La Manz Beach Day

Iris and Linda at the beach entrance.

Iris met us outside our casa on Gomez Farias and we all walked a few yards to the taxis and hired our driver. Today is a La Manzanilla beach day and we all are ready for a little food, cards, and relaxation.

We loaded in and our driver immediately got on his phone and started driving. I guess he had to report into his taxi command center but for the first few miles, all he did was mess with his phone as he drove. Distracted driving is rampant in Mexico.

Colorful umbrellas were everywhere. 

When we reached the main beach access in La Manz we exited the cab and paid our fair. We were looking for our favorite restaurant, Pedro's. We walked to the beach and looked in both directions. Not spotting the surfboard in the sand we then walked back up to the main street and headed deeper into the town business area.  Within four blocks we spotted the sign for Pedro's and went in and found our seats.

We were greeted by everyone as if we had been there every day. Pedro does such a great job of making everyone feel like family. We ordered breakfast and our day began.

Fishing and a following of pelicans.

The rest of the day was filled with fun conversation, cards, food, and drink. The Bay of Tenacatita was teeming with fish and the birds were going crazy. We spent much of the day watching fishermen chasing schools of fish while pelicans dive-bombed the coastline.

We stayed until about 2:00 PM and then walked to the tiangue and quickly looked around. Most of the vendors were closing up, so we basically spent our time talking to our vendor friends. We found a taxi driver in full siesta. Iris woke him up and he drove us back to Melaque. It was a great day

La Manz beach life.

Net fishing in the fish frenzy.

Buying last-minute trinkets.

I might open a Seahawks gear store here.

Chinatown and More

The next day the conference was broke up into blocks and we were able to take the afternoon and ride the red line down south to Chinatown to explore and grab lunch. Heather put me in charge of getting us there and I held up my end and we were able to get there without the outcome that we faced yesterday on the trip back from the Sears Tower.

Heather asked a sales clerk where we should eat lunch and she said “ta tipple quan”. She asked what color the sign was and was told to look for green and yellow. We walked down to the street and looked around. We both spotted the place at the same time. Before us stood a big yellow and green sign stating “The Triple Crown.”

Our evening dinner was another experience. We joined our friends from PCC and Lane and walked about six blocks to a hot dog joint. This place had some of the best hotdogs and sausages I have even tasted. We gorged on dogs and onion rings. Obviously I will not be losing weight on this trip

Exploring Chicago

Right now I am sitting in the lobby of the Marriott located on the Magnificent Mile. For a large hotel, in a big city,they sure have slow Internet access. We arrived Sunday afternoon via the subway transit system. It was my first time on that type of public transit, can you believe that? I have been on the MAX in Portland and the Seattle Light-Rail system, but never on an actual subway. We traveled without mishap or any delays changing from subway to bus and finally landing on the Magnificent Mile.

I’ll step back a bit. Heather, Chloe, and I are on a bit of an adventure to the ACUI National Conference. This conference is the big one for Union professionals and is the second one I have ever attended. It’s Heather’s first big professional Union conference, and Chloe is a student who won a scholarship to this event. The fact that she had the scholarship helped us to justify the travel.

We flew out of Spokane, to Seattle and then on to Chicago. The flights were uneventful and during the long flight I was able to watch the movie “Inception“.

We landed at O’Hare and proceeded to the Blue Line, the L as they call it. It cost each of us $4.00 to take the subway, a taxi would have been about $40.00. We had one transfer from the L to a bus that took us directly to the heart of the Magnificent Mile.

We checked into our hotel and then met up with Heather’s Aunt, Uncle and Cousin who took us out to dinner at Gino’s East. We ordered Chicago deep dish sausage pizza. Very disappointing in my view, if this is the best of Chicago man we are in trouble.

We had some time before we had to check into the conference so we put on our walking shoes and headed South to see if we could find the Bean, a famous sculpture in Millennium Park.

As the story goes, the Cloud Gate sculpture was privately-funded piece that cost $23 million and was placed in the center of the park unfinished to meet the celebration of the parks opening. At first everyone hated it. It was nothing but a huge chrome blob and no one could believe that it was purchased with their money. Then they started to visit it. The reflection of the city in the Bean draws you closer and then you see yourself, the people around you and all the smiles it brings. The city began to fall in love with it and now it is one of the ”don’t miss” points of interest in Chicago. We played in the reflection and took pictures.

Continuing on we headed north to find the Lake. We knew it was about five blocks away and could catch a glimpse here and there, but we could not get to it. The freeway blocked our path so we turned east and followed some signs to the Navy Pier. Within about four blocks we were once again blocked, so we backtracked a bit and ended up grabbing a taxi which transported us to the front gate of the Navy Pier.

At the pier we walked out to the end and took pictures of the lake and surrounding panoramas of the city. We explored the interior of the pier facilities and looked through a stained glass museum as we walked. Once through the building and back on the street we were able to make our way back to the hotel. Our first big exploration a huge success.





Conference wise this is a very big one with about 1000 professionals and students in attendance. The first day was programmed with numerous breaks and down times where folks could explore. While most of the folks attending the conference were walking around looking for food, Heather and I grabbed a taxi and went to the Sears Tower to take the elevators up to the 110th floor. The Sears Tower is now known as The Willis Tower, but people in Chicago won't ever use the new name.

If you have never been up in a skyscraper, let alone the skyscraper that lead the tallest building war for so many years, you have to take the time and spend the $17 to get to the observatory and see Chicago like it should be taken in.

We had a blue sky day with a little haze covering the distant landscape. At the observatory level they have added four glass window boxes that allow you to walk outside the original building and look straight down to the street below. It is a real hart stopper to step out onto that see through glass floor. With the four boxes you can step out and take pictures of each other, so of course I had to coax Heather out onto the glass for some shots. We spent about an hour up in the tower and headed back.

To get back to the hotel we chose to take the subway, again for the adventure. We walked down to the Blue Line of the L and road the train to the Loop area, and then changed over to the Green Line and road to the exchange for the Red Line. That sounds easy, but it actually was not. We spent about 45 minutes on the train and platforms and only made it 3 blocks! We could have walked faster! Finally after several trains, some walking and a few very nice folks helping us out, we made it back to the motel.

Up dates but nothing exciting.

1) We traveled down to Linda's parents last weekend because Dad took Mom to the emergency room. Since they only have a land line and their answering machine does not work well, we loaded the camper and drove down so that we could find out the scoop. The hospital staff could find nothing wrong and she was sent home. We stayed the night in the camper and then drove home on Sunday. We still have no idea what was wrong with Linda's mother.

2) Kobi got out of the back yard and was caught by animal control. It cost us $46 and he had to spend the night in the pound, but all is back to normal today.

3) I am attending a conference in Missoula, Montana and have been enjoying it, but wish Linda was here. I miss her very much. I also miss the dog, but not as much.

That is the end of October report, life goes on and I wish we could sneak way to the warm weather.

Comfort Zone

Our college division, Student Services, had a Hula back to Schoola party a a local park last week. We had a huge picnic dinner and guess who was part of the entertainment? Yeah, I was out of many of my comfort zones on this one. Hardest part was taking my shirt off in front of the crowd. Who said I can't dance? The first part was a Haka that we all performed together. That led into a Hula that our boss, Eric created. We ended with interpretive dances from each of the team. It was well received and everyone had a great laugh.

Yeah, It Was Work!

Last weekend I traveled with the students to Portland Community College in Beaverton Oregon. We drove down on Thursday and returned on Sunday night. It was a long trip, but the students were great and we had a lot of fun.

At the conference I was given an award by the region. It surprised the heck out of me, I really had nothing to say. I was very flattered.

We took some time to explore Portland and ended up going to the Saturday Market. It is amazing how many students have never traveled to areas like Portland, or for that matter visited any cool tourist sights on the way to the big city. Here are a few photos from our trip.

Ross Point Weekend

I spent last weekend with the students at our leadership retreat. The Ross Point camp was very nice and I was a little impressed with what they have hidden over there. It's a bit old school, the areas have a damp mold smell, but the area and what they have done with the outdoor views is very nice. It's like a camp in the woods, but not out of town.

I stayed in the camper, but didn't get much sleep. The first night we stayed up late playing games. The second night the girl scout reunion folks at were staying at the camp stayed up late singing around the campfire that was near my camper. I'll sleep tonight and catch up.

Yesterday At Work

I Like This Photo

This year we had a great Student Events group at NIC. They wanted to get their picture taken and one of the shots was what they called a Jump Shot. Here is what the photographer saw. Yes that is me with a tie, first time I put one on in about 20 years. It was my Dad's fishing tie. I got some sweet air on that jump wouldn't you think?

