Salt River Tubing Experience!

It had been about two years since my last trip to the Salt River so we decided that we should start the memorial weekend off right with going tubing. Well, little did we know that the days before we wanted to go tubing, it would rain! In the state of Arizona rain comes once in a blue moon. So on Sunday morning we left around 6am, it was freezing cold and we were wondering why the heck we still wanted to go tubing. So tiredly we shopped in wal-mart getting our last supplies for the trip. We stopped for a bite to eat and then we were on our way to the river!!

Now normally on a holiday weekend the river is packed with people. Though as we continued driving there, we saw no cars! We wondered if the river was even open today or if we were the only idiots that wanted to go on the river that day because it was so cold. Finally approaching the parking lot we were amazed to only find a total of 5 cars in the parking lot! You may think that I’m joking but, there were seriously only 5 cars. It at least gave us a little more hope that there were other idiots like us that wanted to go on the river. So while waiting for the river to warm up we smothered on the sun block, even though the weather was cold I don’t risk anything. A few of our other friends were going to be meeting us at the river as well so we waited for them to arrive.

Well, four wonderful hours later they decided to grace us with their presence and we were soon on our way to the river. We took the bus to the first point in the river and were soon on our way. Getting into the water it was super cold and it sent shivers up my body. Though about an hour into the river that summer sun was beating down hard and we wondered why we came in such hot weather! Before we left on the river the people had told us that a trip around the whole river would be about 6 to 7 hours I thought that was a really long time but, once you were on the river you understood why they said that. The beginning of the river was not so bad we were pacing along at a good speed, not even to a half way mark; we were stuck dead in our tracks. The river was not flowing, and it sucked really bad.

During our drift along the river we saw some interesting sites. Our first encounter was a girl that had passed out in her tube! Her members of her group were not paying attention to her and when they turned around they saw that she had tipped over in her tube and was drowning! So amongst our group of people we had 3 people that worked in the medical field so they pulled off to help her. Members of the drowning girls group were all drunk and didn’t care what happened to her they were saying things like who cares, lets just float down the river and give her some bread she will be fine. But, what they didn’t understand was that their friend was in serious danger and if they didn’t receive some medical help soon she could possibly die. We gave them the advice that at the next stop they needed to pull off and receive medical assistance but, we didn’t run into that group again so we will only hope that she got the assistance that she needed. Though the really big excitement that shook up our group was when our tubes hit the rapids. I had forgotten how fast you float over those and if you don’t lift your booty up you will get a nice little surprise in the rear! Well, after all of us screaming lift your bottom up one member of our group was not paying attention and she flew out of her tube and into the rocks she went. I could feel the pain that she was going through as her feet and back took hits on the rocks! While two men in our group kept her head above water, the poor thing was in a lot of pain. At the next rest stop that we saw we pulled off to let everyone take a quick break and regain themselves after that.

So after our excitements for the day my friend and I decided that we would be the smart ones and not drink anymore. It was better to be safe and cautious of everything around us than impairing our vision and thoughts. Well, we had been on the river for a good 4 hours now and we still had not reached the second stop. I think this was possibly the longest river trip that I had ever been on! Remembering that the last bus back to the parking lot left at six thirty we thought that it would be a good idea to leave at the next stop. Very tired and ready to go home and take showers we pulled off the river and made our way back home. After this trip to the river I think that I need some time before I set foot on the river again. My body is still recovering from the trip and the only good thing that came out of the experience was that I slept like a baby!