Big Water!

Good grief I needed that! What a great day on the Ark. High water, closed Gorge, double Parkdale. I love this river. I've yet to see it at a level that we can't find some fun on it, from 250-3600. Today, on the high end of that range, I got to see a whole new river. Rocks that we've stood on in the past to do throw-bag training, with the river several feet below us, were completely under water. In some spots, the water was even getting close to the road. Beautiful! We had two great runs. Highlights: new guy passed his check ride even though he made his guide swim, swimmers at Three Rocks that got beat up and actually enjoyed it, great customers, some sweet pictures and videos taken by a friend (will post when I get them), and just a gorgeous day on the river.


For Chris: Have you ever seen the river at 3600? I rode with Pat today, while Duane gave a new guy his check ride. On his check ride, Joel dumps Duane in Puppy's Tail. There's a gnarly hole in there at this level. If Duane hadn't come out, that boat was probably gonna flip. On his second run down, Joel took the boat sideways over the meat of Three Rocks, right down the center. Ooops. Dumped half his boat. They recovered everyone fairly quickly and somehow our crew managed to recover all of their paddles plus an extra one from PT. I love when you have customers that swim something crappy like Three Rocks and come out asking for more. There are some seriously wicked holes in PD at this level! In Shark's Tooth, there's this awesome wave that if you punch it just right you're nearly airborne. It just sent us flying! The whole raft, not just the crew. I can't wait to get those pictures from Rick. He took photos the second run and kayaked the first run. He's nuts. There's no way I'd get in that river in a 'yak at this level! Of course, he's also a lot better than I am. Remember our nighttime 'yak run? Fun stuff. I have missed the river so much. More than anything, I miss my river family... There will never be another year quite like my first one. Oh! We got a message from Vanessa, Xanthe went rafting today. :)