The Final Paddle.
Tired, but want a final day of paddling. I’m out here, might as well. Joe and I meet John at the putin below Rigor Mortis. No way do I ever plan on running that rapid, naaasty. We were running the Lower section fo the Clear Creek into Golden, CO. John was nice and helped us to run shuttle. We scouted the significant rapids on the way back up to the putin. So I kept an eye out for the traffic signs I’d be able to see from the creek. We scouted Elbow. Joe ran it, I did not. We were going to scout ¼ mile, but I messed up and got my traffic signs messed up. We ran it by boat scouting. We aced it. I did spend the first 20 yards in a stern squirt though. We portaged the dam. Although it is said to be runable, it looked really nasty. While portaging, we picked up some locals, Brandon and Mark, who ran the rest of the river with us. It was a blast, fast with many wave trains and small holes. We finished in the whitewater park of Golden. The first real wave was really nice. I got many flat spins in on the wave. Joe did too in his creek boat. I gave Mark and Brandon a ride back to the damn so they could run it again. Joe hung around to let gear dry. By the time we had loaded up, Brandon and Mark had already made it to the play park again. It’s a quick run.
Finally done. It will be nice to see my wife again. I’ve only seen her for 3 hours in the last two weeks. I’ve missed her.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 8)
From the boat’s perspective.
Being tied to a roof top all night is not a fun thing. It’s not so bad if you're right side up, but the last several night I was tied upside down against another much bigger boat. I’ve never liked bigger boats, they always make fun of me cause I am not as fast as they are. Oh, BTW, they call me Fuse. Not sure why they call me that, but they do.
When the guy who has been paddling me pulled me off the top of the roof, and the world finally righted itself, I got a glimpse of what we’d be paddling today. I was excited, I have never down numbers 6 & 7 of the Arkansas, nor the Fractions section of the river. I’d always heard they were exciting. I did have to get up some courage. The last two days had been nice, big and deep water. Today was going to be much more shallow. I realized I would get a few more scrapes on me. But, that’s alright, those are battle scares and they make you much more popular with the female boats. I’d also heard that there were a lot more chances to surf on these sections of the river. I like surfing.
After what seemed like forever, we finally put on the river. It was everything I had hoped for. Pushy water, holes, waves, and many back and forth across the river. I flipped upside a down a couple of times, but my paddler was quick to upright me.
At one point we stopped to take a break, something about one of the other paddlers getting cold and needing to put on some warmer clothing. Pttht! Stupid creek boats making their paddlers cold. See that’s the advantage of being shorter. Your paddler has to work harder to go faster and doesn’t get cold as easily. Anyways, while we were waiting for him to put on a fleece vest, I noticed a boat on the other side of the river against a rock without a paddler. This wasn’t good. Boats aren’t very good at running rivers without an operator. I tried to get my paddler’s attention, but he wasn’t paying attention. Finally, one of the other paddlers noticed the boat and said something about it. So, my paddler went into action and ferried across the river to the far side. He got out of me and proceeded to rescue the breached boat. And what do you know, it was a very cute red, white, and blue female Fuse48. She was hot. And not too rough for wear. Turns out she was lucky and had just been bought by an older guy. Unfortunately, this was her maiden voyage and he wasn’t quite as skilled at uprighting her as my paddlers was. I gave her a few words of encouragement, before her operator got back to her. She felt much better afterwards. Maybe if I am lucky I’ll see her again sometime on a river.
So we headed back onto the river and ran the remaining portion of Fractions. Got in several surfs. It was good day.
At the end of the day I was dreading being strapped upside down again on the minivan, but figured it had to be done. But, it turns out I got to be upright. The WaveSport Diesel that I had been strapped to the previous days was going to run the entire numbers section later that evening. So, I got strapped right side up by myself on top of the minivan. Turns out later that the other boat wasn’t going to do the whole numbers section, but rather than shift him back over to the minivan, the Diesel was going to meet us the next morning for the Lower Clear Creeks section.
I had a nice ride back to Denver that afternoon. I even felt a few sprinkles, first I’d had all week.
Being tied to a roof top all night is not a fun thing. It’s not so bad if you're right side up, but the last several night I was tied upside down against another much bigger boat. I’ve never liked bigger boats, they always make fun of me cause I am not as fast as they are. Oh, BTW, they call me Fuse. Not sure why they call me that, but they do.
When the guy who has been paddling me pulled me off the top of the roof, and the world finally righted itself, I got a glimpse of what we’d be paddling today. I was excited, I have never down numbers 6 & 7 of the Arkansas, nor the Fractions section of the river. I’d always heard they were exciting. I did have to get up some courage. The last two days had been nice, big and deep water. Today was going to be much more shallow. I realized I would get a few more scrapes on me. But, that’s alright, those are battle scares and they make you much more popular with the female boats. I’d also heard that there were a lot more chances to surf on these sections of the river. I like surfing.
After what seemed like forever, we finally put on the river. It was everything I had hoped for. Pushy water, holes, waves, and many back and forth across the river. I flipped upside a down a couple of times, but my paddler was quick to upright me.
At one point we stopped to take a break, something about one of the other paddlers getting cold and needing to put on some warmer clothing. Pttht! Stupid creek boats making their paddlers cold. See that’s the advantage of being shorter. Your paddler has to work harder to go faster and doesn’t get cold as easily. Anyways, while we were waiting for him to put on a fleece vest, I noticed a boat on the other side of the river against a rock without a paddler. This wasn’t good. Boats aren’t very good at running rivers without an operator. I tried to get my paddler’s attention, but he wasn’t paying attention. Finally, one of the other paddlers noticed the boat and said something about it. So, my paddler went into action and ferried across the river to the far side. He got out of me and proceeded to rescue the breached boat. And what do you know, it was a very cute red, white, and blue female Fuse48. She was hot. And not too rough for wear. Turns out she was lucky and had just been bought by an older guy. Unfortunately, this was her maiden voyage and he wasn’t quite as skilled at uprighting her as my paddlers was. I gave her a few words of encouragement, before her operator got back to her. She felt much better afterwards. Maybe if I am lucky I’ll see her again sometime on a river.
So we headed back onto the river and ran the remaining portion of Fractions. Got in several surfs. It was good day.
At the end of the day I was dreading being strapped upside down again on the minivan, but figured it had to be done. But, it turns out I got to be upright. The WaveSport Diesel that I had been strapped to the previous days was going to run the entire numbers section later that evening. So, I got strapped right side up by myself on top of the minivan. Turns out later that the other boat wasn’t going to do the whole numbers section, but rather than shift him back over to the minivan, the Diesel was going to meet us the next morning for the Lower Clear Creeks section.
I had a nice ride back to Denver that afternoon. I even felt a few sprinkles, first I’d had all week.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 7)
Gorge is open.
John joins us.
Lisa joins us.
Renee paddles today.
River is cold.
Day is beautiful.
Rapids are big.
Rapids are great.
Some are scouted.
Some are not.
Thousand foot gorge.
Watch skytram above.
We all lead.
Joe leads one.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rams Renee.
Todd goes under.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rolls up.
Todd enters hole.
Todd flips over.
Todd pulls skirt.
Todd begins swim.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee pulls skirt.
Renee begins swim.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee has paddle.
Renee has boat.
Todd visits hole.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Renee in eddy.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat twirls.
Todd visits hole.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits hole.
Renee drifts away.
Renee releases boat.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee touches shore.
Todd visits hole.
David catches boat.
Todd’s boat drifts.
Todd visits eddy.
Joe goes to help.
Jon catches boat.
Lisa helps Jon.
Todd visits hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd enjoys eddy.
Todd reaches shore.
Everyone enjoys rest.
Renee feels better.
Todd is bruised.
Todd is shaken.
Todd is alright.
Everyone enters boats.
Everyone paddle down.
Everyone enjoys rapids.
Everyone reaches takeout.
Everyone enjoyed day.
We visit Salida.
We get hotel.
We have Mexican.
We enjoy relaxing.
We have Bryers.
We turn in.
John joins us.
Lisa joins us.
Renee paddles today.
River is cold.
Day is beautiful.
Rapids are big.
Rapids are great.
Some are scouted.
Some are not.
Thousand foot gorge.
Watch skytram above.
We all lead.
Joe leads one.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rams Renee.
Todd goes under.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd rolls up.
Todd enters hole.
Todd flips over.
Todd pulls skirt.
Todd begins swim.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee rolls up.
Renee surfs hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Todd visits hole.
Renee flips over.
Renee pulls skirt.
Renee begins swim.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee has paddle.
Renee has boat.
Todd visits hole.
Todd’s boat surfs.
Renee in eddy.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd’s boat twirls.
Todd visits hole.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee nears shore.
Todd visits hole.
Renee drifts away.
Renee releases boat.
Todd visits eddy.
Renee touches shore.
Todd visits hole.
David catches boat.
Todd’s boat drifts.
Todd visits eddy.
Joe goes to help.
Jon catches boat.
Lisa helps Jon.
Todd visits hole.
Todd visits eddy.
Todd enjoys eddy.
Todd reaches shore.
Everyone enjoys rest.
Renee feels better.
Todd is bruised.
Todd is shaken.
