Adventure for Everybody
Destinations
Maurice Martin

No, it wasn’t SEAL training for the Naval Reserve. The school bus was grinding its way through the rain soaked mountains of southern West Virginia. And as Fred, our guide, explained, our destination was the Gauley River, a 24-mile-long rafting destination ranked No. 2 in North America and No. 7 in the world for whitewater action.
The part of the river we were headed for, the Upper Gauley, boasts five sets of rapids rated Class V+-the roughest stuff that’s commercially rafted. Fred explained that the river demands that you follow all the safety rules and regulations: People have gotten hurt here; in fact people have gotten killed. Now, at this point you may be tempted to turn the page and say: "This doesn’t have anything to do with my group tours-I work seniors, and they want safe activities." But stick with me. Before this trip is over, I think you’ll find that there’s a place for adventure in your group travel market, no matter who your customers are. And, believe me, safety is always on my mind. It has to be because I’m a complete klutz.
Actually, we could all take heart: Despite its apparently wild and woolly reputation, whitewater rafting has a good track record safety-wise. Jerry Cook, president of ACE Whitewater-the outfitting company that supplied Fred, the raft, and everything else I needed to take on the Gauley-says that statistically, "Driving on the roads of West Virginia is more dangerous than rafting the river." Statistics from popular rivers speaks well of whitewater safety: The Ocoee River in Tennessee has had 1.2 million commercial rafters and only one fatality. The most rafted river in the United States, the Nantahala River in North Carolina, has had 1.5 million commercial rafters and no fatalities.
Having a good guide, like Fred, can make the difference between a fun outing and a disaster. In West Virginia, the Department of Natural Resources sets safety requirements for outfitters on the Gauley: Guides must complete 10 trips, Red Cross first-aid and CPR training. In addition, trip leaders like Fred who oversee a flotilla of rafts must have 20 trips. Established outfitters like ACE may have requirements above and beyond that: Generally, their guides start out with more than 20 trips under their belt.
As we began hitting the Class V+ spots on the river, Fred gave us detailed instructions on what we’d encounter and how we’d handle it. For example, at Pillow Rock, he said we’d see "two splits-half the river runs on the left and half on the right. It all joins up in the middle;then, all the water rushes up to a huge house sized rock. We’re going up to the right side of that rock, drop down into a spot we call the Toilet Bowl, and run off the Little Pillow right below it".
Sure enough, it all happened just as Fred said, and everyone in our boat was surprised at how well we did. Occasionally, a huge wall of water would crash over the boat, but somehow we all stayed on board. Having someone who knew the river the way Fred did-he’s been a guide for 13 years-gave us all a feeling of confidence. Along the way, he briefed us on the worst-case scenario: If we were to capsize we could be pulled into what the guides called a "hydraulic"-a spinning shaft of water that could keep a person underwater long enough to drown. However, experience has shown him that most accidents occur when people are afraid they’re about to get swept out of the boat and grab onto the sides. When they do that, they let go of their paddles, and the paddles hit them in the face.
Guides like Fred know the river down to the last eddy and swirl and know that just a few feet to the right or left can make the difference between a smooth ride or another dousing. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll always go the smoothest possible route. "You guys are paying bucks," says Fred. "We’ll take you where you want to go. Some people don’t need too much excitement. Some folks want to fly out of the boat, even though they don’t want to jump out on purpose."
That’s how good guides, or outfitters, operate for adventure travelers: They give you the level of risk that you want. ACE, for instance, offers 37 different trips that range in difficulty from our Upper Gauley experience to the mild float trips recommended for senior groups. On some of these trips, the clients are merely passengers, and guide does all the paddling.
It was almost time for the "take-out" of the rafts, and ACE had a delicious picnic of sandwiches, pasta and salad awaiting our group in a gazebo in the woods nearby. However, we still had one more spot of whitewater to hit: the shoot of Death. While passing over it with barely a splash, Fred explained how the Shoot of Death got its name:
"It’s such a yawner, we had to give it a scary name to make it exciting." Whether it’s blasting down the river as fast as the whitewater can carry you or just lazing along as a passenger, there is a whitewater excursion that’s right for your group. Like wise, there’s something for every group to be found among the adventure activities listed in the attached sidebar-whether your group is a busload of ArnoldSchwarzeneggers or 45 pair of klutzy left feet.

Ernie Kincaid, Vice President of ACE Whitewater in Oak Hill, W.Va., says that their whitewater trips are much more accessible than you might think: "We’ve taken deaf people, blind people, even wheelchair-restricted customers. That’s not a problem-you just need to let us know in advance."
ACE has also worked with many senior groups and understands their special needs. ACE guides even issue rain bonnets to the senior ladies-as Steward observes, they don’t mind adventure as long as it doesn’t ruin their hairdos!
ACE also has something that operators should look for in an outfitter: a number of different activities which group tour customers can select as options if one adventure activity seem to daunting. ACE offers mountain biking, horseback riding, and kayaking in addition to whitewater rafting. But, it they choose, tour customers can spend the day quietly fishing in one of the lakes on the ACE compound.