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- May 19, 2012
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The morning after the storm
9-14-15
My wife and I do a float trip every year with two friends, a tradition now for about 7 years. We either travel the Green or the Colorado, down to the confluence, but lately have preferred the Colorado.
We knew it was going to be a tough three days with foretasted 20-25 mph SSW winds, a perfect head wind. It was a difficult day, beautiful but difficult. The winds often were so sudden that we were spun around with the current, or just simply pushed into the shore. But it was still a beautiful day though.
We only made it about 6 miles after a late start, found a great sandy beach, plenty of elevation above the river, beautiful view. It started to cloud up, so we set up our Kelty Shade Sail, but we did not use the rear pole (thank God). Instead we just attached it to the sand, with the storage boxes and cooler holding it down. Good enough to cook, hang out and then go to bed, given the forecast of rain and 25mph winds.
We were just about to start our dinner, about 7:30, when the 20 mph winds increased considerably. Within a minute we were faced with 60-70 mph sustained winds and blowing sand, with visibility down to a couple of feet at times. I am used to occasional big gusts, but this was not gusting, as it lasted about an hour. Our friends tent started lifting up, the buried stakes pulling right out. We were unprepared for this in our staking. Our Bibler had 4 12" stakes buried dead man style into pretty wet, firm sand. This was insufficient, as Mike yelled out "TENT", and I could barely make out our tent lifting up about 60 feet away. I ran to our tent, leaving our friend Peg to keep the Shade Sail from blowing away. The Sail was holding up amazingly well.
I got to my tent as it was taking off into the Colorado, with all our stuff in it, including my camera stuff, sleeping bags etc. I was able to grab it, but it was pulling me along with it, so I jumped on top of it, damaging one on the poles, but keeping it from moving.
Then we heard Nancy yell "CANOE!"
And I could barely make out Mike about 30 feet out into the river, holding what I assumed was my canoe. So I drug my tent back to the other tent about 50' away, which took me about 10 minutes. I found my wife holding down the other tent, so I gave her ours and she laid down on both. I then jumped out into the water and found Mike, as the canoe was completely filled with water, and the sand would not let up. We were very fortunate that Mike grabbed the canoe. We pulled the boat back and somehow got the water out of it, leaving some for weight, and pulled it up on shore. At this point we concentrated on the tents, and getting them back to the Sail, and try to put them back up. After about and hour, the wind let up enough so that when the lulls hit I had enough time to ascertain the damage to my tent pole (bent badly), and re-erect it fairly easily. At this point Peg jumped in the Bibler, and we concentrated on our friends Black Diamond.
Around 9pm the winds were down to about 10mph, with rain. Nothing under the Shade Sail was lost, I am pretty impressed in the versatility of this thing.
We all crammed in our tent and drank wine and ate the rice we had cooked before the storm hit. We talked about how cool it was that 4 aging hipsters could work together and not panic.
The next morning we started gathering up stuff, and drying out. It was cloudy but no rain. It was really quite beautiful, when everything is so saturated, colors really vivid. All we lost in the storm were my beloved Chuck Taylors and my sandals, our map and our friends tent tarp.
About 30 minutes before the storm:
It looked kind of like this, but in the tight confines of the river canyon:
The next morning:
On the river, looking back towards our camp spot:
We only paddled for about 3 hours, as we got a late start drying out and the wind kept at it. We stopped for lunch at this spectacular outcropping with a couple protected campsites, well above the water. We decided to stay, as it was around 2 anyway:
View from above our campsite:
The next morning, we were blessed with this rainbow. It was like mother nature saying, "OK. I kicked your ass but now I will make up for it".
The next day the wind picked up again, with a vengeance. It was dangerous, at least with my skills, to navigate safely, so we stuck to the edge, and had to stop occasionally. Finally we found a beautiful sand bar around 5pm, we had gone 9 miles in 6 hours.
Well, I guess this shot kind of sums up our trip:
In reality, I was trying to take a group shot and had the timer set on 5 seconds instead of 10, and when I realized it I turned around, in mild disgust.
Our friends taking off the next morning, as they were staying an extra day:
Hanging out, waiting for Tex's:
In conclusion I have to say that mother nature spanked us hard in that storm, and that we were unprepared for something of that magnitude. I had not staked my canoe yet, was in the middle of cooking dinner, but that is no excuse. If events had transpired differently, we could have lost a great many things, but they are replaceable. If our tents had ripped or been blown away we would have been uncomfortable for one night, not the end of the world. And we would have been picked up by Tex's the next morning. I for one will be more prepared next time.
Thanks for looking.
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