Whitewater rafting is a sheer adrenaline rush. Whitewater rafting gives you a great excuse to toss back a few brewskis when you're done. Whitewater rafting gives you bragging rights to whatever river you tamed, making you much more attractive to the whitewater groupies everywhere. The first thing you need to know about whitewater rafting is that it takes place on rivers. But not all rivers are created equal.
Water travels downhill.
While all rivers have some downhill gradient, steeper gradients result in more rapidly moving water. Rapids, or whitewater , arise as a result of steeply descending river channels. But there are thousands of rivers in every state that offer whitewater rafting trips. Since these channels are still being carved by erosion, whitewater rafters have been known to encounter numerous boulders and layers of hard bedrock that sit in the river's path. Fun stuff like vortices of swirling or funneled water, natural ramps, and sudden drops in elevation.