Todd is alright.
Everyone enters boats.
Everyone paddle down.
Everyone enjoys rapids.
Everyone reaches takeout.
Everyone enjoyed day.
We visit Salida.
We get hotel.
We have Mexican.
We enjoy relaxing.
We have Bryers.
We turn in.
Colorado Adventures (day 6)
So the plan was to paddle the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas, but Renee got a call from Lisa and Jon, who really wanted to paddle that section, but couldn’t join us today. So we offered to do a different section of the river today, the section of the river immediately before the Royal Gorge. They we pleased that we would wait for them. So we loaded up and headed down the Canon City which is about 2 hours south of Denver. It was an uneventful drive. We saw a camouflaged B57, Some parachuters and some gliders. Well, the others saw them, I did not since I was driving. Speaking of driving, why the moment I start driving do we hit a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the mountains around the Royal Gorge have been having wild fires for the last several days. So while the firefighters were fighting the fires as they came close to the highway, they would close off one side of the road and use a pilot car to guide the next group of cars through the stretch of road. So after sitting and waiting for our turn to follow the pilot car, we finally got to the take out of the Pinnacle Rock section of the Arkansas. There we noticed a sign that said the Royal Gorge section of the Arkansas was closed to boating. Apparently firefighting planes had been using the water in the gorge to put out fires. We thought it would be a good idea not to paddle in sections of the river where they could possibly scoop us up and dump us on a wild fire. As a good thing Jon and Lisa had called so we changed which section of the river we were going to run. We headed to the put-in. Renee was feeling better, so she had decided to join us today. I was feeling warn out. This was day five of running rivers, the hardest day, the hump day. Good thing it was Wednesday. Once you get through Day 5, the rest would be easy. After Todd ran shuttle and got a ride back up to the putin from a nice shuttle bunny for a local raft outfitter, we got on the river. Over all this section of the river was nice. Nothing too challenging, maybe a class 3+ at one point or another, but mostly it was a relaxing day. We got out at the take-out. After loading the car we stopped in at a local outfitter to find out if the ban on the Gorge had been lift, they did not know. They did suggest that we check with the Arkansas Headwaters Recreational Association later in the day or the morning to find out. So in case we were not able to run the Gorge, we decided to go to Salida to get a hotel room.
After getting a room at Super 8, we logged on to find out that they had lifted the ban on the Royal Gorge. We spent the remainder of the day watching eating dinner, watching TV, and messing around online. We also had two queen beds. Todd and Renee got one, Joe and I had the other. I luckily had brought my own sheet, so I slept on top of the covers while Joe slept under them. It was a rough night. Joe does not just roll over, he flings himself into other positions. Luckily he only hit me once. I am not sure how Holly manages. More power to her.
After getting a room at Super 8, we logged on to find out that they had lifted the ban on the Royal Gorge. We spent the remainder of the day watching eating dinner, watching TV, and messing around online. We also had two queen beds. Todd and Renee got one, Joe and I had the other. I luckily had brought my own sheet, so I slept on top of the covers while Joe slept under them. It was a rough night. Joe does not just roll over, he flings himself into other positions. Luckily he only hit me once. I am not sure how Holly manages. More power to her.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 5)
The story of Joe as told by David Brumbelow
Joe had only arrived the night before. But having slept on the plane a little on the way in, he wasn't that tired when he was awoken by David typing on his computer. Joe was looking forward to his first day of paddling in Colorado. Having heard about the different paddling days that David, Todd and Renee have been having, Joe was having second thoughts about using a WaveSport Fuse64. Joe figured that when Todd went into Confluence Kayaks that he could also get a larger boat.
Joe, with David driving, headed over to Ryan's to pick up Todd and Renee. When they arrived they found out that Renee was going to take the day off from paddling to get over her cold. Even though she wanted to sleep all day, she decided she wanted to help out the boys and be a shuttle bunny. She said she would sleep in the car at the takeout. Joe, Todd and David had decided to run the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Renee had called Jon earlier and he had decided not to join the guys on the creek.
They all headed out for Confluence Kayaks to exchange both Todd's and Joe's boat for creek boats. Unfortunately, Confluence Kayaks had most of their boats out for a community program to help local delinquents learn to be productive and paddle instead of graffiti. When it was all said and done, Todd decided to paddle Renee's SuperHero, Joe traded in David's SuperStar for a Wavesport Diesel and David decided to paddle Joe's Fuse.
So they all headed out west to the put in for the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Along the way the boys decided to also paddle a section that Renee and Kate had paddled the year before in addition to the Dumont section. Joe mentioned along the way to the put-in that he had brought his HD water proof video camera. Renee (with a little coaxing from Joe) decided she was feeling well enough to take video of the boys at different sections.
So Todd, Joe and David got dressed and gear up and lunched into the creek. At this point the creek was no wider than 20 feet. It started off with a bang; the rapids seemed to be continuous. Joe felt the creek reminded him of the Savage. Class 2-3 read and react continuous. They took turns leading through the curving stream. At one point Joe and David noticed Renee kneeling on the bank taking video as they passed by. Todd happened to be leading at this point and was concentration so hard on the creek that he didn't even notice her. Shortly after this, they came to a point when it seemed reasonable to get out and scout.
Joe climbed the 15 foot creek bank of rocks and when he got to the top, asked Todd and David to hold on second. Joe was feeling very dizzy. He decided to sit down for a second while he got some air. Now Joe was realizing what David had meant when he said it took a while to get used to the higher elevation.
They scouted the rapid and found a line through it. So they ran this rapid and many many more, occasionally seeing Renee on the side of the shore, but mostly it was just the three of them.
Then there came a point when they saw Renee downstream motioning for the boys to pull over on the left side of the creek. So Joe, Todd and David pulled over under a bridge. They got out and scouted the most significant rapid on the section of the creek. The line seemed clear, so they got back in and Renee set up to take video in a spot labeled Photos. Todd went first followed closely behind Joe. After the first slope, Joe found he was going way faster than expected. He ended up hitting the big hole at the bottom of the second slope and got flipped. He quickly rolled up and ran the rest of the rapid. It was exhilarating.
Later Joe looked back at David who was sweeping and saw that he was upside down. David appeared to be having a lot of difficulty getting his boat upright. Finally David managed to get it up. Joe asked David if he was alright. David started cursing Happy Feet. Apparently David hates Happy Feet. He told Joe that the footbag had deflated or moved and he had no foot purchase and his legs had fallen out of his thigh braces. David reinflated the Happy Feet and seemed to be alright now. So they continued downstream.
At one point they asked a raft guide when Kermit was coming up. Joe did not want to go past Kermit into the section of the Clear Creek called Black Rock. This section was mostly class 5's with one called Rigor Mortis. The guides said that they would see a big sign for Kermit’s Bar and Grill and that they had 5 more rapids to go before that. The guide also told Joe to run the next two drops that were fun and easy to take out after.
So the boys headed on down the creek. They laughed about the rapids that the guide had described. These rapids weren't even worth noting in Joe's book. Not compared to the rapids they had already run today.
Turns out Renee was waiting for them at the take out. Joe wanted to run at least the first drop. Todd was not interested in the second drop. David didn't care and said he'd do whatever. Todd caught an eddy on river left to get out and scout. Joe and David caught an eddy on river right, just above the drop. Joe could not see what the correct line was, but the guide had described what to do. Joe asked David if he wanted to get out and scout. David said no, he pulled out of the eddy and laughed, "You only live once" and vanished over the edge. Joe heard him cheering seconds later. So Joe pulled out and ran it himself. After Todd got back in his boat, he also ran the drop. It was definitely worth doing.
So they got out. Changed into clean clothing and loaded the minivan. Instead of driving back to Denver, they drove along the creek and looked at the rapids of the later sections. Todd pulled the van over later to look at one of the class 5+ sections of the Black Rock section. Joe and David could not see ways through certain sections of the rapid. The entire rapid was almost a half mile long and nightmarish. Joe never wanted to run a section like this, David agreed.
They just made it back in time to exchange Todd's 4Fun for a Remix which had been out earlier in the day. They all went back to Ryan's. David found a hotel for cheap down the street from Ryan's apartment for Joe and him. Todd went out for dinner with his sister. Joe, David, Renee, Ryan, and Check (Ryan's friend) went out for Mexican. Then they went back to Ryan's for a couple of round of Flux. Afterward, Joe and David walked down the street to the Hotel.
Overall, it had been a great first day for Joe in Colorado.
Joe had only arrived the night before. But having slept on the plane a little on the way in, he wasn't that tired when he was awoken by David typing on his computer. Joe was looking forward to his first day of paddling in Colorado. Having heard about the different paddling days that David, Todd and Renee have been having, Joe was having second thoughts about using a WaveSport Fuse64. Joe figured that when Todd went into Confluence Kayaks that he could also get a larger boat.
Joe, with David driving, headed over to Ryan's to pick up Todd and Renee. When they arrived they found out that Renee was going to take the day off from paddling to get over her cold. Even though she wanted to sleep all day, she decided she wanted to help out the boys and be a shuttle bunny. She said she would sleep in the car at the takeout. Joe, Todd and David had decided to run the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Renee had called Jon earlier and he had decided not to join the guys on the creek.
They all headed out for Confluence Kayaks to exchange both Todd's and Joe's boat for creek boats. Unfortunately, Confluence Kayaks had most of their boats out for a community program to help local delinquents learn to be productive and paddle instead of graffiti. When it was all said and done, Todd decided to paddle Renee's SuperHero, Joe traded in David's SuperStar for a Wavesport Diesel and David decided to paddle Joe's Fuse.
So they all headed out west to the put in for the Dumont section of the Clear Creek. Along the way the boys decided to also paddle a section that Renee and Kate had paddled the year before in addition to the Dumont section. Joe mentioned along the way to the put-in that he had brought his HD water proof video camera. Renee (with a little coaxing from Joe) decided she was feeling well enough to take video of the boys at different sections.
So Todd, Joe and David got dressed and gear up and lunched into the creek. At this point the creek was no wider than 20 feet. It started off with a bang; the rapids seemed to be continuous. Joe felt the creek reminded him of the Savage. Class 2-3 read and react continuous. They took turns leading through the curving stream. At one point Joe and David noticed Renee kneeling on the bank taking video as they passed by. Todd happened to be leading at this point and was concentration so hard on the creek that he didn't even notice her. Shortly after this, they came to a point when it seemed reasonable to get out and scout.
Joe climbed the 15 foot creek bank of rocks and when he got to the top, asked Todd and David to hold on second. Joe was feeling very dizzy. He decided to sit down for a second while he got some air. Now Joe was realizing what David had meant when he said it took a while to get used to the higher elevation.
They scouted the rapid and found a line through it. So they ran this rapid and many many more, occasionally seeing Renee on the side of the shore, but mostly it was just the three of them.
Then there came a point when they saw Renee downstream motioning for the boys to pull over on the left side of the creek. So Joe, Todd and David pulled over under a bridge. They got out and scouted the most significant rapid on the section of the creek. The line seemed clear, so they got back in and Renee set up to take video in a spot labeled Photos. Todd went first followed closely behind Joe. After the first slope, Joe found he was going way faster than expected. He ended up hitting the big hole at the bottom of the second slope and got flipped. He quickly rolled up and ran the rest of the rapid. It was exhilarating.
Later Joe looked back at David who was sweeping and saw that he was upside down. David appeared to be having a lot of difficulty getting his boat upright. Finally David managed to get it up. Joe asked David if he was alright. David started cursing Happy Feet. Apparently David hates Happy Feet. He told Joe that the footbag had deflated or moved and he had no foot purchase and his legs had fallen out of his thigh braces. David reinflated the Happy Feet and seemed to be alright now. So they continued downstream.
At one point they asked a raft guide when Kermit was coming up. Joe did not want to go past Kermit into the section of the Clear Creek called Black Rock. This section was mostly class 5's with one called Rigor Mortis. The guides said that they would see a big sign for Kermit’s Bar and Grill and that they had 5 more rapids to go before that. The guide also told Joe to run the next two drops that were fun and easy to take out after.
So the boys headed on down the creek. They laughed about the rapids that the guide had described. These rapids weren't even worth noting in Joe's book. Not compared to the rapids they had already run today.
Turns out Renee was waiting for them at the take out. Joe wanted to run at least the first drop. Todd was not interested in the second drop. David didn't care and said he'd do whatever. Todd caught an eddy on river left to get out and scout. Joe and David caught an eddy on river right, just above the drop. Joe could not see what the correct line was, but the guide had described what to do. Joe asked David if he wanted to get out and scout. David said no, he pulled out of the eddy and laughed, "You only live once" and vanished over the edge. Joe heard him cheering seconds later. So Joe pulled out and ran it himself. After Todd got back in his boat, he also ran the drop. It was definitely worth doing.
So they got out. Changed into clean clothing and loaded the minivan. Instead of driving back to Denver, they drove along the creek and looked at the rapids of the later sections. Todd pulled the van over later to look at one of the class 5+ sections of the Black Rock section. Joe and David could not see ways through certain sections of the rapid. The entire rapid was almost a half mile long and nightmarish. Joe never wanted to run a section like this, David agreed.
They just made it back in time to exchange Todd's 4Fun for a Remix which had been out earlier in the day. They all went back to Ryan's. David found a hotel for cheap down the street from Ryan's apartment for Joe and him. Todd went out for dinner with his sister. Joe, David, Renee, Ryan, and Check (Ryan's friend) went out for Mexican. Then they went back to Ryan's for a couple of round of Flux. Afterward, Joe and David walked down the street to the Hotel.
Overall, it had been a great first day for Joe in Colorado.
Colorado Adventures (day 4)
Ryan's place was hot throughout the night
I slept on the floor with a sheet and pillow
Renee still is not feeling well.
Lisa is going to join us for the Poudre
Jon is busy getting the truck ready for their trip back
We leave for Cache La Poudre around 10:30am
Pass through Loveland on the way
Aparently I drove by this section of the river in 2002, before I started Kayaking, but don't remember it
Met Heith at the take-out
Heith asked to paddle with us and lead us down since he knew the river
No, Lisa at take-out, so we went to put in
No Lisa at put-in
We unloaded boats
Todd and Heith went to tak-out to find Lisa
Lisa found below take-out, she thought we were running a lower section
Put on river
Discovered that although Heith has run the river many times before, he's never led anyone
After taking us through a nice hole, Renee decides to take out cause her cold is leaving her with no energy
Renee gets ride for her and boat before we even leave our eddy
The rest of the run is exciting
Lisa takes out before Pine Falls, the last rapid.
Lisa takes pics of Heith, Todd and I running the rapid
Everyone rolled at least once today
Heith rolled twice, last time during Pine Falls rapid
Said by to Heith
We met Dan, a college friend for dinner
Got back to Denver late.
Checked into hotel aroudn 11pm
Finished almost all my timesheets for work
Joe got into hotel around 1am
I slept on the floor with a sheet and pillow
Renee still is not feeling well.
Lisa is going to join us for the Poudre
Jon is busy getting the truck ready for their trip back
We leave for Cache La Poudre around 10:30am
Pass through Loveland on the way
Aparently I drove by this section of the river in 2002, before I started Kayaking, but don't remember it
Met Heith at the take-out
Heith asked to paddle with us and lead us down since he knew the river
No, Lisa at take-out, so we went to put in
No Lisa at put-in
We unloaded boats
Todd and Heith went to tak-out to find Lisa
Lisa found below take-out, she thought we were running a lower section
Put on river
Discovered that although Heith has run the river many times before, he's never led anyone
After taking us through a nice hole, Renee decides to take out cause her cold is leaving her with no energy
Renee gets ride for her and boat before we even leave our eddy
The rest of the run is exciting
Lisa takes out before Pine Falls, the last rapid.
Lisa takes pics of Heith, Todd and I running the rapid
Everyone rolled at least once today
Heith rolled twice, last time during Pine Falls rapid
Said by to Heith
We met Dan, a college friend for dinner
Got back to Denver late.
Checked into hotel aroudn 11pm
Finished almost all my timesheets for work
Joe got into hotel around 1am
Colorado Adventures (day 3)
Sunday by the numbers.
Section Ran: Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon.
1 - Times we had to scout a rapid
2 - Times I rolled from surfing
2.5 - Hours on the river
3 - Boats we had on the river
9 - Miles of river ran
60+ - minutes waited at put-in for shuttle to be ran
142 - miles from take-out to Ryan's place in Denver
195 - Minutes on the road throughout the day
Section Ran: Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon.
1 - Times we had to scout a rapid
2 - Times I rolled from surfing
2.5 - Hours on the river
3 - Boats we had on the river
9 - Miles of river ran
60+ - minutes waited at put-in for shuttle to be ran
142 - miles from take-out to Ryan's place in Denver
195 - Minutes on the road throughout the day
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Colorado Adventures (day 2)
I'm going to try something different for each day of this trip. At least until I run out of ideas.
This is our second day of the trip and the first real river run of the week. We decide to run the Fractions section of the Arkansas. Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any real informaiton on the rapids. But Todd and Renee did this section last year. Of course it was at a noticeably higher level. In fact when we get to the put-in, they comment that last year they put in about 10 feet further up the slope. They also mention that the rock out in the center of the river was under water.
We put on the river. Todd leads, Renee follows and I sweep. We are all just getting familiar with our boats, but the river doesn't care about that. It starts off with a pretty much continuous class 3/3+ read and react for at least a mile. At some point, Renee catches an eddy in the middle of the river, it looked very impresssive, until I catch up to her and find out she didn't exactly do it on purpose. I catch another eddy further down stream to wait for her. Todd is so intent on finding the next path, that he never even realizes that we had fallen behind. We manage to catch up to him though.
There is a ton of small catch and release waves along the way. But, I am still not fully comfortable in my boat and neither are Renee and Todd. Renee wishes she'd paddled her SuperHero a few times recently to get back in the flow. Todd feels the new Fun design has much less rocker, and is constantly try to keep the nose of his boat out of the water. Of course their isn't much rear to his boat either. Talk about lack of rear, the new SuperStar design has none.