Almost Cut My Hair! Yeah for $1790.00

On Wednesday I was sitting with about five bald guys and we were talking about what we were doing on the weekend. I said I was going to Oregon and mentioned that I was going to get a hair cut. One of them piped up and said he would cut my hair for $1.05. The rest of them chimed in and said they would give me a total of $10.00 to cut my hair. So I said, no way! I would not cut my hair off for less then $1000. So in the all campus meeting my boss stood up and announced that Dean Bennett will shave all his hair off if we collect $1000 for an NIC scholarship. Well, a week later they had raised $1790! So at the welcome picnic, they brought out the clippers and two of the staff cut my silver hair off. The money will go in to the Wes Hatch Scholarship fund. Mr. Hatch was my boss for the first five years at NIC and I had great respect for him. He passed away several years ago and the scholarship was started in his name. Having my hair cut was no big deal. People keep telling me that it looks good. It'll grow back but boy that was an expensive hair cut.

119 Degrees and Cashews

Some times modern technology makes life very good. In the case of this trip down to the Hammer Creek boat launch, the development of air conditioning was key. We left NIC at about 6:30 am and had no problems on the way down through Moscow and Lewiston, it was hot out but the ride was very comfortable due to conditioned air in both vehicles. We arrived at Hammer Creek and rigged the boats. There was a private group setting up, and one commercial group pulling out as we hit the ramp to unload. Things went remarkably smooth and our launch put us on the river at about 1:00 pm. The plan was to float down past Pine Bar and pick up a beach some where between that launch and American Bar. The river was running well so we moved along pretty fast. The Hammer to Pine Bar float took about ? and we were close to American Bar by ???. All the good beaches already had parties on them through this section and even American Bar was taken when we got there.

So we pushed on down to the area around Packer Creek. There are four beaches in that area so we hoped one would be open. We came to the first beach on river right and it looked good. Big enough for our group but not so huge that other parties would look at us with daggers in their eyes. The paddle boat hit the beach and so did Linda and I. We checked it out and gave each other the thumbs up so we started unpacking. I guess Paul C. didn’t like something about the beach because he didn’t have Ryan pull in! The went down river a bit and pulled in to shore. Then they started pulling the boat up river! Wow, this was different, guess they needed exercise or something. We were just about to go help them pull when Paul jumped behind the oars and pealed on down the river. Man he must have seen something about this place that he didn’t like. So the group headed down river to a beach on river left just above Killer Goat Beach. It was a good beach and had some real nice spots to set up on so that's what we did.

Dinner was served within the next hour, steaks off the bar-be, salad and cookies, a meat lovers dream. Cashews were brought out while the meat cooked and everyone joked of flying cashews. Linda and I didn’t get the joke but that’s ok, we ate the nuts without comment. It was dark by the end of dinner and most folks headed off to bed within the next hour or so.

Morning brought coffee and a breakfast of Egg-McChivvis’s. Man, were they good and there was plenty of food, oh boy! We packed the boats and were on the river by 11:00 am. We hit the big rapids today so everyone was excited. Ryan was in the IK, followed by the paddle boat containing Tami, Bob, Betsy, Todd, Erna, and Jon. Paul and Ron manned the gear boat, Linda and I followed. From what I heard Tami was the only victim of the river when she bounced out. She didn’t stay in long because they immediately brought here back onto the boat, almost faster then when she left. Ryan, soon to be known as FLASH, had a couple of swims during the canyon section. He flipped on the tail out section of Lorna’s LuLu and then bounced out of the lower half of Half and Half. Both times we were there with our cat to pick him up and get him back into the IK.

Everyone cruised through Snow Hole and China with no problems. We took the second beach on the left after China, a huge beach with massive flat sand. It had shade up in the Locust trees so we set up the kitchen there. Hors d’oeuvres were served via a floating snack table while everyone sat in the river trying to keep out of the heat. Jon told the story of the cashews, so now Linda and I were “in”. After a while Jon announced that it was time for the telling of the Flaming Banana story. I guess we had consumed enough beverages by then and we were comfortable enough to understand the sheer magnitude of the event he was about to recount. Jon is a story teller and by the end of his recounting we could almost see the flames, smell the burning rubber and personally know each character involved. If you ever get a chance to hear his recollections of this historic event, buy him several beers and sit back for some great laughs, but be sure you go to the bathroom first.

Dinner was Chicken with noodles and salad. We woofed it all down and sat up by the kitchen with the ladies challenging the men to “toss” the cashew. Some cribbage was played and the kitchen was cleaned up. Just another day on the Lower Salmon!

