River Rafting Adventures in Golden CO

River Rafting Adventures in Golden Colorado

  There are some adventures I take with Jimmie I swear I will never take again. River rafting is one of them. About 29 years ago we decided to show a friend visiting from England a good time and take him river rafting on the American River. We heard that was a fun place to raft. We went to Costco and bought ourselves a 50 dollar pool raft. This should work well. We drove past Sacramento to look for a good spot to begin our adventure. We  stopped at a little market to ask the best spot to put in. They said chili bar on the south fork of the American river. Your going to need life jackets though. Oh those didn’t come with our pool raft. Fortunately they sold the cheap fluffy orange ones that you tie on the front. No buckles or anything like that. . Are you sure this is a good idea? Jimmie was like “yes its fine, come on”.  So per my usual I followed him on this adventure. We blew up our pool raft and tied on our “life vests” and headed down the river. There was steep canyon walls on both sides so once we headed down river there was no turning back. I was committed with no way out.

  I saw ahead of us some other rafters but these guys were in very professional looking kayaks with helmets and very secure life vests. I heard a sound in the distance. A roaring sound. The first rapid was called the meat grinder. What the heck? I didn’t know that till later. The raft started picking up speed and I was getting very nervous. Soon we were headed down the meat grinder and I was screaming and praying and thought I was definitely going to die. “I only dog paddle” you know. The pool float filled with water so we took the meat grinder half floating half sinking. There was no going back, like I said canyon walls on both sides. The guys were loving it. I was terrified.  We survived the first rapid and were able to pull over and access the damages of our floaty. Multiple holes. Some kayakers had duck tape. What kind of place is this? These guys traveled with duck tape. I think the only supply we brought was beer.  I am pretty sure they thought we were completely insane and said some prayers for us. The rapids we took in that Costco pool float were called the rock garden,  triple threat,  trouble maker, old scary,  dead mans drop,  ending with Satans cesspool. One of the plastic oars was gone almost immediately so we took those rapids with one oar. Come to find out these were class III and IIV rapids. I barely swim as it is and am terrified of water. I was just about in tears the whole day.  

  Thank goodness on Satans cesspool I was finally able to get out and walk around. I had survived and I stood on the rock and watched Jimmie and his friend ride down it hooting and hollering the whole time. We all lived but I never wanted to raft again.

  So here we are in beautiful Golden Colorado. We got a spot at Clear Creek Rv resort right in town. When I called I asked about the creek and they told me were right on a creek and its a great “tubing area”.  Okay, tubing. I like the sound of that. Not rafting but tubing. We found out we could rent tubes for about 25 bucks but Jimmie always the miser suggested we buy our own so we can use them over and over and save money. Target only had left a giant floating sloth and a floating leaf. So we bought one of each. 

  Clear creek is beautiful. The weather is hot and the water is perfect. Lots of people were safely floating down the rapids in their tubes having a grand time. Me and My sloth climbed in the river and headed down. It was incredibly fun. The first bigger rapid I hit I think I suffered PTSD. It was probably a 1 foot waterfall but to me it may as well have been Niagara Falls. I flipped over but I quickly popped up. My heart was beating like crazy and I am pretty sure I was the only one on the whole creek who let out screams over each “rapid” but I eventually loosened up. We ended up rafting it three times. By the third time me and that sloth were just showing the creek whose boss. We had so much fun!

  Today I feel like I have been hit by a truck. Not sure how that was so hard on my body but I feel 100 years old. A few places we really liked in Golden were the Golden Mill, Its like a food court with microbrews and cocktails and lots of yummy treats. The ice cream at the Happy Cones was a little taste of Heaven. Also We really enjoyed Woodys Pizza. We didn’t have the pizza but the strawberry jalapeño margarita was great, and so was the salad and chicken sandwich but the cauliflower “wings” were my favorite. 

  Colorado is just a beautiful place. So many outdoor adventures to be had. If you love mountains, rivers, blue skies, thunder storms and the most amazing chirping sound of katydids in the trees this is the place to come.