Apparently Randy was telling his boat that as I crested the last class 4 near where they were eddied. Lucky for me he's quick with a throw bag and his aim is particularly good. The rope landed right ahead of me and I was able to grab it with one hand, run it over my shoulder, and grab on with the other hand.

Apparently, the force of a single person going through those rapids with 4800 cfs propelling them is enough to jerk a raft out of an eddy. As I was being pulled in, I felt a bump on the back of my head (my raft) and something grab my shoulders. Nick, the guide from my raft had caught me so I threw back the safety line and was hauled into the boat. One hell of an awesome experience!

After that, we spent another night in a log cabin at Northern and added 3 more to our group for a total of 17.

The next day we were ferried across the Kennebec with much lower and slower water by Steve who was celebrating his 55th birthday.

Cont'd on next post.