The Other Brother

Dedicated and longstanding loyal readers may be surprised to find out that there is a 4th Andresen sibling. Our beloved older brother, Joshua Michael Andresen. We've tried to get him to join us kayaking, but so far he has not felt the lure of the river. So although he has not participated in our CFs and Boondoggles to date, as he is a new father (if having a 6 month old counts as a "new" father), I trust that he's got many parenting CFs and Boondoggles in his future. I'm writing this post just because I wanted to get some pictures of my adorable nephew on our blog and thus felt the moral imperative to tie it into the blog's theme. :-) So, without further ado, meet Max and Josh! (It's hard to get a good picture of a squirmy baby where all subjects are smiling and in the frame. Sigh)

-Tina

Jeremiah Loops!

Way to go! (The laughing is not at all related to the loop attempts...someone was telling knock-knock jokes. yeah, that's it).

Gauley 2009

• JJA, CK, MM left 9-9-09 at night.
  

BD1. Chad forgets trailer hitch rack.
BD2. Chad forgets camper water container.

• Trip takes 19 hours. (There is a disputed story about a guardrail. MM and CK are fraidycats)

• Get 2 campsites at free campground by upper put-in. Yay!

• MAA, TLA, MMG, CS, SS left 9-10 by plane.

BD3. Melissa forgets ID at home. Her sister saves the day by leaving work early and getting it to her in the nick of time.

• Plane crew gets rental car in Charleston, drive to Summersville, arrive by midnight. Driving crew is still up, and quite drunk on jooce. (“the nastiest shit ever”-Jeremiah)

9-11

• First Paddle Day! Ran the lower Gauley. Breakfast at gas station restaurant. Yuck. Get to put-in around 11:00, shuttle took 1.5 hours. On river by one, off by five. Perfect weather. Almost too hot. The water was warmer than some led others to believe it would be. That will teach us to trust decade old memories. Awesome day, no swims! MAA, MMG, MM get stuck in last ledge hole. JJA thought he had it on video, but new camera didn’t work the same as old, so didn’t get captured. Shoot. MAA had a laminated river map with all the rapids named and short descriptions as well as flash cards (which were not waterproof and thus relegated to a waterproof case). Having the map was the perfect way to temper the nerves of tackling this fated river. Thanks to Clay for finding the website with the rapids' descriptions: Allllllllrighty Folks

• Left shuttle car to drop off crew (all 8 boats and people in truck) at camp. JJ and MMG go to get groceries and the shuttle car. They return with the groceries before getting the car, but turned out to be a blessing because the headlights made the shuttle road a lot safer.

• Had great brats for dinner.

9-12

• JJA and CK leave to set shuttle for running the upper.

BD4. They forgot to put the hitch rack in. Will make it difficult to load boats at the end of the day. And Missy’s awesome annotated laminated river map was in the truck.

• Cooked great breakfast at camp. Better than the gas station. Put on right at end of campground at 10:30.

• SS swam at initiation. Hung onto CS’s boat for a titch too long. “Let Goooooooooooooooooo!”

• Rest of run up until Pillow Rock goes very smoothly. Lots of fun rapids. Get out to scout pillow and eat lunch while watching carnage. Mistake. Too much carnage watching makes most of us afraid to run it. JJA, CS, and CK run it and make it look too easy.
  

• MAA has trouble negotiating the immense boiling eddy at the end of Pillow and ends up swimming. No harm to MAA, but the laminated map is lost! This is the harbinger of doom to come!

• MAA, TLA, and MMG spend next five miles thinking they had come to the Bud’s Boner rapid. They were wrong on all of them. Finally ask professional rafters. MAA and MMG get two different answers.

• MAA swims twice during Lost Paddle rapid. Sigh. Tina swims at end of Lost Paddle. JJA and CK only ones to go through the gates upright. CK saves Missy’s life at end of swim after she swims through a narrow slot and into a big hole. Out of breath and under water, she looks up at the light but can’t get to it. Finally kicks to the surface and is stuck in a hole with CK just out of reach. He yells at her to swim to him, which she is finally able to do. Hard swim, out of breath, lots of water swallowed. Yuck. CS and SS found Tina’s paddle stuck on a boulder and showed it to TLA and MMG. CS, SS, MMG and MM walk the gates.