Packing was becoming faster, but we still were getting off the beach by about 11:00 each day. Our boating goal was to get into the Blue Canyon and hopefully find a camp some where around, Toad Beach or Sin City. This would get us off the river in time for a rousing horseshoe tournament. We floated along and the sun warmed up the canyon to a condition that many would call infernal-istic. I know that is not a real word, but there is really no word that describes how hot it was as we floated. A beach with a shade tree became our lunch hideout. I brought out my GPS to see if I could get a temperature reading that was somewhat accurate. I placed the GPS on the boat seat, in the shade, on the water, on a pad that would not have collected heat from the sun. We ate lunch. When I returned to my seat and looked at the thermometer reading. It read 119 degrees, on the boat seat, in the shade, on the water, on a pad that would not have collected heat from the sun. Ouch! I then placed the GPS out in the sun and in a few minutes it was reading 130 degrees and climbing! I shut it off. We didn’t need to know how hot it was in the sun. So we pushed off and continued into the Black Canyon.

During the day you try to keep in contact with the boats that pass you to find out where they are thinking about staying. We were able to do this a couple times, but we could only really be sure that the beach at Checkerboard Rapid was taken for sure. We had had several groups pass us and that wasn’t good. The straw that could be the camel breaker came when a big group of rafts motored by as we ate lunch. Yes I said motored! In all the years on the river I have never seen anyone raft up and motor through this section of the river. In fact I think this is the most scenic part of the float, with Rattle Snake Ridge to the east, it’s an amazing view. So as the sound of their motor faded down river we counted the beaches possibly available and the number of groups that have passed and it looked like it will be close!

We entered the canyon and to our left Frog Beach was taken. Yep, the motor heads got it. To our right the beach we though would be there was very steep, it might have been ok, but we moved on. Sin City was taken by a group and Checkerboard was captured by an outfitter. We moved on through Eye of the Needle and looked down river to see that the Pullman Mine Beach was taken also. So Linda and I pulled into the beach at Eye of the Needle to see what everyone else wanted to do. Eye of the Needle Beach is a smaller beach that fits two or three boats, may be six people very nicely. Eleven boaters was a little close, but everyone liked it so that where we stayed.

First item set up was the horseshoe challenge pit. Four the next three hours the sound of horseshoes clanging and people grunting filled the air. Pit etiquette required that no one crossed the tossing area during team turns. This rule was established early for safety sake and everyone was very good to abide by the sanction even though it meant no cooling off during the tossing of the shoe. Jon T set the rule based upon an unfortunate event involving Paul Cs’ wife and one of his better tosses.

As the teams competed FLASH did the prep work for dinner and when this was complete Paul joined in to create a fajita dinner with taco salad complete with all the trimmings. After dinner it was time for the days big surprise. Lindas’ birthday was July 24th and we had managed to purchase and pack a cake to commemorate the event. Now cakes are sort of fragile items, and rivers are filled with raging whitewater. Add the mix of beverages and the final product is a soggy cake, missing candles, and a squish mark where a can of Blue Ribbon kinda landed. So we served the mint frosted chocolate chip cake up with the best birthday decoration we could find, a cold sausage from the morning’s breakfast. Linda loved it, everyone had a good laugh, asses were exposed and the cake remained semi uneaten.

The tournament raged on and everyone enjoyed the evening, turning in early. Paul had gathered us together and requested that we break camp and leave as early as possible in the morning. So everyone scampered off to bed to toss and turn in the sweltering heat.

The next morning brought a quick cold breakfast, speedy load up and a relatively quick down river float. When we weren’t rafted up with the motor the current moved us quickly along and when we had the motor going it was very relaxing. Once the boats were connected and the motor started we kept the boat together through all the rapids on the Snake River. Deer Head and Wild Goose Rapids went by with no problems and before we knew it we could see the last corner, Oregon and the Grand Ronde River.

As we approached the confluence of the Grand Ronde and the Snake we could see the launch and the mass of boaters, both raft and Jet, jockeying for position. Looking up the Grand, a boat came cruising out on to the Snake that looked very familiar. It was Mike Washmuth, Tom and Sarah Husby, who had put on the GR at Bogans and floated down on an over nighter. Man what small world!

