We took a trip up north to Cloquet, MN to take a whitewater rafting trip down the St. Louis River from Cloquet to Carlton. Ray had done this same trip many years ago with people he worked with, but the rest of the family had not done any whitewater rafting. We thought this would be a good trip to give everyone a taste of it since it was a relatively short and tame trip (Class I to III rapids). The kids each had a friend along, so we filled up the 6 person raft. Superior Whitewater Rafting provides all the necessary equipment and even has a wall of shoes that you can pick a pair from in case you don't want your own shoes to get wet. When we arrived at the starting point, it was raining, but the rain pushed through and finished before we started our trip. We were surprised that the river water was not as cold as we expected and it ended up being a beautiful day on the river.
After arriving and signing our life away, we got our paddles and life jackets and got in our rafts for some dry land training. The rafts have enough room for 6, but the two people in the back share a very narrow seat. I think 5 would be the ideal number for this journey with 2 people in the front and middle and one on the back who can focus on steering the raft. Our guides were in kayaks and were leading and guiding us down the river. After we put in, we did some drills to learn how to control the raft. We were doing spins and then wove our way through the bridge piers that were downstream before our first set of rapids.
Before each set of rapids, they would pull the group aside and give us instructions on how to go down the stretch of rapids and what to look out for. It was our job to interpret what they were telling us and implement their instructions. We didn't always follow the suggested path as close as they would have liked as our ability to fully guide the raft and react quick enough to the river were a little less than ideal. For this reason we went over a few rocks and boulders rather than around them.
There were a total of 6 sets of rapids, which got progressively more difficult. After the second set, we all got a chance to paddle back into the rapids and surf on top of them. We were on top for a few seconds, before being swept off and having our raft filled with water. After the 3rd set, we all pulled off to the side and took a break in a small cove, and psyched ourselves up for the biggest sets of rapids.
The 5th set of rapids was definitely the most challenging with the largest drop. As the guides were explaining the route, they emphasized how critical it was to go down in the right spot and control the raft through the 5 ft drop. This buildup added some fear to the trip, and then when you watched the rafts ahead of you bounce and disappear over the "Electric Ledge", some people were looking for a way out, but there was not one. We took our turn, hit the mark to go down the tongue and bounced our way through the rapids successfully
After completing the 6th set of rapids we paddled across Carlton Lake to our pick up point and rode the bus back to the car. A few sore muscles and blisters were all that we had to worry about. One of the guides had a camera to take all the action shot photos of us as we went through the rapids and so we were able get the action shots you are looking at.
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