• Only halfway through at this time, it’s getting late and the water is already shut off. The rest of the river is run “ducks in a row”. Even through the piddly class 2 stuff. Most of us walked the class fives (Iron Ring and Sweets Falls). Very tough portages. JJA and CK say the rapid is difficult at low level, Sweets had to be sneaked because tongue gone.

• Woods Ferry is last rapid. JJA and CK only ones to make ferry. SS somehow ends up on top of newly named “Scotty’s Rock”. Could have been very scary. He then very clearly signals to the rest of us at the top of the rapid that there was a sneak route on the right. CS, however, has some trust issues, did not believe SS was signaling correctly. Funny stuff.

BD5. MM gets off the river with a nasty eye infection from his contacts. So sad. Looked very painful.

• Dinner is hamburgers cooked awesomely by CS. Everyone but MM has a hot shower.

BD6. Nonnie. Ugh. MAA escapes first into fitty. Then CK escapes. Then JJA. Then Tina. Then Melissa. Melissa told Clay that Jeremiah wanted him so Clay could make his escape. Scott finally made it in. Mike never escaped. Show of hands: who thinks that MM will become Nonnie in 30 years?



9/13.

• MM’s eye is painful enough to warrant a trip to the ER. SS agrees to set shuttle for the rest of the group and then be the ambulance. Another run on the lower. Great weather again. Sunny and 70s.

BD7: MAA did not, as instructed by several paddlers, do the gear count for the top 5.

• Discovers missing skirt as the shuttle is being set by JJA and SS. Said discovery interrupts what had been up to that point a delightful trip down memory lane of the start of CK and CS’s friendship. JJA arrives back and there is some discussion of taking the necessary hour to retrieve the skirt from the shuttle vehicle at the end of the run. MAA nixed that, with concern for the late start on the river as well as the delay in getting Mikey to the Dr. (Turns out this was a wise decision, as the skirt was NOT left in the shuttle truck as thought, but rather was back at camp in the fitty). JJA then surprises everyone by offering to give his skirt and selflessly forgoing the run. MAA reluctantly agree, and just like that the group is winnowed to 5.

• We put on and run the one rapid we missed by putting out (tee-hee) a little early on the previous day’s run of the upper. A fun little rapid, triple ender, or something like that. WEEG probably had less fun in their sturdy creekers: CS looked like he got a fun ride. With that rapid, we can now proudly proclaim that we ran the whole Gauley. (Well, not counting the rapids that were portaged).

• About the run…some people did better then others. Enough said. A million thanks to those of you who rescued the boats of the fallen. Your bravery and feats of strength will not soon be forgotten.

• The river crew arrived back at camp around 6:30ish. Discover from the non-river crew that MM has an ulcer in his eye. Also find out that an eye ulcer does not prevent one from locking someone else in the trunk if the opportunity presents itself. Poor SS.

• Went to the pizza pub for dinner/drinks. VERY good pizza. A bit on the expensive side, but definitely worth it.

• Back to camp. Some of the crew went next door to the Liquid Logic camp to shoot the breeze. Others enjoyed drinks around the campfire. CK and DMMG went up the steep hill in the pitch black to hack down and bring back some burning materials.

9/14.

• Last day. Sniff. Had breakfast at a restaurant in Summersville. There was some discussion about doing a short run on the upper (taking out at Pillow) for the plane crew, but in the end we decide not to risk it. So just JJA and CK will be paddling (the lower). Mikey is still unable to see out of his injured eye. CK is anxious to get back to the ledges hole, where he and CS had the best play of their lives the day before. Some hippies asked for help in setting shuttle, so SS agreed to drive their vehicle to the take-out. MMG and MAA also went to set the shuttle. Everyone packed up most of their stuff before taking off. All gear was left out to dry in the hot sun before being packed into the fitty. TLA/MM/CS had to do most of the packing up/kayaking-loading by themselves. It was nice not to have to worry about time (flight wasn’t until 5 pm).

• The shuttle-setters finally got back. Heard about a potential BD that was averted: MAA forgot to disconnect the battery on the truck…a random discussion with MMG about her camera battery jogged her memory in time to go back and take care of it. A new takeout was used. Apparently it was very steep and bumpy. MMG used JJA’s phone to take a video. If we can figure out how to get it onto YouTube, we’ll get it posted. They stopped at a lookout to take gorgeous ravine shots of the junkyard rapid.

• Plane crew made it to the airport fine. All are despondent at the thought of having to go back to work. It was such an awesome trip with fun people, challenging runs and beautiful scenery! Hopefully we can make this an annual trip Mark your calendars for 2010!!!

• Driving crew made it back Tuesday afternoon after…

BD8.The truck gets a flat tire. Sounded like not a fun time.

• Boys tired from long trip. CK and MM have just enough energy to place awesome sticker on JJA’s boat. If you ever get the chance, ask Jeremiah if he is, in fact, bringing sexy back.

W.E.E.G. Weekend

M&T got the call from Melissa (Mangrove) and Heather (Kehn) to join them for a WI weekend trip. Both were husband free because Mike's in Alaska, and Chad really wanted a weekend alone with the kids. :-) We met up at the Hudson park-N-ride to carpool in the Free Ryde. There was lots of room for all our stuff because Melissa declined to bring her clothes duffel. Tee-hee. This counts as the official CF/Boondoggle for the trip. Thanks for taking the fall on that one Melissa!

Heather had packed plenty of refreshments for all. We joked that she was the "Stewardess" because of all the back and forth food and drink service that she provided en route. I'd highly recommend her for all your RV Stewardessing needs!

Our first adventure was at the Leinenkugel's beer tour place in Chippewa Falls. This is the working brewery where they give tours and then beer samples. Beer=barf, but the atmosphere and tour were fun. We had the world record holder for fastest talker as our tour guide. Seriously, we could only make out about every third word. He did have some visual aids to help, including pictures of the current CEO. Melissa has developed a little crush on said CEO...how adorable.

At the end of the tour, there was a 2 question quiz with some serious prizes. None of us remembered the name of the original Leinekugel's wife (although Missy and I would have won if there was a prize for the most guesses. We were the only ones shouting out names. Apparently Melissa and Heather could think of no female names...) Guess who won the second prize! Me! A non-beer drinker! The question, I think, was to name the largest craftsman brewery in the US. Apparently a brewery can slap the label of "craftsman" on it's beer as long as someone adds an ingredient by hand at some point during the factory process. Leinie's is the 3rd or 4th largest craftsman brewery. To answer the question, I just tried to think of a non-mainstream beer and said Samuel Adams. Winner! I got a coveted beer bottle opener, which I promptly donated to Melissa for the Free Ryde. So if you're ever invited into the FR and need to open a beer bottle, you should be all set.

After the tour, it was back to the main building for beer samples. Melissa and Heather made the most of their coupons and Missy's coupons. I, sadly, missed the point that I should have taken coupons (even though I hate beer) for the benefit of the group at large. Sorry guys! All I can say about the beer tasting part is: Coriander and Oranges.

We left Chippewa Falls and headed to Wausau. We were planning on meeting Amy (Vickers) for dinner in Wausau. Poor Amy was unable to join us at the start of our trip because she was drafted into brush clearing on the Wausau course. I'm sure she had just as much fun doing that as if she had been with us. We got to the campground and helped Missy and Heather pitch their tents and then headed off to the Red Eye. It's a pub that Melissa vetted, and I must say that the food was as delicious as promised. [Ack!Melissa, I left a slice of pizza in your fridge. Sorry about that--Missy]

After dinner, Amy was keyed up and wanted to go dancing. We drove out to a Martini place that Missy found on google, but it was closed. So, too, was the one dance place in town. We went back to the campground and tried to scrounge up our own music. No one had an appropriate plug for the ipod, so we were stuck listening to Amy's Michael Jackson cassette tape. I think we only made it through a couple of tracks before shutting it off in favor of the local radio stations. On a side note: when was the last time you had to actually fast forward through a song? It's so dark ages! We turned in kinda early (by Wausau standards). Paddling tomorrow!

Sunday morning dawned, and Melissa made us a delicious pancake breakfast. Gourmet, even, with TWO kinds of pancakes. Thanks Melissa! After packing up, we drove over to the course. It was a gorgeous sunny morning. We all ran the course together, and then played at the bottom hole for a bit. After that, we kinda split up and did our own thing (running the course and/or playing). There was a special event announced: the Hometown Throwdown. A freestyle competition, with prize drawings for all entrants. I encouraged Melissa to enter, but she didn't sign up until arriving at the rodeo hole. I advised Melissa that if she won anything, it was going to be for the whole group. While we waited for Melissa's turn, we helped Seth beautify his helmet to score coveted style points. Doesn't he look nice? After the competition, we had another couple of hours left until the water was turned off. Another good, fun time at Wausau! It's certainly getting more popular. There were 150 boaters there, and that's for a 1-day release!