After several miles of this, I see a black and white sign on the river left bank. It says "entrapment hazzard on river right". If impassible, portage on river left. I look at the river left bank. Some idiot local land owner thought it would be a great idea to line the entire left shoreline with barbed wire. So much for porting on the left. It turned out that the river left line wasn't that bad. There was a steep spill over on river right and a slot further right (I assume where the entrapment could occur), but the left line through the rapid was straight forward.
The scenery is amazing, with snow capped mountains in the background. I managed to get a few shots. I think Todd got more though.
By the time we stop for Todd to eat a snack bar, we are all getting much more comfortable in our boats. I'm even catching some surfing along the way.
The last notable rapid was School House Rock (It was not the same at the Lower Yough rapid of the same name). There was a massive hole on the river left side of the rock. The far river right side had an undercut. The usual line is to run right of the rock pointed left and driving left away from the undercut. Renee went first, cause Todd had caught an eddy and Renee missed it. Renee ran the correct line but being in a longer boat than the rest of us, she drove slightly too hard and ended up behind the School House Rock in a very swirly eddy. I breezed by her while she was trying to get out. It wasn't a hard rapid, I just angled left and gave one stroke. At this level, the water wasn't really pushing into the undercut. Renee had been in the same eddy last year when it was much more violent, so she got out of it fairly easy this time.
A few minutes further and we were at the park-and-play spot Todd and I had been at the day before. This was our take-out.
It was a good day on the river. Only a couple of hours, but over 6 miles.
We went to the FibArk festival for the afternoon and evening. We watched several of the rodeo boating competitions. We even got to see the Houligan Race. This is a race where people design their own floating monstrosities to run a short section of the river. If their craft stays intact to the main rodeo hole, then there is a chance they can jump up and grab an orange bag strung across the hole about 10 feet up, which contains money. Notable contramptions were: The Styrofoam 16 -oot long boat that disintegrated seconds before thy hit the hole. Many pool floats held together buy duct tape. The flaoting trampooline never made it to within sight. Some made it through the hole perfectly fine. Others by the time they got to the hole had only someone clinging to something that barely floated. It was hillarious.
We ran into Jared Seiler just before we left the festival and he convinced us to stay for the Boater X video at 10 p.m. He wasn't able to compete this weekend cause he had injured his finger skateboarding. But, his brother Graham came in second on the BoaterX race. So we watched the 30 minute video with all the past years carnage and the ful races of this year. It was intense.
We got back to the hotel just before midnight.
This is our second day of the trip and the first real river run of the week. We decide to run the Fractions section of the Arkansas. Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any real informaiton on the rapids. But Todd and Renee did this section last year. Of course it was at a noticeably higher level. In fact when we get to the put-in, they comment that last year they put in about 10 feet further up the slope. They also mention that the rock out in the center of the river was under water.
We put on the river. Todd leads, Renee follows and I sweep. We are all just getting familiar with our boats, but the river doesn't care about that. It starts off with a pretty much continuous class 3/3+ read and react for at least a mile. At some point, Renee catches an eddy in the middle of the river, it looked very impresssive, until I catch up to her and find out she didn't exactly do it on purpose. I catch another eddy further down stream to wait for her. Todd is so intent on finding the next path, that he never even realizes that we had fallen behind. We manage to catch up to him though.
There is a ton of small catch and release waves along the way. But, I am still not fully comfortable in my boat and neither are Renee and Todd. Renee wishes she'd paddled her SuperHero a few times recently to get back in the flow. Todd feels the new Fun design has much less rocker, and is constantly try to keep the nose of his boat out of the water. Of course their isn't much rear to his boat either. Talk about lack of rear, the new SuperStar design has none.
After several miles of this, I see a black and white sign on the river left bank. It says "entrapment hazzard on river right". If impassible, portage on river left. I look at the river left bank. Some idiot local land owner thought it would be a great idea to line the entire left shoreline with barbed wire. So much for porting on the left. It turned out that the river left line wasn't that bad. There was a steep spill over on river right and a slot further right (I assume where the entrapment could occur), but the left line through the rapid was straight forward.
The scenery is amazing, with snow capped mountains in the background. I managed to get a few shots. I think Todd got more though.
By the time we stop for Todd to eat a snack bar, we are all getting much more comfortable in our boats. I'm even catching some surfing along the way.
The last notable rapid was School House Rock (It was not the same at the Lower Yough rapid of the same name). There was a massive hole on the river left side of the rock. The far river right side had an undercut. The usual line is to run right of the rock pointed left and driving left away from the undercut. Renee went first, cause Todd had caught an eddy and Renee missed it. Renee ran the correct line but being in a longer boat than the rest of us, she drove slightly too hard and ended up behind the School House Rock in a very swirly eddy. I breezed by her while she was trying to get out. It wasn't a hard rapid, I just angled left and gave one stroke. At this level, the water wasn't really pushing into the undercut. Renee had been in the same eddy last year when it was much more violent, so she got out of it fairly easy this time.
A few minutes further and we were at the park-and-play spot Todd and I had been at the day before. This was our take-out.
It was a good day on the river. Only a couple of hours, but over 6 miles.
We went to the FibArk festival for the afternoon and evening. We watched several of the rodeo boating competitions. We even got to see the Houligan Race. This is a race where people design their own floating monstrosities to run a short section of the river. If their craft stays intact to the main rodeo hole, then there is a chance they can jump up and grab an orange bag strung across the hole about 10 feet up, which contains money. Notable contramptions were: The Styrofoam 16 -oot long boat that disintegrated seconds before thy hit the hole. Many pool floats held together buy duct tape. The flaoting trampooline never made it to within sight. Some made it through the hole perfectly fine. Others by the time they got to the hole had only someone clinging to something that barely floated. It was hillarious.
We ran into Jared Seiler just before we left the festival and he convinced us to stay for the Boater X video at 10 p.m. He wasn't able to compete this weekend cause he had injured his finger skateboarding. But, his brother Graham came in second on the BoaterX race. So we watched the 30 minute video with all the past years carnage and the ful races of this year. It was intense.
We got back to the hotel just before midnight.
Colorado Adventures (day 1)
June 18th, 2010
5:30am: Wake up and take shower. Make sure all the last items are packed, including Lumpy Jr. Frantically search both cars and house for auto power converter to no avail.
6:10am: Wake Katie up. Already 10 minutes behind schedule. She gets up, dressed and we head out the door for the airport.
6:35am: Arrive at airport. Check in and check both bags, including the oversized bag that contains everyone's paddles and PFDs.
6:50am: Arrive at gate. Todd shows up, walking slowly. Not sure if he is awake yet. He only has one carryon. Renee took all the rest of his stuff the previous day.
7:20am: Boarded plane. Todd boarded with me, cause I am flying first class. hehe, Todd is in coach.
7:50am: Plane takes off. I slept for a little bit, but awaken when the flight attendant asks us what breakfast we want. I get the last omelet. Everyone else has to have yogurt. It was a good Omelet. They serve us 2 different rounds of drinks, even a snack. I hear Todd slept through his drink service and they didn't even offer any breakfast in coach.
9:50 am: Land in Denver. We are now 2 hours behind everyone else in Philly. We deboard and go to get luggage. The paddle bag takes forever to come out, and when it does, we head to the offsite Enterprise rental center. Todd takes the last spot on his bus, so I get on the following short bus. We end up getting a long minivan which will seat 7 comfortably with factory racks installed. Todd spends 15 minutes trying to find out if he got the correct gas plan. They weren't able to verify either way. When we hit the road, we find out that none of us have a GPS. Todd tries to use his Iphone as a GPS, but it's hard for him to drive and use it, and I don't even want to try and figure it out. We manage to make it to Confluence Kayaks, across the street from REI. We get our rental boats for the week. Todd gets a Red 4Fun, the new design. Renee's is a Yellow SuperHero. Mine is an Orange SuperStar. We figure out how to get the boats on the factory rack without denting the roof of the minivan.. We set out for Ryan's place (Renee's brother) following the direction Renee sent us. Unfortunately, by going to get the boats, we are already off track. Rather than back track to the highway, we decide to go old school and use a map. (For those of you who don't know, a map is a large sheet of paper that show the layout of streets). We stop by Ryan's and say hi to Renee. Unfortuanly Renee has to work and wait on her brother to get home from work.
1:00pm: Todd and I head out for Buena Vista where we are staying for the night. We figure out that apparently when we are talking we ineveitably miss our exits. After at least 4 wrong turns, we finally get on the correct road.
4:00pm: We arrive in Buena Vista and check in to our hotel. I call the small room with the twin bed. This way Ryan can get his own Queen and Todd and Renee get the other Queen.
5:00pm: Todd and I arrive at the river side, we drive, even though the river is only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We gear up and put on the water for a little park-n-play. Todd tells me the first hole/wave is a little sticky on the river left side, but not too bad. I look at the hole and think, looks nasty to me. Neither one of us are really comforatable in the boats yet. So I say, "Show me how it's done Guinea Pig" Todd jumps into the hole and begins to get worked. After his third or forth roll, he seems ready to be done. He flips one last time and by the time he rolls up he is out of the hole. He catches an eddy on the far side fo the river. He is completely out of breath. Not only did he completely get work in the hole, but Buena Vista is 8,000 feet above sea level. There's not as much air up here. Watching Todd, I decide to not repeat his surf, but I go into the easier side of the hole. I go in and out about 5 or 6 times. I go in once more and it catches the edge of my nose and it flips me. I roll up. I start to feel water coming in my boat behind my back. My skirt has imploded. I yell, "I'm sinking" Todd laughs. The sinking boat drags me into the nasty part of the hole, and my boat quickly fills up with water. Once the boat is full, It just drifts under the pillow and I come out of the hole. I then paddle the submerged boat over to the side of the river and get out of the boat. Yep, no swim, even in a sunken boat. Once recovered, we played in some of the other holes, but left that hole alone.
