Not So Water Tight
For our honeymoon we decided to go where we could get as much outdoors time in as possible. Having just moved back from Hawai’i we figured we would avoid tropical destinations, and opted for nine days in Alaska. Colder weather and no humidity was going to be a nice change from our daily lives. The joke was on us though because when we arrived it ended up being record breaking heat for the state during our stay, at 90 degrees on average.
The heat didn’t end up bothering us too much, it felt like any other day but the locals were having a hard time adapting to the heat wave. Luckily though most of our plans for our trip were activities that revolved around the glaciers and mountains. On Day 4, we scheduled white water rafting and a glacier hike with Nova tours.
We left our Airbnb in Anchorage early in the morning to make it up to Glacier View for our designated raft take off at 9:30 am. We got dressed in water tight suits, or so we thought (more on that later), booties, and helmets. From their main cabin we took about a ten minute bus ride to our launching point at Caribou Creek. The suits were starting to turn into sweat suits at this point, and we all couldn’t wait to cool down in the water. After a safety briefing we climbed in our rafts and headed down the south fork of the Matanuska River.
The water swirled and had a combination of hues that ranged from silver to brown. When you put your hand in the water and rubbed your fingers together, the water had a slight gritty texture. Our guide explained that the glaciers carry sediment in them, and that as they melt it gets carried down the Matanuska Glacier fed waters. Even though we had our suits on, the little bit of skin that was exposed got a nice refreshing cool down when the water would lap onto the boat. Our ride down to the rapids was relaxing and you really got to take in the scenery. The river is lined with dense forest, and every so often you could view an eagle overhead. We did not see any bears along the riverbed like we had imagined we would, but we did ride past a dead moose that looked like a fair share of animals had dined on.
As we approached the class III and IV rapids our instructor reminded us to follow his directions that way we didn’t tip over. I wasn’t necessarily scared for this trip, I was actually excited to mark it off my bucket list, but my fear of dark water was still present in the back of my mind. We rode the rapids, and it felt like I was sitting atop a bucking horse. It was exhilarating and adrenaline pumping as we hit waves and small falls.
There was a section that the guide allowed people to sit at the front and on the top of the boat “Riding The Bull” with their feet hanging off the side. Matt did it, and survived a section dubbed “The Widow Maker”, which was good since we had been married for only about 5 days. I kick myself for not volunteering to ride at the top of the raft, but that just means it’s now a new item on my bucket list.
Our ride down the Matanuska river lasted about two hours. When we disembarked Matt asked if any water had got into my booties because he felt like he had some in his suit, there was a little water in mine but it was pretty minor. Matt then realized there was a significant hole in his suit running across his chest. The whole tour began to crack up that he hadn’t realized this while we were going through the rapids. “I thought the water was just that cold that I felt it through the suit, I didn’t realize that it was actually in my suit” -Matt. When we got back to the main cabin and changed back into our regular clothes, he poured out a few inches of glacier water from each bootie. The guides apologized, but we reassured them that it was all good and it didn’t affect the way we tipped our guide.
Our rafting adventure down the Lions Head route was one of the highlights of our honeymoon. If you get a chance to explore Alaska some time I definitely recommend booking a tour with Nova Tours. The second half of our day was spent on another tour of theirs that led us on a guided hike on the Matanuska Glacier, I will have a post on that adventure soon.
Have you ever gone white water rafting? If you have let us know in the comments below where you went and whether you would go again.
