I played in the whitewater today

So my roommate and his friend invited me to go down to the Truckee River here in Reno. I'd never been there before, so I thought I'd at least go check it out. It is actually a very public space, despite the freezing temperature of the water. You can walk over bridges to the concrete and rock isle in the middle of the river, and if you feel adventurous, go wade in the water and splash around. But if you're feeling daring, you can try the only noteworthy part of this whole story. Now, the Truckee is your normal good-sized river, and with it come a few small rapids. A few of these are right next to the concrete park mentioned earlier, and presto, you have Reno's version of Wet'N'Wild.

After watching some of the other river-goers, I waded upstream (and by wade I mean march with difficulty and almost slip repeatedly). Positioning myself above the center of the whitewater, I waited shivering for about five minutes, like any self-preserving person would do. But where is the fun in that? So I gave myself to the river, slowly being dragged towards the rapid, feet first. There is a large dip right before the white, which means I get a good long look at what I'm heading into. And then I'm in, eyes squeezed shut and a swimmer's lungful of breath. I can feel the water push me down, but only slighty, like a water slide on steriods. I feel like I'm gently tumbling through the water (I am in fact still foating down feet first), and I stay under the water a little longer than I thought. But it's nowhere near long enough to make me panic. I kick back to the shore, so I avoid the rock further down and the next set of rapids (I haven't tested those yet).

It was fun enough I did it two more times, although by that time the sun had gone down, and I was starting to feel quite numb. Only problem was the last time, we had swam to the other side of the shore. Instead of walking upstream first, I just crossed where the rapids let out. It was overall a pretty fun day. I'll go again in a weekend or two, and I'll come back with pictures to show you!