OK so......there are a million pictures here. I have been putting off blogging our annual late season Middle Fork trip because it just seems too overwhelming. These trips are fantastic, amazing, miserable, cold, beautiful, a family tradition...so I feel like I have to say something really good to go along with it, so I just keep putting it off......
Prep for a river trip starts well ahead of the launch date. Brady and Brandon tightening oars locks.
It's all about the set up. This trip is a must do for going light. Low water equals lots or rocks equals lot of work if you get stuck on them. Darren really has it down to a science. We go so light it is almost unbelievable. And thank goodness we did this year (this is foreshadowing).
Even Scott was loaded light this year. With two kids on board he had no choice!
Scott's enclosed trailer is the best thing ever for this trip. Boats go in already inflated, with frames mostly set. We are all about ease.
Night time rig at Boundary Creek. Pouring rain.
This is what Paige and Brandon did while we rigged. Smart, actually.
I realize I cut off his head. Just wanted to show the amount of snow we woke up to.
Loading ramp. There could be some fun had here, if it just wasn't so darn cold!
All 11 of us slept in the trailer at the put in. Did I mention how much we love Scott's trailer? We were packed in like sardines, but it was far better than the alternative - sleeping where we usually do under the pavilion. There was construction going on here and there was 6 in. of new powdery dirt put under there. I did not want to start the trip dirty, muddy, and wet. I wanted to wait at least 2 hrs. into the trip for that!
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Rigged boats at Boundary Creek put in.
I am singing "For the Beauty of the Earth" as I look at this picture. Not out loud:)
Puffy. I had WARM dry clothes under that dry suit. I wore a dry suit for 3 days! It's like having your own little bubble of weather protection completely around you. The only thing that got cold was my neck and face, so I resorted to a camoflage fleece balaclava that only showed a little bit of my face. It was high style for sure.
Justin and I had a boat, while Darren, Brady, and Paige oared another. No way could all five of us plus gear head down from Boundary in October in one boat!
Justin will probably end up guiding on the Middle Fork next summer. I have been very worried about him doing this all on his own - who will tell him where to go in the rapid, what to do? All my fears were put to rest on the very first day as he deftly maneuvered us through the rocks. It was like being with Darren. He is one with the water, he just totally "gets it." He takes two strokes to everyone else's 15 to get into place, he knows how to use the current. Now he just needs to put on some weight!
Remember the foreshadowing?
We were back on the river after a quick lunch when we spotted a dry bag with a paddle sticking out of it sitting on shore with no people in sight. Maybe they were hunters and had gone off hiking. We slowly floated past searching the shore for signs of whose gear it could be. Around the corner appeared a small bag of apples sitting atop a rock about 5 feet from river's edge....Darren and I, floating adjacently in our rafts, looked at each other as the light bulb went on simultaneously - a sign! Everyone get over! This time of year, especially after a forest fire followed by a big storm, it is not uncommon for a blow out to occur pushing rocks, trees and other debris into the river, creating a new rapid, or even blocking the flow of the river.
We didn't know what we would find around the corner. We pulled off river left and tied off the boats. What was lurking around the bend in the river?.......
Whoa. Good thing we pulled over! The floor of the boat had been cut completely out, this was definitely a boat in trauma!
A lot of the gear had been unloaded by two exhausted looking boaters via a zipline contraption from boat to shore. They had been at it for hours. This after a day layover while trying to repair a ripped floor, and eventually just cutting it out all together.
As usual, Darren knew just what to do. He changed the angle they had been pulling from and by adding several extra helping hands.....
the wounded boat slid right off the rock.
We let the boat slip around the corner and tied it off. Then continued to aid the boater in getting to shore.
Pow wow. What to do with the wounded boat, the two boaters, and ALL of their gear. They had recently returned from a 3 week trip on the Grand. They probably had everything from that trip with them on this trip - a low water run on the Salmon. Two very different types of trips!
Russ and Molly, our new friends, were contemplating hiking all of their stuff out. In the snow. All the way to Boundary. Did I mention they had a lot of stuff? Darren didn't think this was wise, nor possible. They had figured it would be a total of 150 miles by the time they made multiple trips to get all the gear. After getting to know them, I think they probably could have done it. They are seasoned outdoors people, and dang tough.
Darren basically said their best option was to load their gear on our boats to lighten theirs as much as possible and continue down river with our group. They seemed hesitant. I didn't really see any other option, but couldn't read them on they wanted to do. I thought maybe they didn't want to hang with a family group, Mormon to boot, for the rest of their trip. Looking back, I know they just felt badly about adding work and weight to our trip.
I'm so glad they joined us. There were no other groups coming down river for 10 days! We loaded their stuff, significantly lightening their load, but eventually Russ had to get in his kayak to lessen the load even more, leaving Molly to limp the boat all the way to Corn Creek. I honestly don't know how she did it. She is one tough and independent chick. We pushed long miles to stay on our 5 day schedule, and I know it had to be exhausting for her.
The only game to come out of this trip were the ducks Justin shot. I oared the raft quietly toward them as he steadied his shot gun. One shot brought down 5 of them. The first thing out of his mouth was, "That was too many."
He cooked them up that night over the fire with bacon, onions, and peppers. Not bad.
When Darren was inviting Molly and Russ to join our trip he told them that if we came across some deer, elk or bear we would probably shoot them. If that offended them then they may not want to be with us!
No one in our group is a die hard hunter. Darren and Scott grew up hunting a lot. Mostly on horses. They want to give their kids the experience, but no one is disappointed to not have to clean and carry out game.
Boats at Sheep after a long day.
Russ had his fiddle along and was really great!
We probably won't do the Middle Fork in 5 days again. The days were really long.
It was a cold and wet trip. It was nice to get a chance to let everything air out a bit!
The group at the petroglyphs
Molly and Russ
Brady using the paco pad as a splash guard. The last morning through the canyon is full of wet, splashy rapids!
In the end I was so grateful for Justin's awesome ability in rowing. Above Tappan Falls, as the ritual usually goes, we lined up to follow Darren's line. Darren takes the boat over an unusual route and Justin says to me, "Dad is doing it wrong!" He oars us over a different spot, making a flawless run.
Later we learned that Paige and hooked Darren's nose with her fishing pole right above the Falls!
All, in all, a fun trip. Little on the cold side. We had a few incidents.....I totally submerged Chris's boat after I hit the Cress's boat and almost flipped. It was a funny feeling watching a dry box, (not tied down) start to float away! Everything in it stayed dry - Go Frontierplay!
I saved Justin's tail by bumping him off a rock on which he had beached Chris's boat high and dry! I will hang that one over his head for the rest of his life!
I love these trips. I love being with my family. You just deal with the cold. I learned a lot of new tricks this year. One being irrigation boots for camp. Paige wore her down coat under her rain coat all day on the boat, and slept in in all night in her sleeping bag!
There is something about being in a remote canyon in less than favorable weather that makes for solidarity, a unity we hope carries on with us into our normal, day to day lives. The fact that it is a little hard (as in cold, wet, tiring) makes it that much more appealing to me as a thing to do with my kids. There is no choice but to just deal with it. This is a life skill, I believe.
The other day a package came in the mail. It was from Russ and Molly! A box of smoked salmon for each family on the trip! They expressed gratitude for our help. I'm glad they enjoyed our company as much as we did theirs!
