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Rafting the river rapids is a major adrenaline rush. If you are going to hit the rapids, you need to know some of the basic language thrown around in the sport.

The Basics of Rafting The River Rapids

As with any sport, it helps to have a basic understanding of the tools of the trade, techniques and such. Not only does this help you sound like you know what you are doing, but it actually gives you some insight into the process. Let’s take a look at some of the key components.

Dry Bag – A dry bag is a waterproof bag you can keep things in on the raft such as wallets, keys and such. Water is going to get all over the boat, so consider yourself warned. Most whitewater rafting companies provide them with trips.

CFS – This abbreviation refers to cubic feet per second, a measure of the speed and ferocity of the current. The more cubic feet of water moving per second, the more aggressive the rapids and, in my humble opinion, the more fun!
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Whitewater rafting is simply a blast, pun intended. This brings us to the river of no return, an excellent challenge in Idaho.

Rafting The River of No Return

Idaho is an incredibly beautiful state, a place with no massive cities or the resulting urban sprawl that comes with them. It is a Rock Mountains state sitting on the border of Canada and part of Yellowstone National Park sits within its boundaries. With so much uninhibited nature, rafting opportunities are plentiful and all variety of categories of rapids can be found.

The Salmon River is located in the central area of Idaho and known as “The River of No Return.” If that doesn’t get your whitewater rafting juices flowing, nothing will!

The Salmon is 425 miles long and drains over 14,000 square miles of land. It drops a whopping 7,000 feet in elevation from its headwaters to its final merger with the Snake River. With an elevation drop like that, you just know the rafting is going to be good.
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Rafting down rapids is a good way to get the old ticker clicking over at a high rate. Here is an overview of the basics of rafting down the rapids.

Adrenaline Rafting Basics

In the last 30 years, rapids rafting has gained massive popularity. People tend to go in groups for a family gathering, friends reuniting and even corporate team building exercises. Rafting is massively fun and an undisputed adrenaline rush.

At its core, whitewater rafting is simply the act of taking a raft down through turbulent areas of a river. These turbulent areas are known as rapids. Rapids are formed by three factors – constriction, gradient and obstruction. Water naturally flows downhill because of gravity. When it is constricted, it pushes in from the sides, speeding up and getting turbulent. Speed also increases when the gradient get steeper and, of course, obstructions cause water to crash into them and swirl around as the flow tries to find the best way to follow gravity. Each of these events causes rapids and the resulting turbulence churns the water thus causing the froth. The goal of rafting is to surf these rapids without being flipped or dragged under.

Rapids are classified by six categories. Category 1 is a smooth river with no rapids. The categories climb from their too Category 6, which is either impassible or should only be attempted by experts. Most river rafting trips occur on Category 3 and 4 rapids, where the turbulence gives you an exciting ride, but with limited risk.
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