We drove all day Monday and camped on a bluff overlooking the river (below is the view from camp).
We traveled on inflatable canoes, two to a canoe. Each canoe had a ice chest, dry box (for food, etc), 2 dry bags (for clothing, sleeping bag, etc.), water container and poop boxes (you can't leave anything behind on the river). Br. Berry required us all to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts to protect us from the sun.
Our Senior Patrol Leader for the trip was Jordan, Cook was Kevin and Quartermaster was Fidel. Jordan ran the duty roster, gathered us together for prayer and evening devotional, and organized sweeping the camp for "leave no trace". The duties were water, fire and poop (Bring water container from a canoe, start the camp stove to boil the water, and set up the poop tent). Fidel loaded up the vans and distributed the tents. Kevin managed our group lunches (sandwiches, chips, oranges and candy).
Below, Olavo is tending to his fire duty, and just above his head you can see the poop tent. It was always set up with a wonderful view (and as far away as possible).
Br. Berry is amazingly organized. Each canoe is numbered and the water and coolers are opened in sequence. The last day on the river, Br. Berry pulled out ice cream. He kept it cold with dry ice. We immediately started gnawing on the rock hard ice cream as we waited for the mid-day hot air to thaw it out.
Along the way, we saw petroglyphs and stopped at "River City", indian cliff dwelling ruins. We also saw at least 6 big horn sheep, and other wild life.
The boys could always find something fun to do: throwing mud balls across the river, skipping rocks, standing in the middle of the river while they talked about who knows what, jumping of cliffs, etc. Below they would climb along the cliffs and float down a mild section of the rapids (Moms - note that everyone is wearing a life jacket - which was mandatory whenever they were in or near the water).
We also hit some rapids on the river. The boys all did well (meaning no one fell out or flipped their canoe).
Br. Carter and Leo were tied for "best running of the rapids" with Bishop and Br. Beus until we found out that they went down the rapids with an unsecured water bottle on their dry box. If this proved true, it was decided they would be the best, since this demonstrated smooth operation of the canoe.
It wasn't until after the trip that we developed the film for proof of their claim (I know, "old technology"). Below is the proof, and the award of "best river runners" goes to them. I'm not quite sure what the expression is on Bishop's face. Is he posing?
We even had one canoe decided to go down backwards. We won't say who they were.
The drive home was scenic.