I feel like this post is taking forever to type...and I fear that it might be boring for the reader. So, I'll wrap this up bullet point style:

-Melissa won a new helmet the the drawing, because that's her MO. Of course, it's for the whole group to share!

-We left Wausau after waiting FOREVER and a day for Heather to finish volunteering (counting T-shirts with Amy).

-We stopped at the Thorepedo restaurant in Thorpe for dinner

-Melissa suffered some ill-effects from her dinner, and had to lie down, so Missy took over driving duties.

-Got back home around 9? The dogs were SOOOOOO excited to see us. (We had left them alone for the single overnighter). From the tone of the greeting, I would guess that they had convinced themselves that we had died and they'd never see us again. There's nothing like the greeting of enthusiastic dogs!

Colorado- Last Day. :-(

Last day in CO. Sniff. We waited until the morning to make a decision on our last paddle. We had some small hope that we might be able to do the Royal Gorge, but the level was at 3600. Way too high (I think I heard that they won’t allow rafts at that level). So it was between running Brown’s or Pinnacle again. M&J were equivocal, so I made the call to run Pinnacle. We’d already done Brown’s multiple times, and Pinnacle only once. I asked J to find us a new put-in so we could lengthen the run, and he was most accommodating.

Got to the new put-in which was right by our favorite rafting company. M took a picture of their sign, because we kept forgetting what they were called (it's in the background of the picture below). “Vessels for Honor”. Tee-hee. Do they only accept religious customers? Or is it referring to some medieval code of honor, like the knights of the round table? Who knows….

M&I were at the landing while waiting for J to set shuttle. A couple of guys came up and were quite disappointed that the river was so high. They had been planning on a slow, ambling, fishing run on a raft. Too bad, so sad. I must say, though, that when they left I was a little nervous at the level. We hadn’t done the upper part before. The map at the put-in listed 2 class III-IV rapids. Surely they must be IVs at this level? While we were waiting, several rafting companies pulled up. As we were getting ready to put on, I asked one of them about the run. He told us it wasn’t so bad and mentioned the lines. Phew.

The “upper” part had a few sections of smaller wave trains. The 2 big rapids were easy enough. I probably would have boat scouted if I’d had the opportunity, but the rapids were upon us before I knew it. Good times. I asked M&J to pull out at the Pinnacle boat ramp so we could get someone to take our group picture for the blog mast. J asked a rafter to help, and I think the picture he took turned out great!

(It’s now the heading of our blog). M and I took the opportunity to use the restrooms, and then we took off again. I was feeling much better this time. No horrible nervous anxiety ruining my run.

I had already decided that I would walk Three Rocks. Yesterday it was cranking, and I was sure that at today’s higher level, I would be more comfortable walking. So we all eddied out on river left. Me to set up for video and M&J to scout. The hole was huge! There appeared to be a fast, pushy sneak on river right. J probably would have been able to style that. But he and M decided to take the super-safe left route, picking their way down and punching medium holes. I had taken this line yesterday, but today the nice eddies were gone. I did warn both of them that the water was quite fast, and to be sure they headed left hard and quick. (Needed to be on the right at the entry rapids).

After waiting for what felt like forever, J finally appeared. I was carefully filming, and then all of a sudden M was behind him and had flipped! Not good! You need to be upright to avoid the hole! She tried and missed her roll several times (later recounting that she knew she was lifting her head but could not resist the lure of getting a breath). J was kind of watching her helplessly, and I could tell he wanted to do something. He was backwards to the drop at one point, and did get flipped. He rolled right away, and straightened out to run the rapid safely. M finally hit her roll, but right at the lip of the HOLE. She seemed disoriented, and I yelled for her to paddle hard. She was already out of breath, and barely got a stroke in before she dropped 17 stories into the hole. It worked her over right away, and she pulled. Out of breath, I imagine. I think she was lucky to get out, because we later saw some raft carnage where the rafts were kept for a long time. So anyway, M got a small taste of the horror of the CO swim. Huge waves and fast water and a scary inability to swim (for lack of breath). Luckily there were eddies right away, so she got to shore. J was able to chase down and corral her boat.


M was quite wiped out. I understood completely. You get an adrenaline dump that makes it hard to imagine finding the strength to finish the run. But J&I encouraged her to take a rest and get something to eat. She went up to the abandoned train tracks (for the shade) and we waited to see if she’d start to feel better.

