Personal Narrative: The Yellowstone River

It was a nice, warm summer day about nine years ago when my Mom’s family decided to come up for a vacation, which we did often back then. Whether it was going camping, or going to visit them or vice versa, it was always a pleasure hanging out with them whenever we got the chance to. We were on our way to go raft the Yellowstone River in the stunning Paradise Valley, Montana. The group consisted of myself, Mom, Dad, my older brother Justin and younger brother Joe, my Uncle Richard, three cousins Michael, Trisha, and Mariah, and two dogs, Nikki and Buddy. We had just arrived to the place where we were going to rent our equipment from, Yellowstone Whitewater rafting and all of us were filled with excitement and nerves at the same time because,

We rented a seven person raft and a two person inflatable kayak, which my brother Justin and cousin Michael decided to use.
We were off with Bob, from Yellowstone Whitewater Rafting driving us to the drop spot. Dad and Uncle Richard discussed where to put in, take out, and where we would stop for lunch. They decided to put in at Crow’s landing and take out at the 9th Street Bridge, which was infamous for being a takeout spot that had remarkably strong rapids and a strong current that we did not know about at the time. The adults did not think about asking Yellowstone Whitewater Rafting about the spots they had designated to put in and take out, which turned out to be a crucial mistake.We started down the river at a nice pace, taking time to fish, swim in the water and grill some hamburgers and hot dogs. There were little campgrounds on the sides of the river that had little grills set up that were able for public use. Justin and Michael caught some big five pound rainbow trout that were

They were not able to hear us until it was too late. As we watched powerless from the top of the bridge, the rapids took them to the enormous pillars extremely fast and wrapped the kayak around one of them. While the guys were fighting against the current and for their lives, Michael was able to kick Justin in the back and set him free. Michael attempted to get out and successfully did so. As they continued to float down the river on their life jackets, they tried to get to the bank, but the current was still too fast and they both were exhausted already from swimming. So Dad and my Uncle Richard grabbed them and pulled them to safety. The only thing Michael and Justin could worry about was how much money they lost in fishing gear, so it was good to see them in good spirits and with a good sense of