Gouldhome, Green River, June 27

June 27

I thought I had woken up early this morning - 6am, but Joel had beaten me to it. Everyone else was still sleeping. I had injured my shoulder last year and just before the trip had seen a physical therapist for about two months. I was worried that my shoulder would not hold up well for the trip. It is why I am rowing a small boat. This morning my shoulder was sore, but not abnormally. So I stretched it out -- a little yoga and a back stretch from my PT. Earl was the next one up. His back was sore, so he was out practicing yoga too. (pic)

As we waited for everyone to wake up, Joel and I started breakfast. Today was Gingerbread Pancakes. YUMMY! They are one of my favorites.

Today we got warmed up on Triplet (pic), which I rowed quite elegantly, just zipping around the rocks. But just a short way down was the hardest rapid in the river -- Hell's Half Mile (pic). Dave and I got there a while before the others. I looked at the rapid. Plan A was to go left of the rock. Plan B was to go right. Earl and I both were thinking the same thing. We both wanted the left, but would do whatever the river had in mind for us. I took off just after Earl. The top of the rapid went just as planned, but I knew as soon as I was in the channel that I wasn't going to the left of the rock. It ended up being Plan C -- kiss the rock and spin around it so as not to get stuck. It wasn't in the original plan, but hey it worked.

Right before going down, one of the guys asked about getting nervous before the rapid. I was barely nervous at all. When I started feeling nervous I just forced myself to breath slowly and it all went away. But the adrenaline hit big time in the rapid and my hands were shaking at the bottom.

Lunch was at Rippling Brook. We were going to stop at Rippling Brook 1 but the Hatch trip said that was where they were camping for the night, so we pulled into Rippling Brook 2. Then the river patrol pulled in and said they were camping here, but they let us eat lunch here then take a short hike up to the waterfall. We thought it would be an easy 1/4 mile. NOT! It was straight up . . . and Up . . . and UP (pic). But finally we were there. The waterfall was barely flowing but it had a nice rain-like quality. We all took turns getting wet (pic).

The afternoon was uneventful - lots of rowing against the wind and avoiding rocks. But I was finally getting into the spirit of the trip. Being the trip organizer is stressful, but a day or so on the river and you can't help but mellow out.

This evening we camped at Limestone and a lot of the group hiked up to an overlook. The rest of us stayed drinking wine, eating chips and nuts and gabbing. Then Earl wanted to know if we were going to start dinner. It was 7pm. I was surprised; I thought it was only around 6pm. So we started the salmon. George took over and made some wonderful salmon and veggies. Poor Clay didn't get to make dessert tonight (he made it every night for the whole trip except this one), since he was off hiking with his parents.

It was a lovely evening and I stayed up way too late talking to my mom.