Believe it or not, the first STMYG whitewater trip was not to Fayetteville, West Virginia on the New River. In fact, the first STMYG whitewater trip was down the Arkansas River near Denver, Colorado back in August of 1993. What!? you may ask. Well, it's true. For World Youth Day 1993, the group of 10 youths going elected to leave earlier to go Whitewater Rafting while in Colorado. It was actually here that the idea was hatched to take the whole youth group on a rafting trip. There's a whole story behind this.
Basicly, Bob and Jeff agreed that the whole youth group should experience whitewater rafting while they were themselves rafting down the Arkansas River. However, it became apparent that the youth group may not survive the 28 hour bus ride to Colorado so we needed some place closer. Bob mentioned a place that he had gone to with the Boy Scouts in West Virginia and that it was only 8 hours away. Plus, the water in West Virginia was a lot warmer since the water we rafted in was glacier fed and was about 40 degrees Farenheit. By the time Bob and Jeff reached the take out point, it was agreed that they would bring this idea up to Bill. So there they stood, on the shores of the Mighty Arkansas River, the sun shining like a harsh shining disc, the sky was a deep blue, and the water was frigid; they stood there waiting, waiting for the raft with Bill in it to be pulled ashore. As soon as Bill stepped ashore, Jeff and Bob approached him and told Bill how we have to take the whole youth group on a whitewater rafting trip to Rivers in Fayetteville West Virginia and they told Bill how they planned out while rafting and that we could take a bus there and it would be great. Bill looked at us, and with that look in his eye like he has just be pulled from really cold water said "what? we haven't even finished this trip yet and you're talking about another one? Calm down..."
Two years later, we were rafting in Fayetteville, West Virginia.
Whitewater 1995 - The FIRST ONE
Whitewater 1996
Whitewater 1997
Whitewater 1998