Take out was a cinch and we were on the road with no problems. Did I mention that it was hot? We all drove to Asotin and ate the place out of ice cream and jo jo’s. Linda and I lead the way and we were off through Lewiston up to Moscow and to the rest area north of town. I needed to use the rest room and we were a bit ahead of the others, so the stop was appreciated. Once the van stopped I knew immediately that something was not kosher. Everyone piled out and fell on the ground in a pile. Remember the technology we appreciated so much on the way down? We it had give out in the van and they had to ride all the way up to this point with only windows open. It was only about 105 degrees out there, my god, what do they want! So we rearranged our truck, held a cage fight and the three winners got to ride in air conditioning back to Coeur d’Alene. Erna, Betsy and Tami were great company on the return trip. Did you know Erna sucked up their canary with the vacuum cleaner? That is one story you will have to ask her to tell.

This Weekend, wow!

Thought I would post an update fro anyone who ventures in to Canyonwren Travels. This weekend starts tonight, Thursday with a big bachelor party blow out for the last hold out of our childhood friends. Yup, Fitz, (aka. Ratzo, Catatonic, Stevey Ohohoo, Fitzie, Butthead) is finally getting married. So, tonight is the bachelor party and the wedding is tomorrow night. It should be a late one with tons of laughs and lots of food. I prepared the meal Linda and I will be bringing last night, should be great by tomorrow.

On Saturday we have a gathering for a bunch of folks who are leaving the college, most leaving for reasons of a presidential magnitude. So we will get to see bunches of friends and once again eat lots of food. Connie Dawson-McKenzie has resigned her job as Financial Aid Director and we are really going to miss her around the college. She can't be replaced, but the college won't know that until they try. The keep saying she retired, funny retirement and resigning is such a different thing. I think she should get the benefits of retirement, but no, the college could never do something like that for an employee who gave so much.

Sunday Linda is participating in a duathlon at 9 Mile Falls near Spokane. I'll be her support team with Baka as the anchor dog.
May 18th, the day that I married the person that my whole world revolves around. Linda is my gravity, holding me to the earth. Without her I would fly off into space never to be seen again. By choice we spend all our free time together and when we can't I don't feel whole. 21 years seems like seconds. Time would stop with out her by my side.

Lake Wenatchee Weekend

Another weekend and another mini adventure. This time we are traveling to Lake Wenatchee State Park to visit Leavenworth and watch the NICOP crew run in the Challenge the Lake Adventure Race. We loaded up the dog and took off at about 4:00 PM on Friday. We had several printouts describing where we would be going, but I didn't toss in a driving map. As we neared Wenatchee, we started to be a little concerned because all the printouts said was turn off Highway 2 and go north. Where was Highway 2? After much debate Linda reread the info sheets and there it was a little phrase, but an important one. It said, "Coming from Wenachee going west". Oh, west of Wenachee we would find Highway 2! So we were looking too early! Yup, we found the Highway and then the turn and finally the campground. It pays to read everything.

We set up camp at campsite 74. It was a good one that had quite a bit of privacy. We had stopped in town at a Bavarian SUBWAY and bought sandwiches. Couldn't taste any difference from non-Bavarian SUBWAYs, but they hit the spot for our evening meal.

We went to bed at about 9:00PM read and fell asleep to the rain on the top of the camper. It is a nice sound and makes it real hard to keep your eyes open while you read. Next morning we got up and looked around the campgrounds. It's a real big place with quite a few things for people to do during the camping season. This weekend everything was closed, so we did a nice long hike. Later in the day we took a ride to the north campground and checked it out. The south campground is much nicer, but probably gets a lot more use. After the ride we came back and took a nap, cooked dinner and ate.

By that time it was getting dusk so we went for another walk. Just as we came to the main road at the campgrounds the Outdoor Pursuits Adventure Race Team showed up. They found a spot and we chatted for a bit. They got ready for bed but before they turned in they came over and brought some cake. It was Rachel's birthday so we were able to enjoy some of her cake and wish her happy birthday.

The next morning was the race. We met the team down at the beach and watched them prepare. They hadn't trained together at all and I don't think Paul or Jon had trained any personally. There was a good crowd so I think they were a little excited to get it all over with. They were in the race because they had won their division last year and were invaded back at not entry fee. It's a fun event and participating gives us some good ideas for our event in the spring.

The race began and I took pictures of the start, kayak leg and the transition to Mt. Bike. The total race would take about four hours and Linda and I didn't want to stay all that time so as soon as they left on the bikes we returned to our campsite and packed up. On the drive home we followed Highway 2 back through some smaller towns like Davenport. Wasn't eventful, we did see a coyote running along the road. Got a good look before he rambled into the sage.

The OP Team took first in their division and 3rd overall. Should have had second, but they had a little problem with the last challenge and one team passed them.

Pine Bar and the Group Grows Bigger

After two days of Linda and I lounging on the beach, we packed up and floated down to the Pine Bar put in. Approaching from up stream we checked out the campground above the put in and noted that they have a pump for water. This is good to know if you don't want to haul water down to the put-in, and we had never looked over the camping area so that gave us some good reference information.

The rapid above the put-in had about three slots you could use to get down, I chose the center right run and we had no problem getting through. When we arrived at Pine Bar the group had not gotten there so Linda went for a run and I read my book. The wind came up and was blowing sand everywhere. Our boat was getting covered with the dust, so after Linda finished running we loaded up and ferried across the river into an eddy that was in the shade where we washed the boat off with our squirt gun. By the time we finished the group had arrived so we crossed back and lent a hand with the set up of boats and the stowing of gear.

The group consisted of the Outdoor Pursuits staff, Paul, Jon and Rachel and employees of NIC. We were working to put together a paddle boat, a gear boat and two boats with gear and passengers. OP put the trip together as a team builder for the staff and everyone who signed up was very excited. The group consisted of Erna Rhinehart and Ron Cole; Tami Haft and Bob Grigg, Rolly and Jeannie Jurgens; Betsy and Todd Conery; Holly and Ryan Edwards; Ernie and Linda Michal-Hawks; Steve and Karen Ruppel; Chris and Carmen Compton. When we ferried across the river everyone had already been assigned duties and the boats and equipment were comming together.
Once everything was stored we had a brief chat about river safety and off we went.

The plan was to float down to some where by Killer Goat Beach and camp. We made the miles in good time but the camps we were thinking of were taken so we pushed on and found a good one on river left at (45 58.301N 116 28.043W). We ate dinner, sat around and talked. Most folks were in bed by 9:30 PM that evening.

The morning brought coffee and breakfast. We didn't hurry to get on the river so we started floating about 11:00 AM. Ahead of us we had most of the bigger rapids. Entering the Green Canyon and Cougar Canyon we would face such rapids as Lorna's Lulu, the two Bunghole Rapids, Harm's Hole Rapid, Bodacious Bounce, Half and Half Rapid and then Snow Hole Rapid. Snow Hole is considered the "big one" on the Lower Salmon and our group scouted it from the left bank. Linda and I went down first and had a good run. The group did excellent and everyone made it through in style. I set up in the eddy located below the tooth rock on the right and took pictures. They are posted on our photo page and available as a dotPhoto slide show.

Lunch, shade, and cool drink followed the run through Snow Hole. Our camp for the night was somewhere down river below China Rapid. We continued down around the oxbow past Maloney Creek, the Northern most point on the Salmon River, and we came to China Rapids, a blind class III s-curve, that managed to part Steve Ruppel from his boat and crew. It was only a short separation, everyone was right there to help gather the floaters and help right the boat. Jon, Paul and Steve flipped it back upright with very little effort. Little gear was lost and nothing was hurt except for a little pride and some confidence. The second night camp was just across from a private cabin that has a landing strip. It was a great beach with lots of camp sites and some shade up in the Locus Trees. There were a few bees and a couple folks got stung but other then that it was a good camp. After dinner people sat around and talked until dark. Some when to bed and everyone listen to Erna as she laughed so hard she fell over in her chair. I was in bed, but the next day everyone was smiling about the noise.

The next morning we loaded and set off traveling through the Cottonwood Creek area. Linda and I were talking about a beach we liked that was located
just at the end of the small rapid leading into the slow water before Wapshilla Rapid and entered the Black Canyon with Frog Beach set as a stopping point.

Some of the group wanted to keep going, but the majority wanted to stay the night and do a day hike to the top of a small peak. Once again dinner was great and we turned in early so we could get on as soon as possible for the push down river to the takeout.

NIChallenge Overnighter

This weekend I packed up that camper and spent Friday and Saturday setting up and running the NIChallenge Adventure Race. I set up the camper just before the rain and then went to dinner. We had a long day of preparations for the event and by 8:30 PM I was beat. The rest of the group ended up parting and making an evening of it, while I went to bed.

5:30 AM came early and I was able to get my coffee and a muffin before we started the final preparations for the event. It was real fun to be the guys in charge of a race that had 70 participants. Everyone had a great time and the challenge went surprisingly smooth. Our day lasted till about 6:00 PM and once again I was beat. By the time I got home my legs hurt, my knee was swollen and I was famished. But you know, I would do it again tomorrow.

Visit the NIChallenge web at NIChallenge. There are some great shots so click on the picture page link.