Another day of big decisions...should I paddle, duckie or fish? While getting granola and waiting for breakfast, we all notice that the pirate flag is gone!
Empty branch where the day before we hung the flag. (photo by Julie)
Well, it turned out that the rival camp sent one of their guides in the night. He had to hike 3 miles and cross a bridge to get to us. Then he had to wait while some of us stayed up drinking, talking and looking at stars through the Sky Scout. After we all went to sleep, he stumbled around camp looking for the flag for about an hour, eventually waking up 2 of our guides. They showed him where the flag was, invited him to have a drink and eventually gave him the flag for his efforts.
After breakfast, we packed our sleeping bags and green overnight bags and got them to the gear boats by 9:00. Meanwhile the guides broke down camp, loading all the kitchen gear, tents etc. and we were underway by 10:00.
This morning the McCurdys and Amanda choose to go with Chris in a paddle boat as we were impressed the night before with his knowledge of local history and wanted to learn more.
(photo by Heather)
(Photo by Heather)
Patrick decided to duckie.
Chris and Amanda
Chris teaches us a river trick - a back flip off the rubber raft.
In he goes
Heather gives it a go
So does Patrick
But it's Bobby who shows us how it's really done. (photo by Julie)
Let's see that again.....
At lunch we stopped at Uper Grouse and visited the Tappan cabin which now looks like a hunters' cabin.
(photo by Julie)
Another attempt at a family photo
It was a day of smiles:
Julie
Harry and John
(photo by Heather)
Julie and Kathy
even from Chris who wasn't feeling well...
and more great scenery.
During the afternoon there were rapids
hitchhiking...Amanda sneaks a ride on the back of the raft,
fishing,
well....some people were serious about fishing (Jerry and Dan),
and looking up...seems like we were always looking up at more glorious scenery.
When we got to camp,
we saw our first bear,
Amanda gave us a talk about her organization, Idaho Rivers United, who work to protect and restore Idaho's rivers and fisheries. They are committed to returning salmon to the river.
Amanda
One of the dams that needs to be breached to help the salmon smolts get to the ocean. As of now 50-90% don't make it because of the dams.
Heather decided to climb this "hill."
See her under the tree?
She tooks these fantastic photos from her perch.....
The campsite from the top of the hill.
