August 30th 2014: White Water Rafting on the Penobscot River, Maine

I had to pick my friends up really early this morning in order to drive all the way to the Penobscot Outdoor Center in Northeast Piscataquis ME, where we were to embark on some white water rafting on the Penobscot River with New England Outdoor Center. This place is pretty hard to find, with no proper address. Thankfully, we knew it was below the Pockwockamus Pond, and we had the coordinates for the place as well, so we managed to arrive at the place uneventfully and early. We took a short nap before we had to meet up with everyone else. Just like my first white water rafting experience, we had to get our wetsuits, helmets, paddles and safety jackets before getting on to the bus to the lower portion of the river to start our rafting.

The views of Katahdin along the way were beautiful.

At the start point, our guide taught us how to paddle in the raft, and before long we carried the raft down to the river.

It was definitely perfect weather for rafting today.

After getting through the first set of falls,

we did our share of surfing (keeping the raft in the falls without paddling)

and only moved on to the next spot when we were finally done.

The next fun thing we did was a rock slide, where we were to do a leap of faith backwards into the water, then ride the water down the smooth rock surface. It was fun to say the least, although the water was really cold, so I was glad to be out of there when it was over.

As we moved on down the river, we spotted bald eagles in the trees,

and we were allowed to swim in the water for a bit.

The views were beautiful as always.

especially as we approached the final set of falls

where my friend actually lost her paddle as a result. I was to tease her about it for the rest of the day.

Lunch was much like the last time, consisting of Hot Chocolate

and steak for me.

After lunch, we took the bus further up the river, where we were to embark on the second portion of the rafting. After a short walk

to the McKay hydroelectric station,

we waited in line to carry our boat into the water,

and off we went.

We somehow survived our first Class 5 falls, mostly thanks to our experienced guide.

At the next Class 5 falls, there were actually people sitting on the ledges above, watching for people to fall out the raft.

We made it out alright, but one raft actually got stuck on the rocks for quite some time.

We finally moved on after they found their way out, but not before I took pictures of people fly fishing in the river.

All good things have to come to an end though, and we were sad when we finally left the river, and began the long drive back to Massachusetts after returning all our gear. I'm glad my friend got her first taste of rafting though.