The success of a group trip largely depends upon those that go along with you. This becomes even more important when there are only 24 people in your group and 6 guides. It becomes even more important still when you are without the usual conveniences that surround you in your daily life.
I think I will refer to our good fortune on this trip as being the "luck of the Irish." Hmmmm....why? Well, let's start with the other major family group - the Flahertys.
Ray, John, Pat, Tim, and Dan
Dan (photo by Julie)
Ray (photo by Julie)
Pat (photo by Julie)
Tim (photo by Julie)
Tim brought his wife Margo
Margo brought her sister Vicky
lifetime Flaherty friend Jerry Richter
Margo and Jerry
John brought his father-in-law Don Henrickson
(photo by Heather)
Then there were the McCurdys...do you see where I'm going? In fact on day one I believe a comparison was made by Guy as to which family had brought more beer.
Our attempt at an all family Chirstmas photo didn't quite work but the "Life Is Good" t-shirts look good
Kathy and John
Julia
Patrick (photo by Heather)
Heather
Harry and Sandy came from North Carolina
By the way, the all time whopping camping award goes to Sandy....this trip was her first time camping!
Harry (photo by Julie)
What the heck!?
Next was the Akansas/Kansas group...
Dwight and Cindi
Dwight watches Guy fish (photo by Julie)
Phyllis and Cindi
Dwight and Cindi's daughter Becca and her husband Nick Simon (photo by Heather)
and family friends, Dale and Phyllis Smith
We loved Cristina and Amanda from Idaho
(photo by Heather)
After Dwight, Cindi, Dale, Phyllis, Becca and Nick leave us, we are joined by
Bruce Davis
and Kurt Karst.
Then there were the guides...our wonderful guides...
Guy Robins, Tony Bushi, Pat Kohnke, Kacey Montgomery, Bobby Seaman, Chris Welch
Guy (photo by Heather)
Kacey
Chris (photo by Julie)
Tony (photo by Julie)
Bobby, baker extraordinaire....
as well as guide (photo by Julie)
Pat
That was our group.
When it came time for Dwight, Cindi, Becca, Nick, Dale and Phyllis to leave on Wednesday, we were all sad.
For the McCurdys, the week would not have been the same without these people. We laughed, had fun and all clicked as a group. The individual connections we made were wonderful. When I returned home, someone said to me, "There's always a bad apple in every group." Remarkable to say but for us, there was not.
And that's what made leaving the Middle Fork at the end of the week so hard. Yes, we were leaving the beauty of The River of No Return (look for the next blog) but were leaving friends.