Summary For White Water Rafting Adventures
Overall rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ – 4+ adventure travel stars
If you’re looking for an adventure experience with a guaranteed adrenaline rush, white water rafting is it. And you can find great white water rapids to navigate all over the world that have differing levels of difficulty.
Everything happens fast when you get into the thick of things.
Brace yourself for the drop! Watch out for the big rock! Shoot through narrow water passes like a bullet! Hang on! You’re in for a wild ride. And you’re going to love it!
Now don’t let that scare you. A quality rafting excursion is safe if you choose a good guide and a rafting run appropriate to your skill level.
If you don’t let your ego get in the way, you’re sure to find all the thrills you can handle and a safe time doing it.
If you’re not comfortable navigating troubled waters or you don’t handle controlled (and uncontrolled) chaos very well then you might want to pass on this kind of adventure because you’re going to be dealing with both.
All things considered, white water rafting is a premier adventure travel experience, so give them a try.
Risk Factor
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ – 4 adventure travel stars
White water rafting can be a very dangerous activity, but is much safer now that it has become more commercial and offers an abundance of experienced guides to lead the way.
Also, you can choose excursions of varying degrees of difficulty ranging from a grade 1 (very basic) to a grade 6 (extremely dangerous).
Big risk factors include the natural environmental dangers (rocks, trees, unforgiving currents, etc.) and a lack of skill on a challenging course. So, make sure you find a well-qualified guide, get good instruction and then do what they tell you to do.
Even though white water rafting can have a good bit of risk involved, it’s generally a safe experience when you use reputable guides and rafting operators.
Skill & Physical Factors
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ – 4 adventure travel stars
The more difficult the rafting run, the more skill and physical ability you’ll need.
As mentioned earlier, there are six grades of white water ranging from 1 – 6. The bigger the number, the more strength and skill you’re going to need. Here’s a little more information to help you understand how white water is graded.
Grade 1 has some small rough areas and might require slight maneuvering.
Grade 2 will include some rough patches, may have some rocks and might require some maneuvering.
Grade 3 will let you see some white water (small waves and maybe a small drop), but there’s not much danger even though there may be significant maneuvering required.
Grade 4 will give you white water and medium sized waves with some possibility of rocks and maybe a considerable drop or two. You’re also in for some sharp maneuvers, so you better be good with a paddle.
Grade 5 will give you the full adrenaline white water experience. You’re going to go big here with large waves, large water volumes, the possibility of large rocks and hazards, and the likelihood of a large drop. This requires precise maneuvering, so your paddle skills better be very, very good.
Grade 6 white water experiences are for experts only. These are extremely dangerous runs and the risk factor is off the chart.
Fun Factor
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 adventure travel stars
If your idea of fun is a free-flowing roller coaster of physical chaos on (and sometimes in) the water, then white water rafting is definitely for you. This is an adrenaline-rush experience.
Are you ready for some white water action? Secure yourself well to the raft, make sure you take a breath between the times you get a water facial and hang on tight to your paddle. You’re going to need it.
This is one experience you’re going to remember for a long, long time.
Popular places for white water rafting adventures
If you’re looking to add some overseas adventure travel to your white water rafting experiences then you should check out these destinations.
- Cherry Creek/Upper Tuolumne, California, U.S.A.
- Futaleufu River, Chile
- Gauley River, West Virginia, U.S.A.
- Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
- Great Bend of the Yangtze River, China
- Karnali River, Nepal
- Magpie River, Quebec, Canada
- Middle Fork of the Salmon, Idaho, U.S.A.
- Rio Upano, Ecuador
- Rios Pacuare, Costa Rica
- Victoria Nile, Uganda
- Zambezi River, Zimbabwe