John Day River
Page 4
Journal entry; Saturday May 20, 2006, John Day River. Eddies swirl around a rock sticking out of the middle of the river.
Jen drops a rapid a little later.
Jen eddies out.
We scout Horseshoe rapid from an overlook above the river.
Nervous smiles as we contemplate the best route. Travis takes the picture shown above.
We set aside our "river quiver" and drop the rapid on the right side going down with ease (I insisted on calling the right side the left, raising great question in my partner and Travis). Travis eddied out and got this great action shot. Moments before Travis snapped this Russ was holding his paddle up and cheering. I told him to "quit hot-dogging," but we were through the tall waves at this point and just getting a great ride.
Two hours later we're on the shore and beef stroganoff is simmering in the Dutch Oven. A fire pan is required along the John Day to prevent damage to the natural surroundings. I lined our fire pan with rocks which cracked and split during the cooking process but worked real well in concentrating the heat onto the oven.
Breaking camp after a damp evening. This was one of the coolest mornings we had. But just a half hour of paddling warmed everybody up again.
This trip sucks, take me back to Home