July 5 - July 13. Nine days of pure bliss on my all-time favorite river. We had sunny skies and temps. in the upper 90s. There was a spectacular lightening, thunder, and rain storm one night. We had no flips, and we managed to keep the dog in the boat this year. The "new" Black Creek rapid threatened to bounce me out of my boat again this year and I rode through the meat of the rapid hunkered down in the rower's area, on my knees, peaking over my cooler. My friend called it my "crouching tiger" imitation
We introduced my friend's 13 year old granddaughter to the river, and she loved it. She and her 12 year old cousin (a seasoned river vet since age 4) had a blast exploring, building sand castles, swimming in the river, and catching ginormous bull frogs. We also had a "50-something" Salmon River newbie, and he has now decided that this is his new favorite river to run. We ate way too much delicious dutch oven food (pizza, mexican casserole, chicken pot pie, BBQ, brownies, cookies, sweet rolls, etc.). Is there such a thing as too much DO goodness???? It was an awesome trip.
I did find suitable hammock trees in several camps, and slept/napped like a baby. New gear that got a big thumbs up was my Wilderness Logics Wild River Big Otter tarp, Big Daddy tarp, and Sawyer 4L water filter. All of these worked wonderfully.
Here's a few pictures for all to enjoy.
KJ
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