Rafting on the Millers River

Ed. Note: The Eaglebrook Mountain Club sponsors many events throughout the year, especially during the fall and spring terms. One of the Core Skills each Eaglebrook student is expected to strive towards during his tenure at the school is the skill of heathly living. We encourage students to get outdoors, either on Eaglebrooks 800-acre campus or off campus with the Mountain Club. 

As the Eaglebrook Mountain Club awoke to somber grey skies and a late winter chill in the air, prospects for a successful Sixth Form rafting outing were dismal at best. Fortunately their forecast couldn't have been further from the truth. Once again the EBS Mountain Club staked their claim as those with first dibs on fun as they tore the Millers River to shreds.

Mr. Rose recounted how he thumbed Lakey on his iPhone2S upon rising. "Dude, have you looked outside?! The Hunyak is definitely gonna cancel. Sick, we can binge watch Grey's until kickout!" Fortunately Mr. Townsend (fresh off a record setting catfish noodling session on the Amazon) sprinted up to Mayer to rouse them out of their Star Trek PJs and into their fancy tapered jeans for a day of class IV adventure.

The team headed to Crab Apple Whitewater on the Mohawk trail, where they slid into their drysuits and booties like it was classroom dress. The Brookies then barreled across Route 2 in an International Harvester Schoolbus as if they were the Merry Pranksters who were two sets late to Woodstock. Upon arrival, the Mountaineers tossed their rafts into the river before the bus had stopped. Suddenly Navy Seal training replaced the young bucks' almost certain destiny as NASA physicists. Paddling in sync as if their lives depended upon it, they deftly navigated around boulders, whirlpools, piranha, and the occasional Cool Ranch Doritos wrapper (which they naturally picked up). Ever bold, they even rode "rodeo" over waves from the front of their boats and surfed a standing wave near the French King Bridge.

As their guides' eyes lit with fear upon their pending merge with the raging Connecticut River, the young gentlemen decided to save the guides their dignity and opted for hot chocolate on the safer shores ahead. "Thank you so much for your excellent service, Crab Applers, but we really must return to the 'Brook. For we have algebra to assess and linear systems to solve."

And like that, the mountain men proved what it was really all about. See photos from the trip here.