“Not exactly sure what that means,” he replied quizzically, “but I’ll take it as a compliment.”

The next morning, I did force myself back into my kayak. Rocky said that three of the largest rapids still lay ahead, and from the moment I started downriver, I felt so nervous, it translated into sluggishness. I couldn’t get my muscles to fire, and I felt like I was about to vomit.

The first rapid I encountered was appropriately named Whirlpool, and it took every ounce of skill and fitness I possessed to stay upright in the chaos. Rob was doing his best to call out shifting river features, but he shot past me as I caught the edge of a big vortex. It spun me around as I managed to escape, and I wound up paddling upriver. I had no clue where Rob was through the muffled radios. I swept my hand across the earpiece, shoving it away from my ear. Then I heard Rob faintly calling from far behind me and far to my left. I turned but caught a boil that lifted up my bow and spun me again. Where was Rob? I heard his distant call from my right, and turned around again, trying to paddle through the submerged fingers grabbing at my boat.

Suddenly, I felt an enormous whirlpool gurgle up just behind me. Rob was about a hundred feet in front of me, calling, “Paddle, E! Harder! Harder!”

I could feel the whirlpool as it reeled me backward. I cranked it up, paddling as hard as I ever had. I could actually feel my consciousness beginning to slip away into some kind of primeval instinct for survival. I was hyperventilating, oxygen no longer absorbing into my lungs and blood vessels. I was going anaerobic. My thinking mind was reduced to a sliver, and I had only enough room to be aware of the sound of my ragged breathing, my muscles that felt on fire, and the roar and suck of the swirling cauldron behind me as it hauled me into its mouth.

I could feel the stern of my boat hovering over the hole as I dug and churned with my paddle blades, but to no avail. I honestly can’t remember whether the vortex simply vanished, or whether I was able to paddle away, but I somehow broke free, made it through more of the tempest, and busted through a fierce eddy fence, sinking over my boat, safe for a time in the semi-calm pool.