Sunrise River Rapids

7/11/2018

We woke up excitedly (as excitedly as you can at this time) at 4am, packed up camp, and headed to the sunrise spot. It was tough to get up, but it’s worth it knowing we get to see a beautiful sunrise, then go rafting.

The 45 minute drive to the spot was gorgeous as the sky started to light up. It was also a bit alarming how many elk were chilling right on the side of the road - like why are you near the road? There are so many grassy areas where there aren’t vehicles driving at 40 mph. We were the first car there, and as we walked down towards the river, I think about 9 other cars pulled into the dirt parking lot.

Luckily we got to all the cool spots first. The sunrise and lighting on the Tetons was amazing, but what really made this spot special was the reflections on the water. This is the infamous spot where everyone takes their pictures of the Tetons, and it all makes sense now that I’m here.

After enjoying the sunrise, we drove another 45 minutes to the rafting office, checked in, and hung out until they served us breakfast. We hopped on the bus, dropped into the Snake River, and got after it. Our guide Luke was incredible. He was funny, knew a lot about the area (including wildlife), and made us never feel unsafe. We also rode along with a really fun group of 8 that booked the night before (they would have cancelled our trip if this group didn’t book). The views were incredible, but it was just a lot of fun to get tossed around on the water.

Some of the crazier things on the river were:

• A section where is is over 100 feet deep, and the water is spiraling, pulling down with a very strong current. Luke said he’s seen people get sucked down 30 feet, and then spit out 50+ feet down the river
• A section where people surf on the current, because it’s a perfect wave to surf on
• When we jumped in, you could really feel and see how fast the current is, and this was during the slow sections

After riding back to the office, we headed into Jackson Hole for lunch at a cafe, wandering around the different shops, and buying a bison skull (because that’s what you do). Jackson Hole is a cool spot, but everything is super expensive and fancy. We quick got our oil changed because we’ve already driven 5,000 miles, and headed up to our campsite at Yellowstone.

Alex's newest purchase!

On the way up we got to taken all the views of the Tetons, and some of the views of Yellowstone. It’s incredible how much wildlife there is in these parks. Once we got checked in at Yellowstone, we made a fire, made dinner, and chilled. We didn’t make it to the ranger educational program tonight, but they seem super fun and we plan to check them out at least once.

In our campsite...