oxymoron. I was flipped out of my tube five times due to various collisions with rock or strange currents. For long distances my tube dragged me down the stream and I would be hanging on to my tube like a water skier trying to regain my seat. When I put my feet down to try to stop I felt like I was trying to stop a car with my feet, Fred Flintstone style. The rocks have a thin covering of moss which makes it slipperier than an oil spill on ice.
Some people have an excellent sense of balance and others don’t. Most of the time I feel like I have banana-peel slippers on, so just watching me trying to walk in a stream of moss-covered rocks is a comedy of errors that might rival Charlie Chaplin. My friend Laura, on the other hand, never lost her seat. Whether it was luck or an iron grip on tube, I don’t know. I’m just glad inner-tube jousting isn’t a sport.
By the time I scrambled out of the river I looked like I was in an abusive relationship, with ferocious scrapes down my back and skinned knees and hands. But riding down the river is rewarding punishment. As Sierra Adventure river guide Tim Kegermann said, “There are hazards everywhere, but that’s what makes it fun. I like rocks in my river.”
For details on how to plan your own tubing adventure read my other blog, "Tips for surviving tubing the Truckee."
The roar of the water filled my ears as the bridge passed over my head. Suddenly I received a spine-shaking smack across my backside that left me breathing like I was in a Lamaze class. I reminded myself, I must lift my butt in rocky areas when riding in an inner-tube down the Truckee River.
My friend Laura Hurley and I had a rare synchronized day off, free of responsibility, and decided there was no better escape than an inner-tubing adventure on the Truckee River. We bought two inner-tubes from Les Schwab for $33 each and two bottles of Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita which fit perfectly into our 32 ounce water bottles. The nearly three-digit temperatures couldn’t have felt better. I was regularly refreshed with chilly splashes of Northern Nevada water as we went hurling down the rapids.
The river is gloriously unpredictable as each bend alternates between moments of pool-lounging sun worship, and wide-eyed, white water excitement.
After my earlier run-in with the rock I tried to keep an eye out for where I was going. Not that it did much good. When seated inside my giant tube, I felt like my feet and hands had as much leverage as a turtle spinning on its back.
As Laura and I drifted, I saw a couple of clever tubers had brought a paddle to help them navigate the treacherous waters. Others floated along in pool lounge chairs with built in cup-holders.
No matter what shoes you’re wearing, “good traction in the water” is an oxymoron. I was flipped out of my tube five times due to various collisions with rock or strange currents. For long distances my tube dragged me down the stream and I would be hanging on to my tube like a water skier trying to regain my seat. When I put my feet down to try to stop I felt like I was trying to stop a car with my feet, Fred Flintstone style. The rocks have a thin covering of moss which makes it slipperier than an oil spill on ice.
Some people have an excellent sense of balance and others don’t. Most of the time I feel like I have banana-peel slippers on, so just watching me trying to walk in a stream of moss-covered rocks is a comedy of errors that might rival Charlie Chaplin. My friend Laura, on the other hand, never lost her seat. Whether it was luck or an iron grip on tube, I don’t know. I’m just glad inner-tube jousting isn’t a sport.
By the time I scrambled out of the river I looked like I was in an abusive relationship, with ferocious scrapes down my back and skinned knees and hands. But riding down the river is rewarding punishment. As Sierra Adventure river guide Tim Kegermann said, “There are hazards everywhere, but that’s what makes it fun. I like rocks in my river.”
For details on how to plan your own tubing adventure read my other blog, "Tips for surviving tubing the Truckee."
posted by Kristin Larsen at
9:20 AM
1 Comments:
Maybe you should not drink and drive.
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