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White Water Rafting in Maine - Preserve Your Experiences

White water rafting is simply a blast and a great way to get away from the clutter of life. Alas, your rafting experiences can fade with time. The best way to prevent this is to keep a white water rafting journal.

Maine White Water

Take a minute to give some consideration to your most recent rafting trip. What sticks out in your mind? Where the rapids raging, the water low or somebody hilariously falling out of the boat? Now think about the first time you ever went white water rafting. I bet you can’t remember much about the trip besides a few snippets. The experiences you’ve forgotten are lost to time. If you keep a white water rafting journal, this won’t be the case.

Maine has three rivers renowned for their breath-taking whitewater and scenery. Two of these, the Kennebec and the Dead, converge at The Forks, a wilderness village five hours north of Boston, that serves as headquarters for most of Maine's rafting companies. The Penobscot, largest of the three rivers, flows almost in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin, the state's highest mountain. Unlike most other eastern rivers, whose water volume reaches high levels only during the spring run-off, the Penobscot, the Kennebec and the Dead are dam-controlled and provide high-water rafting from late April through mid-October. Maine rafting continues to grow in popularity each year, meaning it pays to plan and book well ahead.

There are famous instances of people keeping journals throughout time. Of course, Anne Frank’s Diary is the best example. In her diary, Anne kept a running commentary of the two years her family spent hiding from the Nazis. While your white water rafting experiences better be more lighthearted, keeping a journal will let you remember them as the years pass.

A good white water rafting journal combines a number of characteristics. First, it should be compact. Second, it should have a case to protect it from getting wet and turned to mulch. Third, the journal should contain blank areas to write your notes. Fourth, the journal should contain cue spaces to remind you to keep notes on specific things. Cues should include:

• Who you went white water rafting with
• Where you went rafting and the time of year
• Who you met and contact information for them
• The river and weather conditions
• How challenging the river was, and
• Any events that occurred while off the

At the end of the rafting trip, you should be able to get the following from your journal

• Contact information for other rafters you met
• Details of the trip, whether you would go again and perhaps better times to do so.
• Memories to reflect upon years later, and
• Something to pass on to your friends, children and grandchildren

To get the most out of your white water rafting journal, you should write in it just before you start, during breaks such as lunch and when you return. If you go with friends or your family, the journal will turn into a keepsake for the family. During family events such as the holidays, it makes for great reading. As you grow older [and we all do], the journal will make great fodder for reflection.

White water rafting is a blast that shouldn’t fade with time. Make sure to preserve the experience with your white water rafting journal.