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(Victory Two) typed:

Thanks for the info Randy. I am located in Missouri so I will need to
travel in order to do some rafting. I am leaning towards Colorado,
possibly the Buena Vista area.

BV is a good starting point. You can do the very easy Frog Rock/House
Rock daytrip, and then, if that is too tame, the Brown's Canyon
daytrip. If you enjoy that and want to up the ante, you can drive
downstream (it'll be on yer way home) to the Royal Gorge section.
I've canoed Frog Rock/House Rock, Brown's Canyon, the Fractions, and
the Numbers sections of the Arkansas (I don't know if there are
commercial trips on the latter two; there may be access issues) in
late July and early August. In a good-snowpack year the Arky might be
pretty meaty in June.

Another possibility, possibly a little closer, depending upon where in
MO you live, and probably a lot warmer, is the Smokey Mountains area
of the Southern Appalachians. I have a canoing friend in Columbia,
MO, who travels regularly to both the Smokies and the Colorado Rockies
to boat. In the Smokies in June you have the following raft daytrips
(presented in order from easiest to most difficult):

1. (Beginner) Tuckaseigee River, Bryson City, NC
2. (Beginner) Nantahala River, Bryson City, NC
3. (Low Intermed.) Pigeon River, near Newport, TN (Tue, Thu, Sat)
4. (Intermediate) French Broad River, near Asheville, NC
5. (High Intermed.) Nolichucky River, Erwin, TN
6. (High Intermed.) Ocoee River, near Cleveland, TN (Wed thru Mon)

and, nearby, two sections of the Chatooga River (Section III is
Intermediate, Section IV is Advanced) in North Georgia.

But why wait for June? Take a vacation day on any Monday between now
and Labor Day. Drive to the Smokies on Saturday, take a raft trip on
Sunday (usually less crowded than Saturday), and drive home on Monday.
The rafting companies will take first-timers on any of these trips
(the Beginner-Advanced ratings are really for canoes & kayaks), except
possibly Section IV of the Chatooga, so which one you take is really a
question of how young, fit, and bold you are. The Beginner streams
are popular with family groups, but any of the Intermediate runs would
be good for fit young adult first-timers.

-Richard

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Richard Hopley, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll.
rhople[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
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