... So how dirty do you want to get?
Well, I've been back from Utah for a whole sad week now. And by "sad", you may infer I had an excellent time camping on the river with sand, mosquitos, scorpions, snakes and strange creatures called "sand bears". Is there a wikipedia entry for that last one yet, I wonder?"
14 people, seven canoes, and no serious injuries! Even I only had bruises and mosquito bites to contend with - I, who have apparently become accident-prone in the past two years. Not only that, there weren't any public tiffs or unpleasantness between parties. That I noticed. I can't speak for everyone, but I for one had a marvelous time.
Highlights would include the death-defying leap off a cliff into the river thirty feet below. Okay, not death-defying but certainly pee-in-your-pants frightening! Not that I did, just for clarification. As afraid of heights as I am, it took a looooot of thinking before I leapt off that cliff. I was okay standing on the edge until my cousin got to "three!" when it became clear I would actually have to move from the edge to the empty air... I will admit it was the most exciting part of the entire trip.
The other major highlight is the view from the top of the middle canyon over the river to both sides and canyons occupying all four corners of horizon. Even the scramble down was fun, requiring as it did careful thought to the placement of one's feet (avoid the pebbles, test this large rock for wobblies, put a hand out to steady a small jump down, okay we're good).
Ah yes, and that one point where most of us were treading water almost on top of each other and laughing for, well, I never knew what was going on, just heard the yelps and shrieks and giggles.
Steering a canoe = challenging and fun, but not my favorite part. Maybe when I get all the tricks down. I especially liked the part of not steering, where my brother told me to put down my paddle and let him do all the work ;). With pleasure! I replied.
The lowlights probably include trying to jump in the river from a steep bank and climb over three canoes, where the feet sink into four inches of mud and the water immediately rises up to the hips - all just to pee! And the mosquitos. Did I mention the mosquitos? My legs still itch. Never saw the scorpions, though we did run into some menacing bees, wasps and spider webs.
Oh! And I forgot the episode of the runaway canoes! last minute decision to eat lunch on an island created havoc when the rafted-together boats couldn't be untied in time, and some boats sped past while another two (I won't mention that one of them was the one I was in), still joined together bow to stern careened and jacknifed ashore with help from our Fearless Leader. Were there not two other Heroes along on the trip, we might have had a smaller table for lunch. I'll leave those stories to them, however.
Most of the trip involved lazy rafting and floating punctuated by frantic attempts to move away from either bank the "raft" had started drifting towards, excellent meals and good companionship. Some beer-drinking on the river, some evenings spent in the company of a box or two of red wine... one of which included a lengthy discussion about, oh, satelites, black holes, constellations and programming languages! I suppose I should have expected it, more than half of the group being either a computer scientist or an aerospace engineer of some kind or another.
It all ended with a hose-off shower in the back yard of the outfitters and a comfortable 6-hour drive with fantastic music ;), pizza and a too-large brunch the next day, the purchase of my first graphic novels ever, and a mortally dead phone.
Now I can say I've been to the Utah desert. And what a trip it was.
Well, I've been back from Utah for a whole sad week now. And by "sad", you may infer I had an excellent time camping on the river with sand, mosquitos, scorpions, snakes and strange creatures called "sand bears". Is there a wikipedia entry for that last one yet, I wonder?"
14 people, seven canoes, and no serious injuries! Even I only had bruises and mosquito bites to contend with - I, who have apparently become accident-prone in the past two years. Not only that, there weren't any public tiffs or unpleasantness between parties. That I noticed. I can't speak for everyone, but I for one had a marvelous time.
Highlights would include the death-defying leap off a cliff into the river thirty feet below. Okay, not death-defying but certainly pee-in-your-pants frightening! Not that I did, just for clarification. As afraid of heights as I am, it took a looooot of thinking before I leapt off that cliff. I was okay standing on the edge until my cousin got to "three!" when it became clear I would actually have to move from the edge to the empty air... I will admit it was the most exciting part of the entire trip.
The other major highlight is the view from the top of the middle canyon over the river to both sides and canyons occupying all four corners of horizon. Even the scramble down was fun, requiring as it did careful thought to the placement of one's feet (avoid the pebbles, test this large rock for wobblies, put a hand out to steady a small jump down, okay we're good).
Ah yes, and that one point where most of us were treading water almost on top of each other and laughing for, well, I never knew what was going on, just heard the yelps and shrieks and giggles.
Steering a canoe = challenging and fun, but not my favorite part. Maybe when I get all the tricks down. I especially liked the part of not steering, where my brother told me to put down my paddle and let him do all the work ;). With pleasure! I replied.
The lowlights probably include trying to jump in the river from a steep bank and climb over three canoes, where the feet sink into four inches of mud and the water immediately rises up to the hips - all just to pee! And the mosquitos. Did I mention the mosquitos? My legs still itch. Never saw the scorpions, though we did run into some menacing bees, wasps and spider webs.
Oh! And I forgot the episode of the runaway canoes! last minute decision to eat lunch on an island created havoc when the rafted-together boats couldn't be untied in time, and some boats sped past while another two (I won't mention that one of them was the one I was in), still joined together bow to stern careened and jacknifed ashore with help from our Fearless Leader. Were there not two other Heroes along on the trip, we might have had a smaller table for lunch. I'll leave those stories to them, however.
Most of the trip involved lazy rafting and floating punctuated by frantic attempts to move away from either bank the "raft" had started drifting towards, excellent meals and good companionship. Some beer-drinking on the river, some evenings spent in the company of a box or two of red wine... one of which included a lengthy discussion about, oh, satelites, black holes, constellations and programming languages! I suppose I should have expected it, more than half of the group being either a computer scientist or an aerospace engineer of some kind or another.
It all ended with a hose-off shower in the back yard of the outfitters and a comfortable 6-hour drive with fantastic music ;), pizza and a too-large brunch the next day, the purchase of my first graphic novels ever, and a mortally dead phone.
Now I can say I've been to the Utah desert. And what a trip it was.
Well well, quite the slew of compliments in there. I blushed more than once. I'm glad you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to your phone?
-Ty
ps, my legs itch too...
(deadpan) I wore out the battery.
ReplyDeletewait...how?
ReplyDeletecause you don't want to let me think up my own method.
-Ty