6:30pm: Took out of river and walked 10 minutes back to car along path. By the time we got back to car, I was completely out of breath. This elevation is brutal. We let gear dry in the sun and humidless air. Then we headed back to hotel.
8:00pm: Renee and Ryan arrive to join us. We go out for dinner at a local home-style restaurant.
Over all it was a good start to a Colorado vacation.
5:30am: Wake up and take shower. Make sure all the last items are packed, including Lumpy Jr. Frantically search both cars and house for auto power converter to no avail.
6:10am: Wake Katie up. Already 10 minutes behind schedule. She gets up, dressed and we head out the door for the airport.
6:35am: Arrive at airport. Check in and check both bags, including the oversized bag that contains everyone's paddles and PFDs.
6:50am: Arrive at gate. Todd shows up, walking slowly. Not sure if he is awake yet. He only has one carryon. Renee took all the rest of his stuff the previous day.
7:20am: Boarded plane. Todd boarded with me, cause I am flying first class. hehe, Todd is in coach.
7:50am: Plane takes off. I slept for a little bit, but awaken when the flight attendant asks us what breakfast we want. I get the last omelet. Everyone else has to have yogurt. It was a good Omelet. They serve us 2 different rounds of drinks, even a snack. I hear Todd slept through his drink service and they didn't even offer any breakfast in coach.
9:50 am: Land in Denver. We are now 2 hours behind everyone else in Philly. We deboard and go to get luggage. The paddle bag takes forever to come out, and when it does, we head to the offsite Enterprise rental center. Todd takes the last spot on his bus, so I get on the following short bus. We end up getting a long minivan which will seat 7 comfortably with factory racks installed. Todd spends 15 minutes trying to find out if he got the correct gas plan. They weren't able to verify either way. When we hit the road, we find out that none of us have a GPS. Todd tries to use his Iphone as a GPS, but it's hard for him to drive and use it, and I don't even want to try and figure it out. We manage to make it to Confluence Kayaks, across the street from REI. We get our rental boats for the week. Todd gets a Red 4Fun, the new design. Renee's is a Yellow SuperHero. Mine is an Orange SuperStar. We figure out how to get the boats on the factory rack without denting the roof of the minivan.. We set out for Ryan's place (Renee's brother) following the direction Renee sent us. Unfortunately, by going to get the boats, we are already off track. Rather than back track to the highway, we decide to go old school and use a map. (For those of you who don't know, a map is a large sheet of paper that show the layout of streets). We stop by Ryan's and say hi to Renee. Unfortuanly Renee has to work and wait on her brother to get home from work.
1:00pm: Todd and I head out for Buena Vista where we are staying for the night. We figure out that apparently when we are talking we ineveitably miss our exits. After at least 4 wrong turns, we finally get on the correct road.
4:00pm: We arrive in Buena Vista and check in to our hotel. I call the small room with the twin bed. This way Ryan can get his own Queen and Todd and Renee get the other Queen.
5:00pm: Todd and I arrive at the river side, we drive, even though the river is only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We gear up and put on the water for a little park-n-play. Todd tells me the first hole/wave is a little sticky on the river left side, but not too bad. I look at the hole and think, looks nasty to me. Neither one of us are really comforatable in the boats yet. So I say, "Show me how it's done Guinea Pig" Todd jumps into the hole and begins to get worked. After his third or forth roll, he seems ready to be done. He flips one last time and by the time he rolls up he is out of the hole. He catches an eddy on the far side fo the river. He is completely out of breath. Not only did he completely get work in the hole, but Buena Vista is 8,000 feet above sea level. There's not as much air up here. Watching Todd, I decide to not repeat his surf, but I go into the easier side of the hole. I go in and out about 5 or 6 times. I go in once more and it catches the edge of my nose and it flips me. I roll up. I start to feel water coming in my boat behind my back. My skirt has imploded. I yell, "I'm sinking" Todd laughs. The sinking boat drags me into the nasty part of the hole, and my boat quickly fills up with water. Once the boat is full, It just drifts under the pillow and I come out of the hole. I then paddle the submerged boat over to the side of the river and get out of the boat. Yep, no swim, even in a sunken boat. Once recovered, we played in some of the other holes, but left that hole alone.
6:30pm: Took out of river and walked 10 minutes back to car along path. By the time we got back to car, I was completely out of breath. This elevation is brutal. We let gear dry in the sun and humidless air. Then we headed back to hotel.
8:00pm: Renee and Ryan arrive to join us. We go out for dinner at a local home-style restaurant.
Over all it was a good start to a Colorado vacation.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 7, 8, 9 Brumbelow Honeymoon
Thursday we had the morning to relax at the resort. We woke up, had breakfast and went for another walk along the beach trail. We saw a farmer herding his cows and horses along the path and some strayed onto the beach. Either that or someone was wrestling cows and horses, I’d like to think it was the farmer since there was a little boy helping. We also were able to see howler monkeys in a tree along the path. As we were leaving the hotel at noon we saw a whole family in a tree along with an iguana the size of a monkey!
We traveled further south to the farthest southern point of Costa Rica before Panama starts because there were reefs to check out. We got into the ducky and paddled out to the reef and proceeded to see all kinds of fish. Even though we sunscreened up like crazy, helping each other out, I wore a long sleeve shirt while snorkeling to protect my shoulders, which still hurt from the previous day of kayak surfing. It felt like I was floating in the dean’s salt water fish tank. I saw all types of colors, sizes and shapes of fish – minus the orange Nemo fish. I found this so relaxing to just float and see the fish and coral life. I was even able to use my Reading Rainbow knowledge and identified brain coral in the mix. We worked the hell out of Katie’s waterproof camera taking photos. After we snorkeled, we had a really good lunch of grilled veggies, rice and beans, salad and chicken/pork. It was a good thing our lunches were big because we didn’t get to our hotel until 11:00 p.m. We started our drive back through Limon and on to the Selva Verde Eco Lodge in the northern Caribbean part of Costa Rica. Halfway through the trek – in Siquirres – we switched cars and said goodbye to Jonathan. I gave him my blue WRSI helmet, since he was in need of a new (used) helmet and I had my red one back home. It was around 5 o’clock. We drove for about ten minutes and came to a dead stop. The word was that there were four cars that got into an accident ahead. Costa Rica seems to only have like four major roads so there was no other way around. We sat, sometimes felt joy when we were able to move our car a few inches forward, thinking we would be moving, and then felt angry when we stopped again for another 30 minutes. The worst part was when we were the ones who got picked to stop the line to let the tow truck and cops in. Yulian was screaming Vamos! and beeping the horn. But, we made it through. Our new driver didn’t seem to be able to drive faster than 20 kmh. It was extremely frustrating. I felt like I could have run faster than he was driving. It began to rain and get foggy which made the ride slower. We stopped for dinner and then headed on. Around this time, I began to realize that my lower back was getting really hot. Turns out that the long sleeve shirt I’d worn for snorkeling had hiked up while floating and the sunscreen had not been as thorough on my lower back. My lower back looked like Yulian’s Red Plow and Hearth Staff T-shirt (there are clothing stores that sell second hand American clothing like basketball jerseys and T-shirts. Yulian liked his Plow and Hearth shirt a lot. We asked if he knew what that was and he said no. So we told him that it was just a staff shirt for a store that sells lawn stuff). We arrived at Selva Verde Eco Lodge at around 11 p.m. It is a shame we got here so late as we are staying in a real jungle lodge. There are elevated platforms to get you to your room, everything is eco, you can hear the jungle noises, the bug are huge and come at ya, and there are lizards on the walls. Even though we are exhausted we are going to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to try to enjoy looking around this awesome place. Oh, and the best part were the entry gates; they reminded me of the gates to Jurassic Park.
