Middle Fork of the Salmon July 3-8, 2007

If the theme of our first Middle Fork trip in June was “reunion”, the July trip was “girl power”. A few of the women that had met on our Grand Canyon trip the year before wanted to keep the fun going, so they joined us in Idaho. In addition, we had a good number of gals from our local river join us. Tessa Sibbet headed up the ECHO crew again and six-year- old Jamie was nice enough to bring along her mom. The guys were out-numbered and, in some cases, out paddled- I didn’t hear a single complaint.

We also had more guitars per capita than I have seen in a long time, which made for some good times/tunes around camp. Am I getting older, or does the music start later? I was always hearing about late- night jam sessions that started after my 9:00 p.m. tuck in time.

*Guitar playing- kayaker tip: Make sure you have a guitar specific dry bag lined up before the trip. Yes, some folks did a bit of last minute scrambling.

Middle Fork of the Salmon June 25-30, 2007

I know- it’s almost September and I’m writing about June. Finding time to update has proven harder than I thought. With trips stacking up behind us and the abundance of great memories threatening to burst like a log jamb at Pistol Creek rapid, it is time to put some of it down in writing. The good thing is, the reason I’m late is because we have been out in the field running trips and paddling.

Our June trip felt like a reunion, that’s part of the fun for us, and there were a whole lot of redshirts around to confirm the feeling. We had old friends from as far away as Florida and North Carolina, Washington state and Colorado. This group is made up of a bunch of folks that just really enjoy one another’s company. It’s not an exclusive group by any means- their warmth and enthusiasm are like a rolling snow ball, they just gather up everyone in their path and bring them along. Get on a trip with them and you may find yourself part of the snowball.

On the road again….

It’s a good thing we love to travel, because travel we do. The fact that we get to do it together is a huge bonus. Aside from personal paddling, we do a lot of travel related to our classes and commercial trips. Phil gets pretty excited when it comes time to pull out the “road trip” gear; tent, dry bags, stove, cooler, sleeping bags, kayaks, and the bike. All the toys that mark the beginning of the road season.

This year marked an attempt to go leaner. The first move was to sell the Ford truck and down size to a more fuel efficient Toyota Corolla. Packing was a challenge while finding things in the car during the trip was even more so, “I know my booties are in there somewhere”.

Mary figures out how to make it all fit.

Packing tip for small cars: Slide the car seats all the way back before packing the car full, they won’t budge once the car is loaded. Not good if you have long legs.

Our first trip is usually out to Idaho in preparation for our Middle Fork of the Salmon trips we run in late June and early July each year. We always try to schedule in some extra time while there, whether paddling, hiking around the Sawtooths, or visiting friends. Idaho is a beautiful state where it is often times still possible to find some pretty cool, out of the way spots to call home for the night. Many even include a nice view of a river.

Camp for the night somewhere along the Payette.

This year we got in some paddling on the Payettes and visited with good friends in Boise and Ketchum. Phil biked in preparation for a big ride he was doing back in California at the end of our trip, and Mary hiked to her heart’s content. Read about the Middle Fork trips in our next update.

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