SAUK RIVER, DARRINGTON, WA :: Kristie finally succeeded in rounding up a group of eight fearless friends for a day of whitewater rafting in the Cascades. The Sauk River runs beside the small mountain town of Darrington, where we met our outfitter and guides from Orion Expeditions.

On a scale from one to six, with one being "easy" and six being "unrunnable," the Sauk River is considered to be Class III-IV. In our case, IV meant "just dangerous enough to require a helmet" - the finishing touch to our fashionable outfits. The two options were: 1) suffer looking silly for a few hours, or 2) suffer drowning, hypothermia, and/or a cracked skull. Needless to say, everyone chose the first option.

The river ride was incredibly fun. Screams and shouts of joy were heard over the roar of the rapids. During calmer parts of the trip, we were able to relax our arms and soak in the gorgeous scenery. Midway through, we pulled over to a shore and enjoyed a tasty lunch prepared on the spot by the guides.

Our guides were great. Jayson, Jessica, Jake and Matt were assigned a guide who enjoyed spinning the raft over the rapids. Carmen, Kevin, Kristie and myself had two guides in our raft - one in training. When the rookie guide took over, we nearly lost our heads as he misjudged a section and steered our raft right under an overhanging tree. We hit the deck and survived to laugh about it.