The howler monkeys started early – 5:30 a.m. – so David decided to go on the bird watch. They sounded like they were right outside the window. I decided to roll over to my left side to continue sleeping. After the unfortunate news that my camera was water logged and not working he went out. Mental note, be sure to remove battery and make sure camera dries out after a couple of hours of snorkeling. He came back before 7 to get me up to breakfast. We went to breakfast and then went on one of the self guided tours around the jungle lodge. We saw howler monkeys that were right above us in the trees. We also went over a suspension bridge over the Sarapiqui River which runs through the river lodge. Katie liked bouncing on the bridge as she walked behind me. I did not, the rules said no jumping on the bridge. Yea, right, and when my back was turned . . . I lightly bobbed up and down for two seconds. I knew it!The morning was full of wildlife as we went on a motorboat ride of the flat section of the Sarapiqui River to see bird, iguanas and small crocodiles. They were still big enough to bite off a hand. After that we went to a snake house which I walked through quickly. I only walked through quickly, because it was hot and our driver was slow. The traveling has started to make me tired and this was just not my thing. We then carried on to the Arenal Volcano area to do what I’ve been waiting for all week – Ziplining!! We stopped for lunch and then checked in to Hotel Los Lagos Spa and Resort. Where everything was fake and everything else, closed at 4pm well after we’d get back from ziplining. Well, not the pools, but we were tired of water. After a hiccup with the zipline people – they were going to not let us go, then they were only going to let one of us go, then as I finished my first zipline solo David joined me, we were able to zipline in a private tour just the two of us. Apparently, they had sold our reservations. Then told us they could only get one of us. I told Katie to go. Julian called Ronald, the tour company owner, who seems like he knows everyone in Costa Rica. He called the owner of the ziplining company. The owner called his employees and got us a private tour. Ronald is the MAN! We sped down the lines and there was a beautiful view of the Arenal Volcano and Lake. The 7th zipline (there was only 8 total) was over a half mile long and actually passed through a tunnel of rainforest trees. It really sucks that my camera wasn’t working because there was a lot of things to take pictures of today. We came back to the hotel and while David souvenir shopped in La Fortuna, I relaxed after a long, adventurous 10 days. I got to visit a grocery store with Yulian where he directed me to chocolates and cookies that he grew up with. I also visited one of the Americana stores, where he buys American pre-owned clothing. I still have no clue how they get the clothing.
This was a great honeymoon with a great tour company in a great country. I would love to come back. The food was great. And we didn’t have to pay for a meal or drink, unless we got something on our own, like a souvenir. The weather was warm and the people were friendly. The only disappointment was that the only sloth I saw was the one on my novelty pen that we bought in the Turrialtico gift shop. David is already thinking of his five day kayaking tour in the near future. Sigh . . . If only I had more vacation time. Pura Vida Costa Rica!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 6 Brumbelow Honeymoon
The hardest thing in Costa Rica is not the language barrier - it is remembering to not flush the TP down the toilet. Every so often you can hear me say, "oops!" as i remember as i hit the flusher. Sorry CR if i have caused any country-wide plumbing issues.. i'm just a Gringa!
Yesterday, David's 40th bday BTW, (19th thank you very much) we drove to one of the active volcanoes, Irazu. The GPS said we were 11,000 feet above sea level. We were climbing up and up and up for a long time. We could feel it when we got out of the car. It was cold and we felt dizzy. We were so high that we were amid the clouds but we could see down to the crater where water had pooled. The other volcano, Turrialba, is too active for tourists so it is illegal to go to it. There was this cute animal that looked like a racoon and an ant eater called a Pizote and was quite the crowd pleaser as all the tourists were taking her pic.
After the volcano we drove back down and stopped 14 km from town to bike the rest. We flew down the turrialba hills. It was awesome! I had a slight blow outof my back tire, and Yulian was nice enough to give up his bike and ride in the follow car the rest of the way. David asked me on the way if was nervous and i said no. He said, "i dont understand you. You get nervous on rivers you've paddled before but won't get nervous about plummeting down hills." (or something to that effect) and i said "yep!" i'm a mystery.
We got to the tour office, had a quick lunch and then set off on a 3.5 hour ride to Puerto Viejo. We passed out of the Turialba region into Limon. The scenery changed to flatlands with big palm trees. We saw miles and miles of banana farm. The roads got worse - full of pot holes. The pot holes were so bad, they knocked the headlights on the SUV out of alignment. We passed through the town of Limon and you could tell it was a poor area with the shacky houses and general upkeep (i waited until after we passed limon to ask to pee). Once out of Limon we were riding along side the Caribbean sea! The sun was going down fast but we could see the waves crashing and the palm trees on the beach before we turned more inland and were again surrounded by banana trees. We slowly made our way (dodging pot holes bigger than those in philly) down the "Class five road" to our hotel. We checked in to our air conditioned bungalow and headed to dinner. Puerto Viejo is a cute little strip of shops, restaurants and street vendors. Reminds me a bit of New Hope, but with a Carribean flare. They have pizzarias here which is curious to me. i might have to try one. There are alot of shops with cute dresses that i am sure Michelle Kessler would love but i was too tired to look around for some cute attire.
The remaining posts will be added when we return to the US. We didn't have internet for the rest of the trip so the document will be added this evening hopefully. Another sad note, the camera did not record our last day here - the zipline day!
Yesterday, David's 40th bday BTW, (19th thank you very much) we drove to one of the active volcanoes, Irazu. The GPS said we were 11,000 feet above sea level. We were climbing up and up and up for a long time. We could feel it when we got out of the car. It was cold and we felt dizzy. We were so high that we were amid the clouds but we could see down to the crater where water had pooled. The other volcano, Turrialba, is too active for tourists so it is illegal to go to it. There was this cute animal that looked like a racoon and an ant eater called a Pizote and was quite the crowd pleaser as all the tourists were taking her pic.
After the volcano we drove back down and stopped 14 km from town to bike the rest. We flew down the turrialba hills. It was awesome! I had a slight blow outof my back tire, and Yulian was nice enough to give up his bike and ride in the follow car the rest of the way. David asked me on the way if was nervous and i said no. He said, "i dont understand you. You get nervous on rivers you've paddled before but won't get nervous about plummeting down hills." (or something to that effect) and i said "yep!" i'm a mystery.
We got to the tour office, had a quick lunch and then set off on a 3.5 hour ride to Puerto Viejo. We passed out of the Turialba region into Limon. The scenery changed to flatlands with big palm trees. We saw miles and miles of banana farm. The roads got worse - full of pot holes. The pot holes were so bad, they knocked the headlights on the SUV out of alignment. We passed through the town of Limon and you could tell it was a poor area with the shacky houses and general upkeep (i waited until after we passed limon to ask to pee). Once out of Limon we were riding along side the Caribbean sea! The sun was going down fast but we could see the waves crashing and the palm trees on the beach before we turned more inland and were again surrounded by banana trees. We slowly made our way (dodging pot holes bigger than those in philly) down the "Class five road" to our hotel. We checked in to our air conditioned bungalow and headed to dinner. Puerto Viejo is a cute little strip of shops, restaurants and street vendors. Reminds me a bit of New Hope, but with a Carribean flare. They have pizzarias here which is curious to me. i might have to try one. There are alot of shops with cute dresses that i am sure Michelle Kessler would love but i was too tired to look around for some cute attire.
The remaining posts will be added when we return to the US. We didn't have internet for the rest of the trip so the document will be added this evening hopefully. Another sad note, the camera did not record our last day here - the zipline day!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 4 and 5 Brumbelow Honeymoon
We were picked up and set off for the Lower Pacuare river an 18 mile stretch of river that we would do over two days. Once on, we would be on our own with the guides, Jonathan and Yulian, until we got to the end. The first day was easy class II and III. We completed six miles in about two hours. We climbed up to the waterfall near the river lodge and then ate our lunch.
We quickly burned lunch off by schlepping our overnight clothes, gear, and food up to the top of the hill where the river lodge was located via rope and a 45 degree incline! We then got in our boars, ferried across one bit of waves and then got out to walk up to the lodge. We were pretty exhausted. But, the river lodge was BEAUTIFUL! It was rustic with just screened-in, one room huts. There was a bar and cooking area, hammocks, and it was all open air. The shower was just a tiled area with a view of the jungle. Katie said I did good on planning the honeymoon. We were the only four in the whole place, besides two constuction workers. Of course it was Easter. We showered, made our beds and sat down to bird watch before the sun set at its always reliable 6 o'clock in Costa Rica. I have never bird watched before. I enjoyed it but I would never go out to explicity do it. We saw Keel-Billed Toucans with long green bills, Social Flycatchers that would dive bomb the mirror, and Montezuma Oropendola which makes nests that look like pendulums (or testicles if you are a dirty minded person like me) That's my girl!
The boys first made appetizers of sausage, tortillas, nuts and raisins, and potato chips and that illusive white Guanabana juice that, to me, smells like air freshener. I love it! For dinner they made us dinner of Tilapia (my first taste of it ever!) Of course she'll try tilapia when two young Costa Rican guides will make it for her but when I suggest making it back in the states she says noooo. lol! That is because it isn't fresh, David. I doubt Eat'n Park can duplicate this meal! We also had grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, salad and strawberry-banana juice.
We fell asleep to the sound of the river, cicadas and the "jungle music." In the morning, we had scrambled eggs, toast, fruit salad and orange juice. I made sure to stuff myself with lots of food so we wouldn't have to carry heavy containers back down the way we came up! The guides told us the river would be getting more narrow today opening up Class III and IV rapids. I was already nervous about the Class IV before we left. We had 12 miles to do today so we set off. We did, however, offer the chocolate canoer that Terri gave us for xmas a few years ago to the Tellico River god. The first part started off with III and III+ rapids. I did not enjoy these 12 miles because almost every rapid seemed to be a turn in the river pushing all the water against a rock walls. I could not, for the life of me, surf the pillow so I got flipped, and flipped, and flipped....sigh. She did really good. I was proud of her. This is probably all the bad karma coming back to me.
