- Joined
- Aug 9, 2007
- Messages
- 12,939
Last month, after years of dreaming about it and several months of building it, I took my new raft out on her maiden voyage. Early in the build process I snagged some permits for a couple nights on the Colorado River in Ruby and Horsethief Canyons. It's a pretty popular float in the summer time but we got some great spots. With a date set in stone, I kept plugging away at building the raft. It seems like it should be easy, right? Buy raft, buy stuff to go in raft, put raft on river. Or maybe it is that easy, but I like to make things difficult. I obsessed over tiny details trying to get it perfect. The day before the float I installed the finishing touches. An 8' bimini and a retractable swim ladder. Luxurious! See more details on the build here if you'd like: http://backcountrypost.com/threads/building-my-first-raft.5961/.
The final shot in the garage the night before the trip. I still hadn't even been able to put the oars in the locks and really see how it feels because I didn't have the room and moving it to the yard was too difficult without more people to help.
The next day was a blur. @Jen saved me a drive to Idaho to pickup the raft/utility trailer I had custom ordered nearly 8 weeks earlier. She arrived late on Thursday night and we stayed up way too late catching up. After a few hours at work, I was toast so I went home to start loading. The trailer I picked up can swallow a ridiculous amount of gear.
Before I knew it the rest of the SLC crew were at my house, the trailer was filled and we were hoisting the raft onto the trailer. I've since perfected the winch/strap system on this so a couple of children could load my fully loaded raft on with ease. If we hadn't had the storage underneath, we probably would have had to have taken at least 1 or 2 more vehicles.
This is an after trip shot, but it's a good angle of the easy access to all the storage. It's made by Sawtooth Welding in Boise and I absolutely love it. It's great that it doubles as a utility trailer when the raft is not in the equation.
Ready to hit the road for the first time!
We ended up taking the long way down that night, going through Scipio and Salina and out through the Swell. We passed through the Swell and down through Spotted Wolf Canyon during the most beautiful golden hour. The sun was at our backs and that landscape looked like the most beautiful thing on earth. Totally euphoric. If you could package that scene up as a drug, I'm buying. The last of the sun went down after passing through Spotted Wolf, and then the cherry on top was an epic sunset as we stopped in Green River. No pictures of any of this as I was driving.
We rendezvoused with @Dave and Jen's friend Alli that night near Westwater at a campsite I'd picked out on sat imagery. It turned out to be an awesome site. The next morning we continued on to Fruita where we met up with @gnwatts and his wife Nancy, and Jodi, another friend of Jen and Alli's that I hadn't met before. We decided to launch from the Colorado River State Park in Fruita. After a big gear dump, we sent some folks to run shuttle while we rigged the boats.
The first time in the water for Fiftymile. We had a little ceremony complete with champagne, but I was too busy pouring (and drinking) to take any photos. Maybe some of the other guys will post one if they're any good. I named the boat Fiftymile after Fiftymile Creek on the lower Escalante. One of the finest canyons I've ever had the pleasure to step foot in, and one of the greatest treasures lost under the waters of Lake Powell.
After the shuttlers got back, we hit the river. Rowing a raft was like speaking a foreign language to me. My brain wanted to move it like a kayak paddle. But as the miles went by, it got easier and easier. We stopped at this little beach for lunch. With 10 people on the trip, we opted for group meals spearheaded and planned by @Melissa. Few people have ever eaten so luxuriously on a river trip! And that's just lunch!
Soon we passed by the usual Loma launch for Ruby Horsethief. The good times kept getting better.
We rafted up together at times.
And somehow we went from having 1 person to 4 people on one of my Sea Eagles.
And then there were 3.
Sage was not sure what to think of all of this.
We camped that first night at the Bull Draw campsite. The small beach is pretty far away from the campsite.
@Smokey drinking a beer on a rock in the river. I've missed this guy on trips due to a heavy school load he's had the last few years. Glad to have him back!
@Jen, @Melissa, @Dave cooking us some incredible chicken burritos.
Bull Draw Camp. That sky turned all sorts of amazing colors that evening. Kudos to @Dave and @neiloro for being down by the river to photograph it.
Big beer or little chair?? With so many kayakers relying on raft support, I said bring compact chairs only. Jen found this kids chair at the thrift store and Melissa did a bad ass job of decorating it while they were running shuttle.
How not to do a first aid kit.
The bugs that night were pretty bad at Bull Draw. Some people got eaten alive, but I did okay with some Deet. It did inspire me to setup a tent for the first time this year.
The next day we had an incredible breakfast before loading up and starting back down the river.
@neiloro took my camera and snapped a few shots of us in Fiftymile.
Taylor bilging his kayak while wetting his whistle. Turns out his drain valves were open.
Our first little rapid.
The conversation got a little heavy over on the SS Estrogen.
We had to paddle away for a bit and do man stuff. Or something.
After a stop for lunch, we were back on the river with an occasional headwind. We all rafted up and enjoyed the sun and company.
And then Jen's kitty pants came out. She picked these up in Poland, I believe. Jen is a very small woman so when the idea of Dave wearing them came up, I was skeptical.
But sure enough, they fit (I think).
The next (and biggest) 'rapid' of the trip at Dog Island. These were so much fun in a kayak last year. In my new raft, it was like they weren't even there. I can't wait to get on some rougher water.
Coming into Black Rocks was pretty interesting. As we started in, a commercial group with Holiday River Expeditions passed by us. The water gets pretty swirly and interesting and I had kind of gotten swept into an eddy behind a rock. I let the commercial guys pass so I could take my time learning.
They all went buy and I rowed hard to get out of that hole. As we drifted down, we noticed a young boy in one of the Holiday kayaks still stuck where I was. As we floated further away, we could see he was panicking. He was paddling like crazy and crying his eyes out. We couldn't see any other boats from their party coming so we went into rescue mode. He was able to break out and close enough to us that we could throw a rescue rope to him. Dave and Melissa pulled him in to the raft while I worked on keeping us steady in the river. I was able to find a strange eddy-like current right in the middle where I was able to basically hold still without moving downstream. I was just paddling back and forth in it.
Dave did a masterful job of talking to the kid in the boat. He was 10 years old from Sweden on a trip with his family. Soon we saw another Holiday raft round the bend and start our way. By the looks on their faces, I'm not sure what they thought we were doing with him there in the middle of the river. It turns out his parents were on their boat. We gave them the quick story and they were ver grateful. They got him on the raft and continued downstream.
Now it was time to get to camp. We were in Black Rocks 4, just down stream, but there were plenty of rocks and currents to get through to get into it. As we approached we saw that the other raft was upstream of camp waving us to come in there. I turned the boat in backwards and rowed my ass off to try and break through the eddy line into that beach. It was incredibly difficult and I barely made it in. In retrospect, I could have had my ferry angle better, but damn. After that we had an epic mud/water fight on the beach. No pictures as I was pretty much getting clobbered by the ladies. Afterward we decided to move the boats to the much better beach at our campsite, but that involved rowing into the edge of the current around some rocks. It was a little iffy (especially in my state of mind by then), but we got them all in. Black Rocks 4 is a great campsite.
@gnwatts sacked out on the beach.
Cooking dinner in Black Rocks 4.
It seemed like my big camera was never around when I wanted it, so a lot of these are cell phone pics.
We had an awesome night sitting around the candle lantern. The next morning was overcast as I wandered up to our most excellent groover spot.
After another fine breakfast, we were back on the river under cloudy skies.
It rained a bit which made the bimini even more awesome. The sun came out for the last section so we rafted up a bit more. There was much singing, and thanks to something Dave said the night before, our band now had a name: Nick Woolley and The Canyon Country Groovers. How my name got in there, I have no idea, because I didn't do much of the singing. I do like the rest of the name though. The Canyon Country Groovers will be on tour on a river near you in 2017. Yeehaw!
The final shot in the garage the night before the trip. I still hadn't even been able to put the oars in the locks and really see how it feels because I didn't have the room and moving it to the yard was too difficult without more people to help.
The next day was a blur. @Jen saved me a drive to Idaho to pickup the raft/utility trailer I had custom ordered nearly 8 weeks earlier. She arrived late on Thursday night and we stayed up way too late catching up. After a few hours at work, I was toast so I went home to start loading. The trailer I picked up can swallow a ridiculous amount of gear.
Before I knew it the rest of the SLC crew were at my house, the trailer was filled and we were hoisting the raft onto the trailer. I've since perfected the winch/strap system on this so a couple of children could load my fully loaded raft on with ease. If we hadn't had the storage underneath, we probably would have had to have taken at least 1 or 2 more vehicles.
This is an after trip shot, but it's a good angle of the easy access to all the storage. It's made by Sawtooth Welding in Boise and I absolutely love it. It's great that it doubles as a utility trailer when the raft is not in the equation.
Ready to hit the road for the first time!
We ended up taking the long way down that night, going through Scipio and Salina and out through the Swell. We passed through the Swell and down through Spotted Wolf Canyon during the most beautiful golden hour. The sun was at our backs and that landscape looked like the most beautiful thing on earth. Totally euphoric. If you could package that scene up as a drug, I'm buying. The last of the sun went down after passing through Spotted Wolf, and then the cherry on top was an epic sunset as we stopped in Green River. No pictures of any of this as I was driving.
We rendezvoused with @Dave and Jen's friend Alli that night near Westwater at a campsite I'd picked out on sat imagery. It turned out to be an awesome site. The next morning we continued on to Fruita where we met up with @gnwatts and his wife Nancy, and Jodi, another friend of Jen and Alli's that I hadn't met before. We decided to launch from the Colorado River State Park in Fruita. After a big gear dump, we sent some folks to run shuttle while we rigged the boats.
The first time in the water for Fiftymile. We had a little ceremony complete with champagne, but I was too busy pouring (and drinking) to take any photos. Maybe some of the other guys will post one if they're any good. I named the boat Fiftymile after Fiftymile Creek on the lower Escalante. One of the finest canyons I've ever had the pleasure to step foot in, and one of the greatest treasures lost under the waters of Lake Powell.
