Vivid story...thanks for sharing the story and tips Gregory. Good to get your thoughts on rafting safety.

Dan - Thanks for posting this, your story totally freaked me. The odds of slipping through a strainer and coming out relatively unscathed are not great, I'm glad you were one of the lucky ones.

As an avid fisherman, I've spent 40 years fishing the west coast rivers and know the dangers. A couple of suggestions to add to the ones already offered by others. I always carry extra clothes in a dry bag because you can become hypothermic very quickly and exercise isn't always an option (you could have been hurt and had to wait for assistance). The clothes don't have to weigh much if you are concerned about weight and I carry one set that can be used by anybody in my group.

The other thing that I would add is that you mentioned you walked to a road that ran along the river. As a novice, I would suggest that you scout the river with a topo map and mark the areas of concern before your drift. Yes it takes a bit of trip planning to do this but if it saves you from another post like this (or worse) then it's time well spent.

Keep the trip reports coming, I always enjoy your posts!

Me and friend had a great day on some local water today (Green River, Whistler, BC). He was more experienced that I, which was great for learning.

We did this 45min run twice. He led the first, I led the second time. The second run was super enjoyable because we knew it was clear of logs etc.

Not very many pics today...we were too busy rafting.

Edited by dandydan on 05/19/2012 19:09:01 MDT.