Wyoming
CONQUER THE SNAKE ON A PADDLEBOARD
Dan and I were standing on a bridge south of Jackson, watching as the Snake River rushed by. “You’ve paddleboarded before, right?” he asked. We had just started dating. I nodded slowly. I wasn’t being dishonest, exactly. I had ridden a standup paddleboard, or SUP, on lakes a few times. But the Snake, with its swift current, surfable swells, and massive boulders to dodge, was nothing like the f lat water I’d explored. We were about to head down a nine-mile stretch of the river, from South Park to Astoria Bridge. What was I doing? At the water’s edge, I stepped on my rented board and followed Dan out of the eddy. I wasn’t feeling totally confident about my SUP skills yet, but it was a gorgeous day, and we had the place to ourselves. We followed the river through Class II rapids, a good intro to whitewater. Then we found swells. We surfed one roller-coaster wave train after the next, getting drenched by surges the size of compact cars, a rush unlike I’d ever experienced. Despite a few wobbles and a near collision with Dan, I never fell off. At a swimming hole, we laughed as we plunged off our boards and listened to our voices echo through the canyon. By the time we reached Astoria Bridge, a few hours later, I could tell Dan was impressed. “That was actually my first time paddleboarding a river,” I told him. He laughed. “I know,” he said. —Megan Michelson

This story appears in the April 2018 issue, with the headline “The 50 States of Adventure.”
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