El Primero Rapid (Class III) - Royal Gorge
El Primero is a two part rapid and the first rapid we experience on a standard Royal Gorge rafting trip. We love easier class III rapids at the start of a class IV to V raft trip to practice working together as a paddle crew and wash away the cobwebs.
The first obstacle of the rapid is to move from the left side of the river to the right – enjoying some waves along the way – and then busting to the left again to avoid a huge rock face that the river pulls us towards like a tractor beam.
Once we get past the wall we get a short break before the second half of the rapid picks up. In this section, we simply paddle from the right of center to the left as we drop through a swooping wave that breaks from right to left. The paddlers on the right side of the raft nearly always get a lap full of water to make sure they’re awake!