After the shuttlers got back, we hit the river. Rowing a raft was like speaking a foreign language to me. My brain wanted to move it like a kayak paddle. But as the miles went by, it got easier and easier. We stopped at this little beach for lunch. With 10 people on the trip, we opted for group meals spearheaded and planned by @Melissa. Few people have ever eaten so luxuriously on a river trip! And that's just lunch!
Soon we passed by the usual Loma launch for Ruby Horsethief. The good times kept getting better.
We rafted up together at times.
And somehow we went from having 1 person to 4 people on one of my Sea Eagles.
And then there were 3.
Sage was not sure what to think of all of this.
We camped that first night at the Bull Draw campsite. The small beach is pretty far away from the campsite.
@Smokey drinking a beer on a rock in the river. I've missed this guy on trips due to a heavy school load he's had the last few years. Glad to have him back!
@Jen, @Melissa, @Dave cooking us some incredible chicken burritos.
Bull Draw Camp. That sky turned all sorts of amazing colors that evening. Kudos to @Dave and @neiloro for being down by the river to photograph it.
Big beer or little chair?? With so many kayakers relying on raft support, I said bring compact chairs only. Jen found this kids chair at the thrift store and Melissa did a bad ass job of decorating it while they were running shuttle.
How not to do a first aid kit.
The bugs that night were pretty bad at Bull Draw. Some people got eaten alive, but I did okay with some Deet. It did inspire me to setup a tent for the first time this year.
The next day we had an incredible breakfast before loading up and starting back down the river.
@neiloro took my camera and snapped a few shots of us in Fiftymile.
Taylor bilging his kayak while wetting his whistle. Turns out his drain valves were open.
Our first little rapid.
The conversation got a little heavy over on the SS Estrogen.
We had to paddle away for a bit and do man stuff. Or something.
After a stop for lunch, we were back on the river with an occasional headwind. We all rafted up and enjoyed the sun and company.
And then Jen's kitty pants came out. She picked these up in Poland, I believe. Jen is a very small woman so when the idea of Dave wearing them came up, I was skeptical.
But sure enough, they fit (I think).
The next (and biggest) 'rapid' of the trip at Dog Island. These were so much fun in a kayak last year. In my new raft, it was like they weren't even there. I can't wait to get on some rougher water.
Coming into Black Rocks was pretty interesting. As we started in, a commercial group with Holiday River Expeditions passed by us. The water gets pretty swirly and interesting and I had kind of gotten swept into an eddy behind a rock. I let the commercial guys pass so I could take my time learning.
They all went buy and I rowed hard to get out of that hole. As we drifted down, we noticed a young boy in one of the Holiday kayaks still stuck where I was. As we floated further away, we could see he was panicking. He was paddling like crazy and crying his eyes out. We couldn't see any other boats from their party coming so we went into rescue mode. He was able to break out and close enough to us that we could throw a rescue rope to him. Dave and Melissa pulled him in to the raft while I worked on keeping us steady in the river. I was able to find a strange eddy-like current right in the middle where I was able to basically hold still without moving downstream. I was just paddling back and forth in it.
Dave did a masterful job of talking to the kid in the boat. He was 10 years old from Sweden on a trip with his family. Soon we saw another Holiday raft round the bend and start our way. By the looks on their faces, I'm not sure what they thought we were doing with him there in the middle of the river. It turns out his parents were on their boat. We gave them the quick story and they were ver grateful. They got him on the raft and continued downstream.
Now it was time to get to camp. We were in Black Rocks 4, just down stream, but there were plenty of rocks and currents to get through to get into it. As we approached we saw that the other raft was upstream of camp waving us to come in there. I turned the boat in backwards and rowed my ass off to try and break through the eddy line into that beach. It was incredibly difficult and I barely made it in. In retrospect, I could have had my ferry angle better, but damn. After that we had an epic mud/water fight on the beach. No pictures as I was pretty much getting clobbered by the ladies. Afterward we decided to move the boats to the much better beach at our campsite, but that involved rowing into the edge of the current around some rocks. It was a little iffy (especially in my state of mind by then), but we got them all in. Black Rocks 4 is a great campsite.
@gnwatts sacked out on the beach.
Cooking dinner in Black Rocks 4.
It seemed like my big camera was never around when I wanted it, so a lot of these are cell phone pics.
We had an awesome night sitting around the candle lantern. The next morning was overcast as I wandered up to our most excellent groover spot.
After another fine breakfast, we were back on the river under cloudy skies.
It rained a bit which made the bimini even more awesome. The sun came out for the last section so we rafted up a bit more. There was much singing, and thanks to something Dave said the night before, our band now had a name: Nick Woolley and The Canyon Country Groovers. How my name got in there, I have no idea, because I didn't do much of the singing. I do like the rest of the name though. The Canyon Country Groovers will be on tour on a river near you in 2017. Yeehaw!
