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Denver Rescue Mission group finds adventure, hope on rafting excursion

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The rafters revel in the challenges of the Arkansas River near Buena Vista during the 10th annual Recovery on the Rapids program.

Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

The rafters revel in the challenges of the Arkansas River near Buena Vista during the 10th annual Recovery on the Rapids program.

Ronald Watters prays with other men from the Denver Rescue Mission before they set off to take on the Arkansas rapids Wednesday.

Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Ronald Watters prays with other men from the Denver Rescue Mission before they set off to take on the Arkansas rapids Wednesday.

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David Lynch stared hard into the churning Arkansas River on Wednesday as his raft swiftly approached a 3-foot drop into the Pinball rapid.

"Should I count myself lucky?" he asked his crewmates, all of whom soon were too busy furiously paddling amid the roar of a Class 4 rapid to give him any reply except for one man who shouted, "Rock 'n' roll!"

Two hours and eight rapids later, Lynch would be able to answer his own question.

Yes, he was lucky to be one of about 30 men from the Denver Rescue Mission taking part in the 10th annual Recovery on the Rapids, a white-water excursion for people in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

Normally, the 34-year-old former restaurant worker from Carroll, Iowa, would have been working in the kitchen of Harvest Farm, a rural rehabilitation program that the mission runs in Wellington, about 14 miles north of Fort Collins.

But as part of an effort to teach teamwork, self-esteem, overcoming obstacles and living a sober life, the men from Harvest Farm spent a morning rafting along the river's Browns Canyon section.

"And yes, I'd rather be here than in the kitchen," said Lynch, a recovering methamphetamine and cocaine addict who was on his first rafting trip.

He and his crewmates negotiated rapids with names such as Widowmaker, Raft Ripper and Zoom Flume.

The Wilderness Aware Rafting Co. has sponsored the outing for the last decade. The Recovery ride usually comes early in the white-water season and gives his newest river guides a chance to practice their skills, company owner Joe Greiner said.

Those skills were put to the test Wednesday, as the river was running at its highest level since 1995. Fed by an unusually large snowpack, the Arkansas was running at a rate of 3,550 cubic feet per second.

That fact left some of the men feeling a bit nervous as they knelt in prayer before boarding the rafts.

Art Herrera, a chaplain at Harvest Farm, kidded resident Ronald Watters, who nervously poked his paddle in the gravel in front of the Wilderness Aware office.

"It's kind of like Jesus walking on the water, only I'm staying in the boat," Herrera joked.

"I'm going at it with an open mind," said Watters, who was making his first rafting trip. "But I'm thankful to God that I'm here."

On the bus ride to where the rafts were put into the water, river guide Brad Kingman let the men know what they were in for.

"You guys are in for a treat," he said. "The water is humongous. Just stay in the boat and scream a lot."

And that's pretty much what they did - along with some vigorous paddling through waves that were at times so high that the rafts almost seemed to disappear from view.

While one crew member was tossed in the air briefly, no rafts tipped over and no one fell out.

Back on shore, Tyrone Pankey said he won't soon forget the trip. And that meant something to Pankey, a 47-year-old Denver man who has struggled with alcohol addiction and doesn't remember some parts of his life.

"I will remember this day," he said. "I sure will."

Fellow rafter Patrick Gleason agreed that it was more than just a rafting trip.

"It's something I would never have had the opportunity or drive to do," he said. "And more than that, it's something to motivate me to stay sober."

Comments

  • June 5, 2008

    5:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DisabledVet writes:

    Outstanding!

  • June 5, 2008

    7:41 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    It is astonishing to see what private non-profit organizations can do with a limited amount of money. Keep up the excellent work DRM.

    Scott