I'm soaked in cold river water, sitting in the captain's chair on my cataraft. Not a single part of me is dry, but the sun is keeping me warm. This particular drenching isn't the river's fault. Its the massive, close range water fight that broke out on our six raft flotilla. We'd strapped all the boats togther with me in the center so we could use the outboard motor on my boat to push us through the slackwater dominating the first day of our weeklong journey down the Green river. Being the center boat isn't the ideal position to wage a water war. Each of the other boats had two adults and two kids, most of them with large volume squirt guns. It was only a matter of time that one of the guns got turned on a person.
The war ended when Logan evidently finally had enough and went with what we call the "nuclear option" - a well timed dive tackle that send he and Robby plunging into the cold river.
This trip held the promise of a true get away. A full 7 days end to end disconnect from the "real world". I'm so glad that so many of our little rafting family could make it with all the conflicting obligations and demanding schedules. As the token single guy on an otherwise family dominated trip, some would think I'd be less excited, but that's not the case. "Anytime on the water is a good time" as far as I'm concerned. Also, seeing the husband/wife teams and their young children (various ages from two to seven in this case) successfully leading the kind of adventurous life that brought us all to Colorado in the first place is inspiring to me. It makes me think perhaps children do make sense for me too. That and the ever supportive "village approach" that each member of this group takes- every child here is our child. Maybe I could raise children, I may have found my village.
The river runs some 84 miles through two canyons. Desolation and Gray canyons. The names don't make them seem too appealing but they prove to be some of the most beautiful river miles I've seen. A combination of sandy banks, twisting cottonwoods among tamarisk and stark, steep, rocky canyon walls. The current is strong, with a bit of perfect timing at play too. We ended up launching just in time to ride an additional release from an upstream dam that will help push us along the first few days of the trip. Thank goodness - the upstream wind that arose on day two fought us every step of the way. It had already snapped my shade umbrella with one good gust.
We'd stowed the motor after the first day, as the rapids were slowly but steadily getting larger and more abundant. That and we came here to paddle. (technically, its probably called "rowing" among the rafting community... but I come from a canoe and kayak background mostly, where you "paddle". So, it'll forever be paddling to me). With the strong winds, most of us are leading with the back of the boat so we can pull on the oars instead of pushing. Its a much stronger stroke. The kids are having a blast, occasionally jumping from boat to boat to ride with a different mix of friends and/or snacks. Eventually, they all end up on my boat. I've been lucky enough to be "fun uncle Tyson" to most of these little dudes. That kind of backfired when my boat became the desired ride. Robby thinks its hilarious and pushes the idea, only to row off ahead as hard as he can afterwards. Fortunately, Carol jumped on with the army of children and did the lions share of work wrangling them while the rapids intensified around us and I had to focus on paddling. I only lost my hat, not a single kid. I put that in the win column.
This trip happened to fall on or around the birthdays of three of the kids, so we had a layover day and party planned for them mid-week. This plan involved getting a particular camp ("wire fence") on day three, but while this river is permit based, the camps are first come first serve. We'd seen a couple other groups on the river of various sizes, so we had a vague sense of urgency to get to camp quickly on this particular day. The other thing the day held was the biggest rapid of the trip and a few that weren't too much smaller.
Large, complex rapids that bear their own name, "Joe Hutch" in this case, are often scouted from the bank to make sure a safe path is clear in your head before hitting it and being sucked into a place you don't want to be. A rapid's characteristics change all the time with water levels, so its always good practice to scout these kinds of rapids even if you've run the river before. As we approach the calm eddy water on river right to park the boats and hike to the scout, we see a handful of boats already there. Not too big of a deal, we can stop further upstream and let them move ahead- one of their boats is actually departing the eddy as we arrive. Logan and I are in an upstream eddy, dawdling, then suddenly Robby comes paddling by.
"Read and run!" he calls to us. "We gotta keep moving if we're gonna get the camp at wire fence!"
Logan gives me a shrug and motions for me to head on into the current and run the rapid. I know this isn't how he'd like to handle this, as he's the most level headed of our group. Although it may not be the best way to run this one, at least most of these other guys have run this rapid a time or two before. "Stay left" is all I know about this rapid. Well, also that it made a fully loaded gear boat do an impressive pirouette before flipping completely over last season. Here we go!
