[mlac]

Never, ever, go over a low head dam in a kayak. The danger with them is that they do not kick you out like a normal hole. You go over, and if you don’t clear the hydraulic, you get pulled back in. Then it can hold your boat indefinitely as it drifts back and forth across the river. Then you pull your skirt and you are now a swimmer being recycled in a low head dam. Low head dams make swimmers out of boaters, and kill the swimmers. Do not ever go over one.

And rafting / kayaking is definitely a calculated risk. Skill is involved. Freak accidents can occur that just wouldn’t if you weren’t on the river, but if one is smart about it, it can be about as safe as any other recreational activity (skiing, boating, mountain biking). With friends trained in rescue and experience the safety margin goes up.

For others reading this, the danger depends on what kind of river you’re running, the temperature, and a ton of other factors. In a boat, you’re likely to die if you can’t roll the boat back up and you hit your head / get knocked out, or your boat gets trapped upside down. After you bail from the boat, you could get pinned or caught up in trees, pulled under big rocks that are undercut, trap your ankle in a rock (in shallow water), which then pushes your body underwater downstream, die from exposure / drowning (you wash down the river faster than anyone can get you and just give up the will to live because it’s too cold / you can’t stay above it anymore).