Deschutes River trip

Yesterday was filled with river rafting. I'm still waterlogged. Mali called it a "life-changing experience."
We left the house at 7:15 and were on the river by 11:00, Paul and I in an inflateable kayak, and Mali, Lilly, and Natalie perched on a large raft with Doug the expert at the oars. Our other raft was manned by the father of the family I didn't know, and ten minutes downriver it highsided on a giant rock and dumped the mom and one kid out. I caught just a glimpse of the raft poking high in the air above the rock, then watched the mom and kid float downstream away from us. They were rescued by the first raft, and while Paul and I picked up various items they had dropped we got highsided as well. Paul immediately tumbled over backwards into the river, and I was free.

Paul was able to climb back in on the calm side of the rock, and we then linked up with the rafts for about a minute before the current pulled us downstream, where we finally found an eddie we could open a beer in.
The mom and both kids decided they'd had enough, and walked up to the road to hitchike to the park where our lunch was stored. After lunch they would all drive home.

Several times I went completely underwater while remaining in the front of the kayak. My hat didn't bother to leave my head until later, when it was completely waterlogged. Paul and Mali took turns saving it.

Paul and I debated opening a new front on the squirtgun battle with some passing strangers we saw were also armed, but we ended up sliding into a large hole in the water and both flipping in. Luckily, our potential targets were immediately next to us, and I was able to use their raft to haul myself out of the water and back into the kayak, after first rescuing our lone squirtgun. I then kayaked to a calm spot on the bank where I could hang on to a rock and wait for Paul.

He eventually made it back into the kayak, but not before heroically taking one more step into the river to rescue the suntan lotion. That one step was expensive, as he was dragged an extra twenty meters downstream, bouncing off of rocks all the way.

The largest rapid was not as dangerous as last year, since the water level was higher, so after we took a raft and the kayak through it, I let Mali take the last raft down. Doug piloted both rafts down, and Paul and I took the kayak. This was where Paul saved my hat.

Mali got her hat-saving opportunity later when we hit The Ladders, an area of very deep and turbulent water with no rocks, where everyone gets to swim down the river. There was a large crowd there, and we joined them, beaching the crafts and walking up just before the beginning of the rapids. Mali and I jumped in together, and she saved my hat, but lost me as I caught a current that took me to the far bank. I had to walk back upriver (on the well-worn trail - I was not the first to do this) and try again to catch the right current. I made it to the correct bank this time, but I've never been so tired in my life.