By Brittany Karford
Rushing rapids, numbing water and inflatable alligators are just some of the elements meeting those who brave the Provo River this summer.
The river that practically overflowed its banks in early May is now prime for rafters and floaters alike ? finally safe after months of close calls.
?It?s probably safe to float now,? said Amy Thatcher, a hydrologist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. ?It?s definitely safer than one month ago.?
Provo River is currently flowing at 350 cubic feet per second ? drastically different from 1,500 cfs in May.
Back then, Andy Wood, another U.S. Bureau of Reclamation representative, recommended not even attempting to float the river at all, as it had sustained near maximum capacity releases for a period of three weeks.
?We were not out of the danger zone until the end of June,? he said.
The onslaught of spring water not only raised bank elevation ? it ripped live trees right out of the ground and moved them down river. Whole boulders were moved by the rushing current, which lodged debris only cleaned out in high flows.
?It might look like a lot of fun, but you could get hung up on a lot of stuff,? Wood said.
Two recent BYU graduates who made their first attempt down the river in late May were surprised they survived at all.
Jordan Pilling and Derek Harper from Decklo, Idaho, set out when spring run-off was peaking ? nearly reaching the 1,800 cfs maximum capacity.
Thrown from their raft, they were bounced off rocks in the freezing water, shins bleeding, trying to fight the current.
?We didn?t scout it out,? Pilling said. ?We looked ahead of us and it just got worse. We were holding on for our lives.?
Sucked down the river, they had to wait until they found a place they could crawl out. Once safe on the bank, the two sat, muddy and bloody, laughing in relief.
?We knew we had cheated death,? Pilling said.
The wild ride didn?t keep the two neuroscience grads from returning two weeks later. In fact, Pilling and Harper have been six times since ? and they say the craziest trip was just last week.
Although the water was lower, Pilling said the rapids were worse due to bigger swells. Even in their BYU Outdoors Unlimited Highside, a long inflatable canoe, they struggled.
?That raft took a beating,? Pilling said. ?Other people?s just exploded. You need a tough raft.?
Floaters also need a life jacket. According to state law, a personal floatation device for each person is required on whitewater rivers. The law is enforceable with a $50 fine.
The river has claimed casualties already this year, including a 3-year-old boy last month, who was believed to have fallen in while throwing rocks into the river.
Many more reports have come of rafters falling in, verifying Pilling and Harper?s experience.
Some authorities say the river is running so high that no one should try to float it unless they have a high level of skill.
For those not feeling apt enough to tackle the river alone, there are guided raft trips available through High Country Rafting.
The family-owned company runs float trips out of a trailer stationed at Vivian Park, from which they bus patrons and the rafts up to a spot just below the Deer Creek Dam.
Sean Myers, an owner of High Country Rafting, has been guiding trips since the beginning of May and is enjoying this year?s high run-off and new challenges.
?It?s more fun for sure,? Myers said. ?The rapids are a little bigger, the rocks are covered, the debris is washed out ? it?s the clearest I?ve seen the river.?
There is one section of the river Myers cautions about ? a train trestle mid-river that ?you just need to get through.?
The trestle is supported by five posts, leaving four narrow gates for floaters to shoot through. Every once in a while a tree will get lodged in one of the openings, so Myers advises floaters to get out and walk around. If they decide to go for it, he said the blockage is usually to the left.
?Just hug the inside corner and pick a hole,? Myers said.
To take on the Provo River, get equipped with thick rafts, paddles and life jackets, and be prepared for anything.
Just last weekend one crew of BYU students was scraped right off their raft by branches stretching over the bank, even with forecasts of tamer rapids.
?It was a part when the river split around an island,? said Keith Allen, a junior, from Lancster, Calif. ?We tried to go one way, but the current took us another.?
The branch close-lined all five rafters, four on the boat and one on a trailing inflatable alligator.
?I thought it was pretty mild,? Allen said, even though he was tossed from the boat on more than one occasion.
All agreed the trip was well worth it for the ride and the scenery.
The group saw beavers, muskrats, and ?massive? trout in their tour down the river.
The only complaint: water ?cold enough to make you numb.?