Brian, Travis and I had a day trip on Sunday to Pocono, Pennsylvania for a whitewater rafting along Lehigh River. I have done the whitewater rafting since a junior year in college. It is one of my favorite outdoor activities. For this Lehigh River trip, I sent an invite to a lot of friends, but I could only get Travis and Brian. The raft we rent from Pocono Whitewater had a capacity of 4-6 people. So, they teamed us up with the other two women, April and her daughter, Alicia. They are Americans who currently live in Belgium. April works for the NGO there and Alicia just graduated from the high school and will attend the Navy Academy in Annapolis this fall. They are originally from Alaska and here in the US for a summer vacation. They are very nice and friendly.

April, Travis and I had rafted before, while Alicia and Brian were newbies. I was assigned as a captain since I had the most experience, later on I switched with April for the captain position. The portion of Lehigh River we went to is normally considered Category II rapid which is easy, but the weekend we went to was on a dam release days, so we have much more water and rapid. The river was upgraded to Category III.

I have an experience with a Category IV before in Snake River in Cody, Wyoming, so Lehigh River was quite not extreme excitement for me, but it was still fun. It was a nice day for rafting, not too hot and humid. Alicia was really strong and good in rafting, even though it was her first time. Brian really like it and he said he would want to do it again. I plan to do it again in July in Upstate New York.

The scenic along a gorge of the river was beautiful. The green from the mountain sharply contrasted the light blue sky like a beautiful giant painting. Living in the city made me appreciate a nature more.

Me, Alicia, Travis and Brian

Nicky