July 8, 2013: Gahoosh!
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?
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