Somewhere in there we stopped to rappel down a waterfall. I thought it was harder than it looked and of course I lost my balance halfway down. I think I was going too fast and not following proper technique. Noone ever told us that the rappeling rope would bounce like a bungee cord. After the rappeling the Class IV stuff kicked in. There were three Class IV rapids in a row including the hardest one of the day. I wanted to walk it but was convinced that I could do it. There was apparently a tongue but it looked like a scary eat-your-face hole to me! She hit the line perfect and did very good. I fucking gunned it and tried to paddle hard but ended up, you guessed it, flipped against the rock wall. My contacts moved, my nose plugs got blasted off, my gatorade exploded out of its holder and i came up gagging and crying. I still say she did very well. Whatever, I should have walked it. But, that was the end of the hardest rapid. There were of course more Class IV up-against-the-pillow rapids. I am sure Yullian was thinking, "what is with this girl!" lol. And i'm sure they've had alot worse.
So, finally, after the last Class IV we paddled through this beautiful canyon. There were high walls on both sides and calm green water. This was my favorite part of the river. And the stupid government wants to put a dam there. Luckily the people rose up and protested it and they won't be able to place a dam there for five years. At which time the people must rise up again.
We stopped for lunch about 20 minutes before the take out again and we were all amused at the minnows as they swarmed over food we threw into the river. I had to step out of the water because they kept nibbling the hairs on my legs. We could also hear howler monkeys occasionally but did not see any.
At the end of the river we got out (it had become very shallow) and changed/rinsed off. We wer in the town of Squirres which apparently, after dark, is the most dangerous town in Costa Rica. We then headed back to Turriabla and the Turrialtico Lodge. This time we got an amazing room with satelite tv (though very low volume), big tiled bathroom, hair dryer!!, and sound barriers!! We are off to dinner because I am hungry, of course!
Tomorrow we mountain bike and then head to the beach for two days. There's talk of bringing the kayak so we can surf the waves at the beach. Yep, i can't get away from it :-P
We quickly burned lunch off by schlepping our overnight clothes, gear, and food up to the top of the hill where the river lodge was located via rope and a 45 degree incline! We then got in our boars, ferried across one bit of waves and then got out to walk up to the lodge. We were pretty exhausted. But, the river lodge was BEAUTIFUL! It was rustic with just screened-in, one room huts. There was a bar and cooking area, hammocks, and it was all open air. The shower was just a tiled area with a view of the jungle. Katie said I did good on planning the honeymoon. We were the only four in the whole place, besides two constuction workers. Of course it was Easter. We showered, made our beds and sat down to bird watch before the sun set at its always reliable 6 o'clock in Costa Rica. I have never bird watched before. I enjoyed it but I would never go out to explicity do it. We saw Keel-Billed Toucans with long green bills, Social Flycatchers that would dive bomb the mirror, and Montezuma Oropendola which makes nests that look like pendulums (or testicles if you are a dirty minded person like me) That's my girl!The boys first made appetizers of sausage, tortillas, nuts and raisins, and potato chips and that illusive white Guanabana juice that, to me, smells like air freshener. I love it! For dinner they made us dinner of Tilapia (my first taste of it ever!) Of course she'll try tilapia when two young Costa Rican guides will make it for her but when I suggest making it back in the states she says noooo. lol! That is because it isn't fresh, David. I doubt Eat'n Park can duplicate this meal! We also had grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, salad and strawberry-banana juice.
We fell asleep to the sound of the river, cicadas and the "jungle music." In the morning, we had scrambled eggs, toast, fruit salad and orange juice. I made sure to stuff myself with lots of food so we wouldn't have to carry heavy containers back down the way we came up! The guides told us the river would be getting more narrow today opening up Class III and IV rapids. I was already nervous about the Class IV before we left. We had 12 miles to do today so we set off. We did, however, offer the chocolate canoer that Terri gave us for xmas a few years ago to the Tellico River god. The first part started off with III and III+ rapids. I did not enjoy these 12 miles because almost every rapid seemed to be a turn in the river pushing all the water against a rock walls. I could not, for the life of me, surf the pillow so I got flipped, and flipped, and flipped....sigh. She did really good. I was proud of her. This is probably all the bad karma coming back to me.
Somewhere in there we stopped to rappel down a waterfall. I thought it was harder than it looked and of course I lost my balance halfway down. I think I was going too fast and not following proper technique. Noone ever told us that the rappeling rope would bounce like a bungee cord. After the rappeling the Class IV stuff kicked in. There were three Class IV rapids in a row including the hardest one of the day. I wanted to walk it but was convinced that I could do it. There was apparently a tongue but it looked like a scary eat-your-face hole to me! She hit the line perfect and did very good. I fucking gunned it and tried to paddle hard but ended up, you guessed it, flipped against the rock wall. My contacts moved, my nose plugs got blasted off, my gatorade exploded out of its holder and i came up gagging and crying. I still say she did very well. Whatever, I should have walked it. But, that was the end of the hardest rapid. There were of course more Class IV up-against-the-pillow rapids. I am sure Yullian was thinking, "what is with this girl!" lol. And i'm sure they've had alot worse.
So, finally, after the last Class IV we paddled through this beautiful canyon. There were high walls on both sides and calm green water. This was my favorite part of the river. And the stupid government wants to put a dam there. Luckily the people rose up and protested it and they won't be able to place a dam there for five years. At which time the people must rise up again.
We stopped for lunch about 20 minutes before the take out again and we were all amused at the minnows as they swarmed over food we threw into the river. I had to step out of the water because they kept nibbling the hairs on my legs. We could also hear howler monkeys occasionally but did not see any.
At the end of the river we got out (it had become very shallow) and changed/rinsed off. We wer in the town of Squirres which apparently, after dark, is the most dangerous town in Costa Rica. We then headed back to Turriabla and the Turrialtico Lodge. This time we got an amazing room with satelite tv (though very low volume), big tiled bathroom, hair dryer!!, and sound barriers!! We are off to dinner because I am hungry, of course!
Tomorrow we mountain bike and then head to the beach for two days. There's talk of bringing the kayak so we can surf the waves at the beach. Yep, i can't get away from it :-P
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 3 Brumbelow Honeymoon
We woke up this morning preparing for a mountain bike ride from the top of the volcano. We ate breakfast and noticed it was still a little misty rainy. We started to dress for the day when a knock came at the door. David answered it and they told him he had a phone call. I thought maybe something happened to the cats or someone from home. He came up a few minutes later and said "it's raining on the volcanoes and we won't be able to see anything so they think today would be a better day to paddle and wanted to do the Florida Section of the Revetazon River." I was not thrilled with the prospect of four days in a row of paddling (tomorrow we are going on the two-day river trip) but I said yes since I was promised it wouldn't be too much harder than yesterday. They let me borrow a book entitled "Chasing Jaguars" which lists all the Costa Rican waters. We had read the Florida section the night before and the max was 3+. The max was actually 4-. Same difference.
We got picked up and headed to the river an hour and a half away - there were no rafts on the van so we were good to go. We drove along the countryside and passed into the Limon region of the country. We talked about a bunch of different rivers with our guides and they mentioned they were building a dam that would erase the Pascua and Florida sections of the river and is scheduled to complete in 2013. Sad time for paddlers.
The temperature became warmer as we got closer to the carribean side of the country. The vegetation became more tropical looking with banana trees and palm trees. We even passed a pineapple farm. Who knew pineapples grow on the ground. i always thought they grew on trees!
We climbed up and reached the put in - right at the location of a construction site for the aforementioned dam. The GPS said it was 2100 feet above sea level.
My interpretation of this river was BIG water and kinda tricky! There were cross currents and big waves that moved my contacts all over the place. Renee, you would have loved it. It's very New-esque.
I was scared the first half the river. The hardest rapid was almost right away - of course the last two days we were dropping gradient like crazy! no eddies or stretches of flat water anywhere. She aced it. i dont know what she's talking about. Ok i got flipped alot! We ran a rapid called upper and lower bamboo. i dumped right into a hole at the top and had to roll. Then we went through this HUGE part where i just kept saying "oh shit!" while my guide said "you'll be ok!" We get to the bottom and i look back - it looks like Big Nasty on steroids. I asked "is that a class 4?" "No. is a class 3." It was definitly a three plus. I think the guides were trying to talk it down. um no! it was freaking scary!! You (David) said it was as big as Recyclotron! The hole, not the rapid. she still aced it though. Whatever. it was scary. I don't think Katie is a fan of big water. and that's ok. Get me some lasik!
So we continued on and there was nothing harder after that. We apparently avoided a class 4 rapid which i am happy about. The rest of the river was huge wave trains. We actually ran two sections of the river - a section below the typical Florida take out since there was only the four of us in kayaks. I wanted to count it as two rivers for the Baker's Dozen contest. The Chef said no. At the takeout the GPS said 200 feet above sea level. That's ~1900 feet, aproximately 8 miles that we dropped in about eight miles.
After we got off the river we headed to lunch and then back to the lodge. Apparently, i am the only one who can't read the menu board now. Katie was reading it like a pro. Gracias!
