July 8: Gadoosh - that is cold!

July 8, 2013:  Gahoosh!

 Spouse, STOP snoring!    I didn't sleep well last night...  I moved into one of the reclining chairs for a while.  Let me take that plastic bag away from Rudy.  Too much noise...  I drift off...  I wake up and move back to the bedroom where Spouse is quiet... I nod off... Rudy comes and cuddles...  Life is good!  It is 7 am, Rudy is sleeping and Spouse rolls over and goes to pet him.  NO!  You will light the fuse!  Rudy morphed into Thunder Paws!

Last night, Spouse made a good fire in the fire ring.  It is 10 PM and it is still light.  We finally saw our first star around 10:30.  It won't be totally dark for another hour.  Crew will never see a dark starry night!

Once we got up, we readied Hannah to move to her new spot.  It is small, but it works.  We decided to pack some lunches and go for a hike. 

Spouse!  We are out of PROPANE!  Off he goes to refill our tank.  We make some sandwiches, pack the food... but wait... let's see if we can do river rafting!  Well, if we can be there in 10 minutes, we can go on the next tour.

We speed change into bathing suits.  It is not a warm day.  The sun is coming in and out of the clouds.  It is kind of cool, and we are going to throw glacial water over us... makes a whole lot of sense.  But, off we go.  We head to the area where we had Hannah the night before.  For us, there will ultimately be 6 people and a guide.  Crew and I will be up front (which means we will take the big hits, but have the most fun).  We start floating and pick up the other 3 peeps going with us.  They were part of a hike and raft tour.  They hiked up about 6 miles, and were then going to raft down with us.  We will head down the middle fork of the Flathead River.  There are class 2 and class 3 rapids:  about 10 sets of rapids in all.  We will float a couple of miles, then take the rapids, then float a couple of more miles.

The Glacier NP is on our right, with mountains that look like the national park on our left.  The sun is coming in and out and we approach our first step of rapids... Paddle Forward!  And that we do...  Gadoosh!  I am now wet... water temperature is not  up to 50 yet.  Crew is now wet too.  We are laughing and kind of cold but having too much fun to feel it.  The next set... Gadoosh!  Like a bucking bronco we battle the beast in front of us.  It is kind of fun watching a boat in front of us going through the rapids so we know just how wet and wild it is going to be for us. 

We hit a lull, and the guide gets a splash jacket out for me (he knows I am in the hot spot!).  With the jacket on... gadoosh!  I take it again.  And so it went.  I contend that both Crew and I had the best time, but we were the wettest and the coldest.  As we finished the last set of rapids, we heard the distant rumble of thunder.   A light rain started to fall.  Crew and I didn't care... we were wet already!  So we continued to enjoyed the ride.  Then lightening!  I looked at our oars... not metal, good.  Didn't want to be holding lightening rods!  The rain came and went and came and went.  

We reached our jump off point, got on our bus and headed back to the base.  Then it really started to rain.  As Spouse pulled up the truck and Crew and I started to get in - a big flash of lightening and the loudest clap of thunder hit.  Into the truck we jumped - wet as we were, and back to the comfort of Hannah we fled.

It was pouring.  Rudy seemed unaffected by the commotion.  Perfect timing. The storm passed quickly.   After dinner, I did a power walk down to an area called Lake Five.  It is right on a lake that is NOT glacier runoff, so it is relatively warm.  Lots of boats and glassy water.  No skiers... I just don't get it.

So ends the first half of our journey...  What does tomorrow hold?