Middle Fork Trip

My feet have a brownish tint on the soles of them and my body still wreaks of odor that has not washed off after the first few showers. The tops of my feet have acquired a more distinct "river print" from wearing my Tevas on the river for nearly an entire week and I have found sand in nearly every place possible. My contacts were glued to my eyes until Saturday night at 11:45, when I finally took them out to sleep. I still cannot bring myself to putting them back in yet. Bruises will continue to appear for another day or so and I will continue to have no idea which fall or slide caused it to appear.

Everyday last week, I woke up to an amazing mountainous view outside our tent. After marveling at the view for at least 10 minutes before climbing out of my sleeping back, I would stumble to the common area of the campground and drink coffee from the same stainless steel coffee mug that held my wine the night before...sometimes with Bailey's and sometimes without. The daily routine didn't vary much: get up, eat breakfast, break down the tent, pack up, load the boats, get on the river, drink some beer, stop for lunch, drink more beer, back on the river, get to the campsite, drink more beer, unload, set up the tent, drink some wine, eat dinner, sit around, drink more wine, and sleep.

More specific daily activities were varied. We stopped at a few hot springs along the river one day, then hiked up to Veil Falls and Parrot's Grotto another day. We drank tequila straight out of the bottle prior to having moose steaks for dinner one night and later, in the night sky, Josh and I ran off (rather intoxicated) to sit in the hot springs at our campsite. (Tequila can make people do crazy things). The next night, I drank wine and read a book alone in the tent to recuperate from being around 11 other people for so long. With so much hiking up and down trails and maneuvering around rocks to see the waterfalls, squatting became difficult later in the week and would probably still be a problem for me, if I didn't have the convenience of a flushing toilet in my apartment right now.

It poured down rain the first night of our trip and I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into, especially after my sunglasses broke before we even hit the water and my chair broke on the second night, but when the sun shone bright and warm the next day (our first day on the river) and we saw three bears on the side of the mountain our first day, I was convinced this would be a fabulous trip. And that it was. We didn't flip the boat or fall out (though we did get stuck on a rock when I was rowing one day) and a bucket as a toilet isn't as bad as it sounds when you've got the Frank Church Wilderness in full view.

You really can't beat a trip like this, especially when the company keeps you laughing at every bend in the river. There are MANY stories to be told and one blog can't hold them all--it would take me hours to write and more time than you have to read them in one sitting. So for now, enjoy the photos!