It was kinda fun to watch the rafts running. You could really tell which ones had strong paddlers and which didn’t. I got one picture where there were 4-5 yellow raft paddles floating down. (And the rest of the run was like a Highlights puzzle…finding all the paddles in the water and the eddies and caught in the brush). After about 30-40 minutes, M decided to make the rest of the run. Yay! While we were putting on, we watched another group of 3 kayakers running Triple. The girl ran the clean line, while her 2 companions had issues. One guy in a playboat did the same thing as M….flipping and rolling and then going right into the hole. I’m a little ashamed to admit that I was looking forward to the carnage, but somehow he got out! We were all amazed!! He came over to our eddy, and expressed his own shock that he wasn’t worked over. Strange.

So we continued on. The run was just as fun as before, with a little more oomph. The wave trains were awesome and plentiful. I was nervous about the big , constricted rapid from yesterday, where I had to keep rolling. And I was right to be nervous. Those waves were frickin huge! I entered the rapid and didn’t see anything but water for the next 60 seconds. I hit the first huge wave hole, and got flipped. I rolled, and got up just in time to see I was entering a second huge wave hole. Hitting that wall of water was like getting slammed with a sledgehammer. Oof! By the time I recovered from that one, I was getting knocked to and fro. I entered yet another huge wave, and was absolutely vertical in an ender. I thought it was fun for a second, as I was able to maintain my brace. But then the water dropped out from under me, and sadly my air brace sucks! So over I went again. Sigh. I apparently entered the crashing, pounding waves at this point, because I was unable to roll up. M said she enjoyed watching my upside-down boat being tossed about. Grr. I was completely out of breath at this point, having spent the last minute either underwater, or holding my breath to crash through waves. So, I had to pull for a swim. It wasn’t too bad, and J was able to help me to shore. M pointed out that my foam bulkhead was loose, and J also managed to grab that and toss it on shore. (I still don’t get how it got loose. I used bungy cords for heavens sake) J is probably the best person to paddle with EVER!!! I’m so lucky to have a patient and talented brother for a paddling partner. Speaking of J….he said that he got caught in all 3 of those ginormous wave holes. Getting worked briefly at the bottom of each, sometimes into a swirling micro-eddy, before having to face the next obstacle with no speed. M said she avoided all the huge waves by staying to the right. I will be sure to remember that for next time.

We finished out the run, enjoying all the rest of the beefed up wave trains. As we were nearing the end, I started to get sad that it was almost over. I wasn’t ready for our trip to be done. Big sigh. Looking back on our trip, it was overwhelmingly awesome! J had been talking up the Ark for years and assured me that I’d love it. And he was right. I love the rollercoaster waves and fast water. I’m looking forward to a return trip. Hopefully next time I can run the Numbers and the Royal Gorge.

CO Day Eight

Friday, June 26

Woke early and spent some time walking around with the dogs. They really enjoy hunting in the rocks. I think prairie dogs hide out in them, and tease the dogs with their appealing prairie dog scent. It was sunny and very hot! We were confused, because the weather report listed overcast and a high of upper 60s. We decided not to risk it being a scorching day, so we left the generator running and the thermostat set to cool the dogs just in case. Packed a lunch and our gear and headed for Pinnacle around 10ish. The river had spiked up to 3300 cfs! Very high!

I was very nervous and anxious for the first half of the run. I’m not sure why, but it sure was tense. The first rapid, Three Rocks, we came to was a huge hole with a series of smaller holes and boulders with swirly water. J&M just ran it blind, but I pulled out to scout. They went left of the big hole and skirted around other holes and boulders. I didn’t like the chances of my lil Juice, so I ran a sneak route on the far left. For reasons not clear to me, the river wanted me in a small eddy 2/3 of the way through. I was too nervous and highstrung to attempt getting out of the small eddy into the current. So I walked a few yards downstream to the end of the rapid.
After that big rapid, the rest of the run was filled with long, continuous sections of HUGE wave trains and crashing water. It was intense. I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of the demands of CO paddling. You have to keep part of your attention on getting through the feature you’re on, but then you also have to keep an eye on what’s coming up, because the water moves too fast for you to ignore downstream for even a second. For the most part, we all just had fun styling the rapids section. Then we came to one part that was filled with ginormous waves (some probably at least 10 feet) and side-crashing waves and it was just a jumbled mess. It’s hard to see ahead over huge waves and water crashing into you. I just tried leaning forward and keeping my paddle in the water. I was unlucky to hit a couple of holes with no speed (couldn’t see them; even if I had, not sure I could have paddled around). I had to roll 3 or 4 times. But each roll was effortless, so no worries. After a brief rest in a eddy, we were on our way. M tried to get a video to show the difference between the Mega Rocker and the Juice going through waves, but it’s not the best. So hard to get good video and pictures here, because there aren’t good spots to stop.

