Where beauty and chaos collide: thrills and chills on the Lower Flathead River

"I love 15,000, I love 15,000!" he sang.

Matt Bishop, a rafting guide for the Flathead Rafting Co. located in Polson, was adding crafting melody during the bus ride to the launching point about the current cubic pounds per second that the Lower Flathead River was flowing.

I'm not the most adventurous of people. I don't wear socks two days in a row, I drive five miles below the speed limit and have nightmares about spiders. I'd much rather have heard "I love slow flowing water with nary a bump," or "We're going to the laundromat instead."

While the Flathead Rafting Co. offers charter fishing, kayak adventures on Flathead Lake and overnight camping with floats down the calmer parts of the Lower Flathead River, I had brashly decided to try the most thrilling adventure: white water rafting.

Bishop turned out to be guiding the boat I would be in. Fellow Lake County Leader reporter Ali Bronsdon also accompanied me, probably to make sure I didn't chicken out and sneak back to the bus when nobody was looking.

"The easy part is when you get on the river," Bishop said as he, along with other raft guides, unloaded the large rafting boats into the river.

The launching of the boats resembled that of a Navy SEAL operation with guides un-fastening boats, lifting, pushing and dropping them down a large railway to the river. The white water rafting trip would go eight miles downstream, with five major rapids that ranged from class two to three.

The final set, named Buffalo Rapids, is the largest in the state and is a class four rapid.

Positioning myself in the back of the boat, I got my first taste of white water rafting almost immediately from the launch point.

The "Put-in rapids" didn't look big from the shoreline but once we got jostled around a bit on the waves, I figured I was in for one heck of a ride.

"We've got to come up with a better name than the put-in rapids," Bishop said.

Bishop gave us all an extensive safety talk and discussed just how exactly we would be navigating the rapids. Learning that he had been a raft guide since 1982, I immediately forgave him for his prior singing escapades and felt a little bit better knowing I was cruising down the river with the George Patton of rafting.

Bishop pointed out wildlife along the shores of the river, including a bald eagle. He said that a couple of kids from New York City in a previous trip had thought the eagle was an animatronics and that he controlled the eagle's head from the raft.

Since the Flathead River had sections of rapids broken up with smooth sections of flat water, we were able to sit back and take in a lot of the scenery on the trip. That gave me considerable time to keep my panic attacks under control, at least until we saw more rapids on the horizon.

"Stick your face into a wave and show it who's boss," Bishop said.

While I can't say that I had that much bravado, as the rapids came and went, I felt like I was gaining confidence during the trip. Bishop even showed us spots where water was flowing upstream. Called the triple eddy, water is split in two directions and swirls backwards, causing an upstream current. Bishop was able to get us to catch such an eddy and we were able to go through the same rapids twice. Who needs a motor?

I was feeling really good about the entire trip until we hit Wild Buffalo Rapids, the biggest and most consistent rapid in the state. We could hear the thing and see the water spouting up well before we got to it. I think I started laughing, or crying, I really couldn't determine which.

Due to the twisting nature of the Wild Buffalo Rapids, the boat had to hit it just right in order to get a successful run. There was a chance that the boat would tip, Bishop said.

He issued orders as the water situation around us quickly disintegrated into chaos. We hit the rapid, only to see a large wall of water in front of us. We slammed into that and a serious wave train before being squirted out into calm water. Bishop had successfully navigated us through the gauntlet.

We had scarcely gathered our wits and began to celebrate when we saw another boat behind us try to make the run.

"Uh oh, they don't look so good," Bishop said of their approach.

We watched in horror as the boat hit the rapids and promptly flipped, sending people, paddles and shoes flying downstream. However, everyone was picked up and back in their raft in no time, just another thrill for a trip with plenty of them.

And that's the thing with the Flathead River, since it's considerably deep and relatively devoid of obstacles that wreak havoc on rafters, it's a very safe rafting run to go down. Bishop said he's floated the river with just 2,500 cubic pounds per second since the river stays fine in the rapids they travel down.

While there is some inherent danger, the guides are well trained by the Flathead Rafting Company and know where to go.

"We just want to go where there are nice big waves," Bishop said.

We certainly found them, and we certainly found one heck of a good afternoon that ended with a relaxed two miles of flat water floating and swimming in the river.

For more information on the rafting trips by the Flathead Rafting Co. check out www.flatheadraftco.com.