Rafting the Ocoee

This was probably one of the best weekends of my life. After seeing Sigur Ros Friday night, I woke up early and went with my friends Kendall, Bobby and Jim out to the southeast corner of Tennessee to go white water rafting. I had been before in Alaska and Montana, but I had been wanting to go here since I moved to Tennessee over four years ago. Naturally, I was super pumped.
We picked Augie as our guide, not knowing what we were getting into. Best. Decision. Ever. I think his two favorite words are WILD and HILLBILLY. And I also think he took some risks with us because he knew he could.
Speaking of risks, I did get pitched out of the raft and was pretty scared. I'm not a very good swimmer, and that combined with the swift water and the rocks that I kept banging into, all I could think was- I can't die like this. It's scary to be in a situation like that. Especially considering a few weeks earlier two women died on the river.Another raft pulled me in, then my raft came up beside and I jumped back over. From that point on, I sat in the middle section, instead of the front.
All in all, the trip was great. I'm ready to go back as soon as I can. Augie gave me the name of a great place to camp with a waterfall nearby so I want to check that out as well.
Here are a few pics from the trip:

This is my favorite:

I love Kendall's face in this, right before we got soaked: