I definitely slept better than last night when we were flooded out, but not great. I felt like I was waiting all night for the storms to start up again! Luckily the weather seems to be clearing up a bit. I dragged myself out into the drizzly morning to help with breakfast. Under Michael's direction, we made egg sandwiches with sliced oranges. We also prepared fresh tabouleh for lunch.
It turned into a cool, damp morning, but we managed to get the tents packed up and everything loaded on the boats before it started to pour. I tried to do a pre-water warm up on the beach to get ready for our first rapid of the day, Emerald, which was right at our doorstep, but unfortunately its utility was marginal. Emerald rapid had surprisingly massive waves and it wiped me out pretty quickly. A huge lateral wave rolled me right over. It was not much fun to swim on the first rapid on a cold morning, but at least I was the only swimmer. I was quickly pulled to shore and Michael helped to empty my kayak which was much appreciated. Unfortunately because the morning was cold and drizzly, I started to get cold quite quickly.
Next up was Ruby, the last of the gems. I did not see what happened, but Dan ended up swimming. I made it through as did all of the kayakers and rafts. We went through several smaller rapids and riffles before arriving at Serpentine. Sadly, Serpentine did not go so well for me and I swam after getting flipped by a large wave. Luckily, the expert rescue squad was ready and pulled me to shore. I was getting extremely cold at this point and Jim very kindly offered to lend me his farmer john dry suit. I was worried that he would get cold and did not want to accept, but my shivers outweighed my worry and we quickly changed. The farmer john made a HUGE difference and I finally started to warm up for the first time all day.
We stopped for lunch at Shinumo creek just as the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds. What a reaction that got! Everyone was smiling and laying out wet clothes to dry. Before eating lunch and pumping water, we hiked up Shinumo Canyon. It was not a long hike and most of it involved walking up the creek bed through a narrow, little canyon. It was a beautiful canyon that ended in a spectacular waterfall! Several people jumped into the pool beneath the waterfall and enjoyed a fresh water shower. I was still too chilled to jump in another cold pool of water, but it was funny to see everyone’s wetsuits fill with water!
Just as we finished lunch, it started to rain again, so we quickly got back on the river. We were all wearing water clothes anyway, so it was the best place to be in the rain. We went through several small rapids before reaching Waltenberg. We stopped to scout Waltenberg and then went through. The goal for the kayakers was to ferry right to miss a hole at bottom center. I started off ok and even scored a combat roll, but unfortunately, I didn’t make it far enough right and ended up going through the hole sideways, so I was back upside down and swimming before I knew it. Jim also swam at Waltenberg after going through the same hole. Luckily for me (but maybe unluckily for him), I was still wearing his semi-dry farmer john, so I stayed relatively warm and dry even though it was my third swim of the day. All of the other kayakers and rafts made it through in good form.
As we were going through Waltenberg, the rain was pounding down and it even started to hail, but it did not last for long. Before we knew it the sun was back out and we were able to see some spectacular waterfalls throughout the afternoon. We stopped for a quick hike at Elves Chasm. It was a beautiful little spot with a lot of fun rocks to clamber over on the way back to a waterfall and a pool.
We were aiming for one of the Blacktail camp sites and were hoping to get in before dark. We ended up stopping at 120-mile campground which is just above Blacktail Canyon. It was a huge campsite with lots of room for everyone to spread out. We are getting very good at setting camp up quickly and dinner served in no time. The only thing that took a bit longer to cook tonight was the gingerbread cake, but everyone who stayed awake to eat a slice thought it was delicious!
4 comments:
Hmmm, you should get a farmer john for your next trip!
Amy, I like your thinking. It seems like that would be a simple and effective solution to the "getting cold" problem. :-)
Yes, yes - I know. That was my plan for the next trip, but maybe I should add it to my Christmas list. You think I might have some luck with that? ;-)
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