My son and I have created a mini-tradition of celebrating teenhood as it occurs among his kids. Last time, with grandson #1, we hiked over Cloud’s Rest to Half Dome. That has become much more difficult to access, so I looked for something equally exciting and tied to #2’s interests. An introduction to whitewater seemed like just the thing. My previous experience with OARS, an 18-day dory trip down the Grand, persuaded me to stick with this outfit. We were not disappointed. Nick, leader on that trip, was one of the guides. Other guides, Bronco (trip leader), Corey (paddle boat captain) and Erika were friends of our friend Jill, a recurrent OARS participant and recent visitor to Vermont. Amber, another paddle boat captain, and the incomparable Mr. Ned Perry, were new to us.
A great trip. Highly recommended!
The images are nearly all from my iPhone or a little waterproof Nikon point-and-shoot. It was too wet to use a “real” camera even when we were off the river. Some rain every day. Roundabout way of saying not to expect too much from the images.
Note short (11 second) video at the end. The crew said they had never seen anything like this in their years on the river.
There is also a fragment of a talk with Bronco.
The guides said they had never seen anything like this in their years on the river:
“Hey, Ned, did you get that blast of wind?”
“Sure did.”
“What did you do?”
“Chased things.”
Here’s Bronco:
