Whitewater Rafting - What to Wear?

[msiowa]

We're going rafting in Denali. We've never done this before. What should we wear??

 

Thanks for your help.

Joanie

[Yukon]

Anything comfortable and warm is good, as the rafting operators supply you with an insulated dry-suit. My choice is simply a t-shirt with a fleece pullover, but it takes a lot to get me cold. Bring an extra pair of socks as they may well get wet. I recommend taking along a disposable waterproof camera - the Nenana Gorge is truly spectacular.

 

Murray

[tetleytea]

Most likely the guides will furnish wetsuits for all of you, so it may not matter that much, but... Grunge. Wear stuff you don't mind getting wet & muddy. Do NOT wear cotton. Be sure to have a second change of dry clothes for when you're done.

[Yukon]

In my half-dozen raft trips at Denali, I've never gotten either wet or muddy (except socks).

[tetleytea]

Whitewater?

[Yukon]

Yes, all I've ever done is the whitewater Gorge trips. The upper-river float trips look pretty boring. Once I thought about it, it's probably over a dozen times I've been on the trips - usually once a year, twice last year.

[tetleytea]

I have never heard of a whitewater trip where you don't get wet. Is it like class II the whole way? Or is it just that you get a dry suit?

[Yukon]

You get a dry suit that does the job perfectly. Most of my trips have been with Nenana Raft Adventures, and though I had one poor trip because our guide was one of the owners and he was rather a jerk, that was the exception - most of the guides are excellent.

 

Murray

[cocobeen]

You get a dry suit that does the job perfectly. Most of my trips have been with Nenana Raft Adventures, and though I had one poor trip because our guide was one of the owners and he was rather a jerk, that was the exception - most of the guides are excellent.

 

Murray

 

 

Hi Murray - Just checking if you've had any experiences lately with NRA & what your current opinion of them is (vs Denali Raft for example).

 

Thanks!

[L.A.Lady]

Hi! Thought I'd post a reply since we just rafted with NRA a couple of weeks ago -- we had an awesome time! Our guide was Eric Hamilton and he was great...

 

Couldn't have asked for a better trip.

[cocobeen]

Hi! Thought I'd post a reply since we just rafted with NRA a couple of weeks ago -- we had an awesome time! Our guide was Eric Hamilton and he was great...

 

Couldn't have asked for a better trip.

 

Thanks, LA Lady - Which trip did you take with them ?

[L.A.Lady]

Which trip did we take...that's a good question! Another family member arranged the trip for 10 of us, so I kind of just showed up!

 

We went on a Saturday at 2 pm. I know we did get a slight discount for going on the 2 pm raft -- the guide said that the cruise ships generally want to book the mornings and evenings as that's more convenient for their passengers so they offer the afternoon rafts at a slightly cheaper rate.

 

We rafted about 14 miles, through many Class III rapids and a couple of

Class IV's.

 

We elected to paddle -- there ended up being about two paddle rafts and three or four oar boats that all went out together.

[cocobeen]

Good to know, LA Lady...Class III & IV, huh? Sounds like you had a great time. I've been whitewater rafting a couple times but overall inexperienced & am uncertain if Class IV would be too much for me. I certainly don't want purely scenic/no whitewater....What I don't have in terms of swimming skills (in the event of falling out), I make up for with enthusiasm. Since I'm going alone, I'm a little confused about my trip choices (scary-wise). I would prefer to paddle as well. Any thoughts ? I pasted NRA link for your reference.

 

http://www.alaskaraft.com/denali_rafting_trips.htm

 

Thanks much !

[L.A.Lady]

Cocobeen--

 

After looking at the website (thanks!), we took the Nenana Gorge Paddle Rafting trip. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes and our guide said we went approximately 12 miles.

 

I think you'd have a blast on this trip -- I'm not a terribly strong swimmer and to be honest, the thought of going rafting kind of freaked me out ... mainly, I like to look at water and not so much be in it!

 

But the guides do a great job of preparing you for what's coming up...I just made sure to jam my feet solidly under the tubing and kept paddling. No one on any of our rafts fell out on this trip and our guide said no one had yet this year.

 

And don't worry about going it alone -- after every rapid everyone in our raft was whooping it up and doing high-fives like we'd known each other for years!

[cocobeen]

Thanks for the reassurance, LA Lady! NRA is only doing the 2pm time slot for that trip when I'm there (mid-Aug). That really breaks up my day so I'm looking at Denali Raft Co now. Thanks again!