Camille Summers
As sophomores walked into the upper school with our backpacks and packed lunches (there’s no Nutrition Nook on the Hooch) we were either complaining about or looking forward to the RAFT experience.
First we hit advisory, and then we made our way to the theater to hear a presentation and watch a video about the upcoming trip. The video featured two Lovett students, who for their senior project spent 10 days on the river, canoeing, and camping. As they talked about the river and their journey, students started to grow a bit more excited, and anxious, about what was going to happen.
“I thought it was just going to be another Lovett field trip, but it ended up being a lot of fun and a great field trip,” said Zach Minetola.
Once Mr. Crowley finished his presentation about the rookeries, the blue herons, the “rapids,” and the great dangers of the Chattahoochee River, and after he reminded us one last time that we should have left our phones at home, everyone grabbed their bag and headed out to the buses.
We piled all of our bags onto a mini bus, and then the group that was rafting first boarded two buses, and the group that was hiking first began walking out the back gate.
The hiking group, the group I was in, walked out the back gate, along the “Mountain to River trail” (according to Google Maps), and under the bridge, and then we arrived at the Chattahoochee National Park.
Mr. Reynolds gave us a speech about the pollution of the ChattahoocheeChattahooche, and how it has cleared up over the years. He passed around trash bags and had us pick up whatever trash we found along the way.
On the hike, we went over a bridge, down what seemed like an unusedun-used trail and eventually, we came to a creek.
The people who didn’t mind getting wet played in the creek and went along the trail. Others went to visit the mill at the top of the trail. And the people who just wanted to chill out talked with their friends on the rocks or at the side of the creek.
“Although it (the hiking) wasn’t as good as the rafting experience, I enjoyed playing in the river and running around with my friends. It was a lot of fun until I fell in,” says Ford Powell.
After about an hour of playing in the creek, and the hiking, we headed back for lunch. We ate lunch in the grass at the park, changed into different clothes because our shirts were either soaking or covered in dirt, or both.
“Lunch was really nice,” Huntley King said. “I got to eat with my friends and just chill out and eat food while we waited for the bus to come.”
Finally, the bus arrived to take us to another part of the river, so we could go rafting. Once we arrived there, we hung out on this cobblestone ramp and waited for the raft guides to come.
They were a little late, but when they came, we got into our groups, got with our leaders and were pushed out onto the river.
One group had the rope, which allowed that raft to play fun games such as tug-o-war on the raft, where two people stood on opposite ends and pulled until the other fell into the river.
“I fell on a lot of rocks, but I also had a lot of fun pushing people off the raft,” says Mia Coker.
We slowly made our way down the Chattahoochee while playing games, relaxing, talking, and having fun. We learned about our guides and how they got to the rafting experience.
Sophie Courts says, “My guide suggested we flip the raft, and my entire group really wanted to. I had a lot of fun flipping it, but the water was really cold. Luckily, the sun was out.”
Huntley King enjoyed learning lessons from the guides.
At 3:00, right around the time we were supposed to be back, I asked my raft guide, “Around how much longer do we have left?” Her response: “Oh, we are only about halfway there. About another hour and a half.”
This would lead us to coming back onto campus at around 4:30, which was a long time to be rafting, but the groups continued to paddle and go over these “rapids,” which were really just mini currents in the river.
Eventually, we got back to the Chattahoochee National Park.. We grabbed our bags from the mini bus, and began walking back to Campus.
We arrived at Lovett around 4:45. Everyone said “bye” and left campus with sunburnt faces and dehydrated bodies.
RAFT was such a fun experience where I got to hang out with my friends while still exploring the Chattahoochee river, both by foot and by boat. Not going to lie, I was not looking forward to RAFT, but in the end, it was one of the best times I have ever had at Lovett.
“I thought RAFT was a good experience because you are getting to do something that we normally never be able to do,” Avery Bargeron agrees, “and we ended up having a lot of fun.”
Mia Coker had one regret.
“I got home and my face was bright red,” she says, “probably should’ve worn sunscreen.”
