After my action packed layover day it was nice to have a much more relaxing day of floating again. Most of the morning was quite relaxing. As usual on these quieter days we traded between boats as the day went on. It’s always nice to get to spend time with different people over the course of the trip. It’s a really nice relaxing way to get to know people better. We stopped for lunch at the mouth of Parashant Canyon to grab a bite to eat and check out the book of worms, a large piece of shale with many many fossilized worm burrows. It turns out the canyon has a lot of large pieces of shale, so we ended up spending quite a while wandering about looking for the right one. We found it though. At least we think we did…
The afternoon was similarly relaxed,. There was not too much whitewater, with just one significant rapid over the course of the day. The rapid was still a memorable one for me though. When we arrived at the rapid I was the closest person we had to a guide, so I got to run the rapid on the oars. It was my first real rapid on the oars. Overall it went well. I only got turned a bit at the end, but did hit the line I was aiming for dead on. I still think the kayaking is fun, but I can really see enjoying this version too.
Past 205 it was a short trip to Big Bar Camp for the night. My turn was up for the kitchen crew, so after unloading the boats it was off to help cook up the evening’s meal. The cooking went smoothly despite being interrupted by a beautiful sunset. Always have to have that camera ready in the canyon!
Taken 11/6/21
