This is truly the best place in the world to live. We have mountains. We have rivers. We have camping, hiking, bicycling, and beaches. This weekend I went rafting for the first time, off in the far reaches of Washington State on the White Salmon River.

I love water like nothing else. We arrived at Husum Falls in time to watch plenty of rafters heading over this class IV waterfall. We traveled 5 miles upriver to BZ Corner to the launch. From there, a series of class III and class IV rapids keep riders on their toes, with space in between to admire the beautiful scenery.

Nearing the falls, our guide (who is also incidentally my sister’s new boss) had us practice maneuvers until he felt satisfied that we could handle it. Approaching the falls, the first thing I noticed was the crowd of spectators on the bridge and banks lining the river watching the carnage. Paddling furiously up the falls, Mike yelled “Down!”, we grabbed the rope, wedged ourselves between the seats, and took a deep breath.

It feels like 30 seconds go by before the water closes in over your head. The water seems to have a mind of its own, grabbing at you, trying to pull you out of the boat. A gallon of water is forced up the sinuses and you can’t tell which way is up. All in all, it only took 6 seconds from the top of the falls until the raft pops back out of the water, at least according to the video I saw afterward. We made it clean through this time, coming out of the water in time to hear the cheering of the crowd.

We ran the route a second time, though we weren’t as successful with the falls this time around. We missed the correct alignment by just a few feet, but it was enough to flip the raft. Luckily, we had someone running safety and he tossed us a line. Even experiencing the carnage firsthand, I loved every minute of it. If you haven’t been before, there are plenty of more-local places to go. Suggestions for a really great section of river? Let me know in the comments.