We pulled off the river after 1.5 hours, and just barely ahead of a small storm. We had lunch and watched some rafts go through the big rapid at the top. We debated doing the run again, but ended up leaving. M&I planned to do another run of our section at camp. So J was our shuttle bunny. The section was cranking! The beginning third was no longer just a gentle warm-up run. It now had some serious rapids sections with legitimate 4-6 footers. Tons of fun! We don’t know how we can go back to MN and dried up rivers after this. We discuss the possibility of just staying here and living off our savings.

We ran into town to get some ice cream. After getting back to camp, we washed the dogs (so they won’t be stinky for the ride home). I was sitting outside reading, and Cassie started furiously licking at a back paw. We all looked and couldn’t see any cuts or cactus barbs, so we think she may have been bit by an insect. She was quite distraught, limping around constantly and licking at it. Luckily she seemed all better by the end of the day.

[Only a few minor CFs and Bs: first, I tried to make a pancake breakfast. But sadly we had no Pam spray, and no acceptable substitutes. (If anyone is wondering, cream cheese will not work as a grease). The pancakes stuck horribly and so we had to make other arrangements. The other incident was that M couldn’t find her socks when we were getting dressed at the river. She had been certain she brought them, but maybe they got left in the truck? She didn’t want to go down with nothing on (chances of blisters are high if you have no sock layer inside the dry suit). She put on my tight river shoes and got dressed. I picked up my boat to head to the ramp, and there were her socks! So she had to get out of her dry suit and change footwear and get back in.]

-Tina

CO Day Seven

Thursday June 25th

Cloudy and cool morning. Decided to try to get a Brown’s run in in the morning and then do the Pinnacle section (right before the Royal Gorge) in the afternoon. Got a late start, though. And then when we got to the put-in, T was feeling lightheaded and dizzy. We decided to wait a bit to see if she felt better after eating and drinking some more. J took the time to go into town to get a new knife. Finally, around 11, T said she felt about 75% and was willing to give it a go, but maybe try paddling easier lines. The weather was very hot and sunny by this point, so the getting on the water felt great.

It was all smooth sailing, fun riding the waves and holes. We pulled out at the sandy beach above zoom flume so T could walk it. J and I scouted it a bit, since the level had gone down since the last time we ran it. There appeared to be a sneak on the left of the giant hole today. But I was determined to make it through on the traditional right side. J went first and styled it, of course. I PLH’d over to the right and went too far right and got stuck in a sticky/swirly eddy that didn’t want to let me go. But eventually I made it out, although afterwards T said she couldn’t believe I hadn’t flipped. Check out the video to see how I did. I was excited that I didn’t have to roll or swim out!

We continued on down the exciting rolling waves, with T just flying out of the water in her Juice. It was fascinating for me, being in the third position, to see the difference between J in his mega rocker and T in her juice. Good times. We stopped off at the jumping rock to do some jumping. T decided not to go, but J and I went right up. After a quick bout of RPS, J lost and had to go first. Then I went. It was awesome! It feels so cool to go down so deep and then bob back up so quickly. It was so fun that we both went again. That’s where the CF of the day came in. I had decided to try to do a tuck bomb, but what happened was upon hitting the water, my watch on my vest flew up and smacked me in the forehead. It immediately raised a ½ dollar sized lump. Ouch! It really hurt. And after that I couldn’t put my helmet back on. I had to try to be careful on the rest of the run, which was only about 20 more minutes.

We had planned on getting out at the furthest spot, but because of my head and T’s lack of energy, J decided to go on alone and let us get out at the earlier spot. We had to wait quite a while, but finally he drove in. Turns out he had to ride the dirt bike through pouring rain (which hadn’t reached us on the river). Poor guy. By this time it was 3:30 and we were all beat. So no Pinnacle run for us. After eating an early dinner, J read and T and I watched a movie. It was called Speed and was about extreme mountain skiing. We both decided that we’d like to give that a try :)

Last full day tomorrow. We’re hoping to do the pinnacle and royal gorge both.

-Missy