It turns out to be pretty straightforward to read and run, essentially just following the water (with the advantage of seeing how the boat in front fared) and avoiding a very large hole mid river. It has some big splashy hits and bucks the boat around, but nothing too scary. The group that we saw parked at the scout was only about half of their total crew. The other half was floating in the eddy after the rapid, glaring at us. They are none too pleased at us "playing through" and may have gathered that we are also headed for the same camp they are. A couple of them take off after us, and the race for camp begins.
This isn't too uncommon on the river, but I do feel a little bad for their group. There just isn't any way they'll be able to catch us. We are pulling hard to make the miles against the wind, but we are quickly outpacing them. Half of their gang hadn't even gotten back in their boats much less run the rapid yet. They seem to realize this and dissappear behind us around some curve of the river.
When we arrive exhausted from the sun and the late day fervent push, we are rewarded with instant karma. The camp is already taken. As are the next three. We end up doing another handful of river miles to a camp none of us are excited about from it's description in the river guide. Not to mention we are spent from all the rowing just to get this far this quickly. It was a long end to the day. Some of the parents had the added worry about the next day's party and if the camp will even be big enough for us all to sleep, not only throw a fun day for a gang of expectant kids.
Fortune smiles on us again and the camp is perfect. Plenty of sandy beach, enough room for our kitchen and for everyone to camp without being on top of each other. I even find a couple strong cottonwoods to put up my hammock.
The camping is half of the fun on these trips. The amount of gear you can bring on a raft is more akin to car camping than backpacking. Yes the gear is a bit specialized, but it does offer a level of comfort similar to an expedition than an ultra light long distance hike. We eat well, drink deep and laugh nonstop. This group of people simply compliments each other too well not to have a good time. The kids are having the time of their lives as well- being kids. Playing in the sand, exploring and gathering stick weapons. Seth demonstrates some awesome whittling skills and makes magical wands, staves, swords and daggers to order for each kid, with surprising attention to detail. I catch what creatures I can to help show them the wonder of the natural world my grandfather shared with me- first a locust, then a toad, then a lizard. Some want to hold them, and later many go searching for more to catch. This is the kind of experience I feel every child needs more of in this ever digitizing world of ours.
Next is the layover day and superhero party. The day starts with eggs made to order, with hashbrowns and bacon thanks to Robby. There is much lounging, reading, napping and a short hike to fill the early day. But soon, prep for the party begins. Robby and Bree's daughter Ayla is turning seven, so Seth starts working on his whittling masterpiece. From a waterlogged two by six plank he crafts a paddle, engraved with an A (for Ayla) on one side and a seven on the other. Then he inlays the engraving with coal from the night's fire and usess the cloth brim from his big sun hat to create a wrapped handle as well. This thing looks awesome when he's finished. It will be the tool of destruction for the pinata we will hang later. Being a superhero party, each of the kids will go through superhero school and "earn their capes."
The school consisted of throwing a rescue rope to one of their parents as they floated down river, then learning that sometimes we all need a little rescue, and doing the same float and catch (with an adult) this time receiving. Next they learned to fly. We set up a huge slip and slide down the entire beach and into the river. They took superman position on a large sleeping pad and Robby and I grabbed the two front straps we had attached and hauled them at lightning speed down the "slip and fly" to the river. At this point Rob took them on a little adventure with a couple more skills/tests, one of them a slackline walk. I broke off from the classes to stuff and hang the spiderman pinata... as well as reattach his arm (he didn't quite fit inside the dry box with two arms). All the kiddos earned their masks, capes and powerbracelets. The pinata took some work, proving even an inanimate spiderman is a worthy foe. That or the masterwork paddle carved from lumber was a bit heavy to handle.
Although it wasn't part of the initial plan, they all wanted to fight a supervillan, so after two costume changes and quite a few exhausting tumbles in the sand, uncle Tyson was soundly defeated. All in all, it was a pretty successful party I'd say. Their smiles seemed to agree.
We had made so much progress in the first portion on the trip the following days were quick river miles with a few large rapids to keep the blood pumping and more time spent at camp . I cannot fully describe how simply having downtime among this group turns out to be the real reward for the significant effort these trips require. Chatting from hammock to hammock, joint supervising swimming in eddys, team cooking/cleaning or just sitting and watching the sun set over the canyon and its rock formation "Queen Nefertiti". A perfect setting with the right people to share it with. I cannot be more thankful to have inherited this group.
We returned home exhausted and with a thick patina of sand, dirt and sunscreen on our skin and smiles on our faces. De-rigging the boats took a good bit more work, but that at least could wait until the next day.
