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From whitewater rafting to rock climbing, Maine's northern outdoors has it all, and one company makes the fun easy to share with active kids and teens.

My addiction is to things that move - rowboats to the Concorde and everything in between. Since his toddlerhood, my 15-year-old son, Jesse, and I have shared many journeys together on "trains, planes and automobiles."

One August, as he became my active teen and I grew into his spectator-like father, we decided to share a unique mode of transit, the whitewater raft, and some other father-son adventures at Northern Outdoors  (800/765-7238) of The Forks, Maine 04985.

Unlike the bus that I ride almost everyday, this transit system was, well, participatory. For starters, there was a 90-minute orientation followed by being fitted in unique garb to insure that you stayed dry (kind of, anyway), followed by a half-hour school bus ride to the launching point, the Harris Station hydroelectric dam, whose releases supply rafters with some of the largest waves in the northeast.

Riding High

At that point, Ken Janssen, our most able guide and group leader, assembled his eight semi-able bodied men, women and teenagers for what became a most satisfying and exciting means of movement. Jesse's anxiety almost got the better of him before departure.

"At first I thought it would be cool and fun," he recalled, "but as they started the safety demonstration I became more and more scared, then terrified."

But great sport that he was, he helped us push off as Ken blew his whistle, and we started traveling down the gorgeous gorge of the Kennebec River.

The plan: raft half way, have lunch, raft again, meet the bus about two miles away from camp. The recipe: mix in 12 rapids of Class III and IV standard, eight foot-waves, and nine people who changed from complete strangers to a well-orchestrated team in one session. Multiply by five boats, stir, and shake until done.