This past weekend marked the eighth year that I, along with several friends, traveled north to go whitewater rafting in Bingham, Maine on the Kennebec River. It’s always a great time and a summer tradition that I hope lives on for many more years.

It is the same group of friends, one that includes my brother, Scott, and our buddies. Scott is a high school teacher and went on a whitewater rafting trip with his students on a school trip back in 2017. He loved it and decided to book a trip for the guys in 2018 and we have been going up every summer since.

I’ll never forget the first year. To be honest, I’m surprised that we returned after how it went.

We were collectively eight years younger, and to be frank, eight years dumber. We were all in our late 20s, early 30s, and felt invincible. We did not give the river the respect that it deserved. 

We go through a company called North Country Rivers. It’s a campground with furnished cabins right on the river. We spend the weekend hanging in the cabin, playing lawn games in a field on site. The actual rafting occupies one day, as you are transported an hour north to the top of the river then raft for several hours before returning.  

Back to 2018.

We scheduled a Friday-Sunday trip, with Sunday being our day on the river. Only Scott had ever rafted before, so we were pretty much clueless as to what would be entailed on the water. Long story short, we were up until the wee hours of the morning partying in the cabin. We all looked at our phones and realized that we had to be on the water in a few short hours. How bad could it be? 

Well, let’s just say that it was a miserable introduction to the rapids. We had some guys (unfortunately, me) falling out of the raft, others (fortunately, not me) losing their lunch right as the North Country photographer snapped pics from the shore. The worst part is that we had a 5-hour car ride home waiting for us upon return. The ride was silent as everyone but the driver caught up on sleep.

We are much more conservative in our approach these days and age is starting to become a factor. Probably for the best.

We now go from Thursday-Sunday and raft on Friday. We are sure to be in bed early Thursday night and are in bed early on Friday out of necessity. The day really does take a lot out of you.

For anyone that is interested in whitewater rafting, I absolutely recommend it. It really is a blast, despite our first-year experience. 

First off, the Kennebec is gorgeous. We’ve been in rain, shine, hot, cold, it does not matter. The scenery is amazing and something that you simply cannot find in southern New England. Those few hours on the water provide sites that you just don’t see down here.

North Country Rivers does an outstanding job on the river as well. The company has a top-notch group of guides than can make the trip a fun stroll down the river or a thrill ride.

We’ve booked the same guide for all but one year and he likes to push our limits as a group of young-ish guys. The river provides several obstacles and varying levels of rapids, going up to Class 4. This was the first year that we chose to take the easy route at times. 

The trip, though, is so much more than just rafting. The cabins are all on one plot of land. Each one has a grill and fire pit with a large open field for people to use. There are recreational activities like volleyball nets, horseshoes, disc golf. We have made friends with other groups over the years and even make sure to book the same weekend so we can all catch up. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year.