Tragedy Hitting Home
My friends and the California Rivers. It's been our obsession all summer long. It started probably around April when Christopher bought a raft. Every chance we could get, every weekend, sometimes taking days off just to hit a new river. And then last weekend four of my good friends went without me. I'm glad I wasn't there. There is only a one month span when they release water down the Feather River. On the last weekend of flow, the river was full of kayakers, rafters, and water sportsmans of all types. Brian brought a fifth... a friend from work... a friend that had never rafted before. And in a bad rapid, the raft flipped tossing everybody. Everybody took a beating struggling to reach shore. Some were rescued by fellow rafters on the river who witnessed the spill. But when count was taken something had went wrong. Where there were 5 was now only 4. Brian's friend had been caught in a current that pulled him into an underwater cave which became his grave. They were not able to find his body until the next day. They had to stop flow into the river to calm the rapids enough to recover his remains. I don't know his name. I never met him. But he was one of us. The river that we played in and lusted for took the life of one of ours. Tonight I pray for his family and I send out my condolences.