2006 AZTRACK River Rafting Trip
Sequoia National Park
South Fork Class 3 and 4
June 28 - June 29, 2006
This is a new addition to the Aztrack annual USATF Trip, but it must be included in our website. I have to give you the background first. Dale Walker, the director of golf at SDSU has been river rafting with his family for over 10 years on the Kern River. During the last couple years, Dale has opened up the family trip to have family friends join in on the adventure. This year, 5 AZTRACK alumni joined in on the trip.
Carolyn Peters and Jennifer Nanista were veterans from previous rafting trips, but newbies "Beef" Wellington Pendell, Brenda Taylor and Rich Fox were the rookies. There was a total of 31 rafters, and 6 river guides. Each boat can hold up to 6 persons. Our guides were professional and very experienced, which gave us all a lot of confidence going into the class 3 and 4 rapids. The Aztrack team of CP, 'Nista, Taylor, Fox and Beef all teamed up to ride together.
The weekend started on Wednesday night when we arrived in Kernville. Dale and his brothers had a BBQ extravaganza set up along with all the cold drinks you could desire. After filling our belly's with great food, coating our throats with cold refreshments and then filling our heads will long tails from Dale and his family, we headed to sleep for our last night in a bed with a roof before the trip started. We rose early, ate well again and headed to pick up our equipment and ride out to the river. Our fearless guide gave us some detailed instructions on how to handle the boats and what to do if you fall into the river during the rapids.
Throughout the roaring rapids where we battled the demons of the river and fought for survival, we used teamwork and communication. Everyone was able to listen to the river guide over the high pitched screams of Beef and Fox who rode in the front. When they weren't celebrating making it through the rapids alive, (normally too early causing us to ram into large boulders), they were laughing and falling out of the boat on purpose. With the heat of the high desert, it was truly a pleasure and very tranquil to float down the river in your life jackets. But nothing brought you closer to God and to your boat mates then a class 4 river rapid!!!
River guides were our hero's during the trip. They made outstanding lunches, a great dinner and a fantastic breakfast. There is nothing more beautiful then sleeping outside under the stars. And believe me, you have never seen more stars then while laying out in the Sequoia National park, with no other lights around. Amazing!!!
To Dale Walker and his family, thank you for inviting us and having us along on your family vacation.