We decided to go down to check out the waterfall since we weren't rushed this time by the six pm sunset. The water was quite cold though! David was scared of what was under the water and took him a bit of prodding before jumping in. I wasn't scared. i was just playing. it was cold though! We hiked around more and came across some local dogs that wouldn't go back to their owner. They decided they liked us more! They later showed up at the lodge while we were eating dinner and sat by David's side the whole meal. The dogs... not the owner.
Tomorrow we will be heading to our two day overnight river trip. We will be taking minimal things so there may not be a brumbloggy until we reach the carribean! I'm excited about tomorrow. hiking to waterfalls, rappelling down them and much more! I'm excited to get to a new lodge with separate cabins!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 2 Brumbelow Honeymoon
So after we posted Brumbloggy day 1, we tried to sleep. There were the loud americans below us that give us all a bad name. They were drinking and playing charades for hours, laughing really loudly. I went down at 10:30 p.m. the night before to see if there was quiet hours. They said normally it begins at 10 p.m. and they said they were going to send the laughing girl packing. Shortly after the noise stopped for the most part. and then the restaurant began clanking glasses and dishes at 6 a.m. so there was not a happy Katie in the place.
When we were driving up to the lodge yesterday, our guide talked about how the volcano has begun to be more active in the last two-three months than it has been in the lat 100 years. He said the air became toxic at the top, farms and animals were being affected so much that the landownere are moving. There is always smoke now, they say. When I woke up this morning, the fog was burning off and the sun was showing through. before the fog burned off, visibility was 50 feet.
We went down to breakfast and the annoying laughing people from the night before were in a different kind of mood. They seemed to be upset about the price of their room and were discussing things with the owner. I think they were charged extra for being obnoxious. They paid so we are hoping they won't be back. Anyway!!
We ate our breakfast and David took pictures of all the carved artwork placed all over the lodge. I'll send them to Von later for his perusal.
After breakfast we packed up our gear bag for the big paddle ahead. There was a surprise explosion of sunscreen which set us about cleaning all our gear off article by article. We then headed down and waited for our ride and noticed the vultures gathering above... hmmm...
There was one, then two, then three, then four! I think they were about to pick up the three year old that was sitting on the lawn.
As we drove down the hill, Yulian, one of our guides, mentioned that it was 45 mins to the put in of the Pejivalle River. I asked when we were picking up the whitewater kayaks. Turns out he was confused and we had to go pick up the baots. We almost eneded up rafting class II/III-!!! Unfortunately, due to the confusion, they did not have a four fun and I ended up paddling a Dagger G-Force 6.3. Very tight! And I ended up in a Project 52 - which resembles B.O.B. except squirlier. He can be called Sq.O.B. (squirly orange boat).
When we were driving up to the lodge yesterday, our guide talked about how the volcano has begun to be more active in the last two-three months than it has been in the lat 100 years. He said the air became toxic at the top, farms and animals were being affected so much that the landownere are moving. There is always smoke now, they say. When I woke up this morning, the fog was burning off and the sun was showing through. before the fog burned off, visibility was 50 feet.
We went down to breakfast and the annoying laughing people from the night before were in a different kind of mood. They seemed to be upset about the price of their room and were discussing things with the owner. I think they were charged extra for being obnoxious. They paid so we are hoping they won't be back. Anyway!!
We ate our breakfast and David took pictures of all the carved artwork placed all over the lodge. I'll send them to Von later for his perusal.
After breakfast we packed up our gear bag for the big paddle ahead. There was a surprise explosion of sunscreen which set us about cleaning all our gear off article by article. We then headed down and waited for our ride and noticed the vultures gathering above... hmmm...
There was one, then two, then three, then four! I think they were about to pick up the three year old that was sitting on the lawn.
As we drove down the hill, Yulian, one of our guides, mentioned that it was 45 mins to the put in of the Pejivalle River. I asked when we were picking up the whitewater kayaks. Turns out he was confused and we had to go pick up the baots. We almost eneded up rafting class II/III-!!! Unfortunately, due to the confusion, they did not have a four fun and I ended up paddling a Dagger G-Force 6.3. Very tight! And I ended up in a Project 52 - which resembles B.O.B. except squirlier. He can be called Sq.O.B. (squirly orange boat).
After a 45 minute drive where we became friendly with our shared wall neighbors Susan and Natalie from Florida, we made it to the put in. There were people and people and people everywhere. They were all off work due to the holy week, and they were all down by the river. Whenever we passed they would wave, hoot and greet us with a friendly smile. Of course Katie would ham it up by raising one arm while running a rapid so everyone would cheer (I only did that once!). Alright, i was the one rolling upon demand. The people were grilling, swimming/wading in the water and just hanging out. It gave a nice sense of community.The river was low! It reminded me of the Mongaup (ahem.. renee... you should get on it). It was like an amped up Lehigh ...at 500 cfs! There were other people who came with us and rafted and duckied. We were the ones who had the easiest time with the level, zipping in and out and down past the stuck raft. I would not have liked to be rafting it. I got flipped once and then flipped again due to lens issues but other than that it was a breezy day in my playboat. I managed to surf a bit in the beginning while Yulian gave the lecture about rafting. We also passed a section of river that was used by the olympic team to practice slolem runs. There were some nice play holes in that! And i lost sight of everyone by the time i was through.
Now lunch... LUNCH WAS AWESOME! There was fruit, cheese, sandwich meats, bread, tortillas, cookies, tuna salad, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, chips all on a tablecloth and served with an apron and chef hat! It was the best.river.lunch.ever. And we get it three more times! (though i felt bad that they were dicing and cutting for 20 mins). Mental note Todd, hire someone to meet us at lunch spots with a full spread. The serving table, by the way, was the raft upside down. I was pretty amused by the fact that they were cutting up pineapple on the bottom of a rubber raft. We got back on the river after lunch and paddled to the takeout - about a quarter mile down the river!! By this point it started to rain and increased in intensity throughout the afternoon. It was a nice calm rain.
So, here we are nearing the end of day two in a cloudy Costa Rica. Tomorrow, we venture to the toxic volcanos and will bike down. It hopefuly will be a calm night. I am exhausted! Now for some more beans....lol.. and drinks
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Costa Rica: Day 1 Brumbelow Honeymoon
The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. We collected our things, did a quick once over and headed to the airport with only one wrong turn that caused us to block traffic while following the GPS to the remote parking. David was driving and trying to think at the same time. Excuse me, Katie was talking to me and distracting me. We did not have a direct flight so we landed in charlotte for a quick bagel and passport check. We completed the second leg of our journey from Charlotte to San Jose with lots of word puzzles and David craning his neck and pointing out geographic features that I could not see from her bitch middle seat. Hey, there was whitewater down there!
After arriving and going through customs we found our tour guide. We drove to the barren streets of San Jose since this is the Holy Week and everyone is off at the beach or crowding up the rivers we are paddling tomorrow! There are festivals going on at the churches and local parks and generally people are all around because they are on vacation. Still it was much nicer than India. Our tour guide stopped us halfway to dine at a side cafe with nice local fl
avor. Our hosts helped us order food and I practiced my small amount of spanish while David looked confused and lost the whole time. I just CAN'T hear it! It's gonna be a long week of not understanding what people are saying. Therefore, I was deemed head of the household this week!! Halfway through the meal we heard a whurring sound and saw a zipliner zoom past us (upside down mind you) not ten feet from us. Lunch was truly delicious as described by the tour itinerary.
avor. Our hosts helped us order food and I practiced my small amount of spanish while David looked confused and lost the whole time. I just CAN'T hear it! It's gonna be a long week of not understanding what people are saying. Therefore, I was deemed head of the household this week!! Halfway through the meal we heard a whurring sound and saw a zipliner zoom past us (upside down mind you) not ten feet from us. Lunch was truly delicious as described by the tour itinerary. We continued our journey up and up and down and down and around winding turns to get to the Turrialba region. We passed lots of sugar cane and coffee farms. Lots is an understatement. It's too bad we don't like coffee. The cocoa plants are on the carribean coast where we will be on the 6th (my birthday). So much for not having a chocolate bar in a year and a half.
We arrived at the Turrialtico Lodge (The driveway reminded me of the Rockport takeout to the parking lot above, but unpaved) around 5 p.m. and adusted to the close quarters. I mean I freaked a little about how I can hear everything in the entire place! She brought ear plugs. You can't be too prepared for things that bump each other in the night. We then went off to check out the local trail quickly before the sun went down speedily at 6 p.m. We found a waterfall at the bottom of the trail which we will surely venture to again (minus stepping on biting ants along the way).
We came up for dinner and I personally did not like my choice. But there were mango cocktails waiting for us when we got back to the lodge. It was full of onion, tomatoes and thick corn tortillas. But, David's dinner wasn't bad - a mix of local flavorings of refried beans, eggs, queso, chicken, beef and some cucumber-esque stuff. Surely, we will have to get used to the food or we will be farting until the day we land back in Philadelphia! But we do love our refried beans! So here we type this at 7:30. It's been dark for an hour and a half, a baby is crying in the background, two girls are playing cards beneath us in the dining area, and we already have our first mosquito bites. But, we are anxiously waiting for sleep and tomorrow!
* Italics is David's comments as Katie typed this (and retyped the names adding capitalization.)
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