proposal on the colorado

Well.............

Joe Hutch Rapid, Desolation Canyon August 2014

This last weekend I went on the best river trip of my life - where I asked my girlfriend Danielle Brading to marry me! My friend Kerri and I had been planning this Westwater private trip with a few of our river guiding friends, and at the end of the canyon I surprised Dani with a ring.



We dated almost the whole summer while working together at World Wide River Expeditions. I had just left for school back in Logan a week earlier, and came down for this Westwater trip. Kerri, Joe, Todd, Dani and I put in at Loma, CO on Friday and floated for two days in the Ruby/Horsethief sections. Sunday we camped at the Westwater put-in, went to church in Fruita, and a few more friends joined us that night. Monday morning there was a total of nine of us, three in kayaks. Dani and I rowed the rapids, and right after the last one I stopped rowing and asked Todd (who was in on this) to take a picture of us. He started the camera rolling and I proposed right there on the front of the boat. Dani was so shocked that she screamed, "No! No no no no no! Are you serious??" She had me a little worried for a second! But speechless she nodded her head yes.

The biggest reason she was so surprised was because we had only checked out a couple rings - she didn't even know her ring size! But I had a pretty good idea of what she wanted. My great grandmother Andrew had actually passed on her heritage wedding ring to my family, and it was about the right size and perfect style. She loves it.

More to come with dates, but we're planning on getting married in December. Danielle makes me so happy, and I'm so excited to marry my best friend!

summer so far...

I kept thinking to myself that I still have plenty of summer to still write, but I realized that today is already the beginning of August.

Where did it go???

I suppose that I should keep up on my writing because this is the closest thing I have to a journal at the moment. Needless to say it's been a busy summer. Right after school ended I packed up and headed to CA to fulfill my lifelong desire to sell pest control door-to-door. . . . . . . . . . . .

Just kidding.

That lasted a few weeks (enough to see a few friends from my mission and visit Lake Tahoe with a great friend) and I realized that I left my heart in Moab and that's where I needed to be. So I woke up one morning, called and quit, threw my stuff in the back of my truck and dead-headed it back to the homeland. I was lucky enough to get my riverguiding job back that I had before my mission, and I've been working nights at Sunset Grill as a server.

So between whitewater trips and serving delish steak and seafood I've been climbing and camping when I can. It's been so good to be with my family (especially my brother Joseph who leaves on his mission to Brazil at the end of this month), hang out with old friends, and find new ones.

Anyways, the summer's not over yet, but here are a few of the highlights so far. One of the best trips this summer was a Desolation Canyon trip I did with Dani and Kayla (can you tell that Deso is my favorite?).

Lasal Mountains

Camp at Jack Creek, Desolation

Kerri on Nervous in Suburbia, Wall St.

Rocky Rapid, Fisher Towers section of the Colorado

49hr Deso

Last weekend we had a 48hr Deso reunion! Three years ago Karen, Ammon, Kerri and I did a 50 (not quite 48) hour Deso trip on the Green. Since then, Ammon and Karen got married (that trip started it all), I served a mission, and life went on.

So, we planned a reunion trip! The government opened up just in time to check our permits and let us on the water. Former guides Joe and Caity to joined us and we rowed all day, into the night, ate on the boat, slept on the boat.... and broke our record by an hour, making this the forty-nine hour Deso trip. It was a amazing to see the fall colors and different autumn sun on this river.

Training

We've been busy at World Wide these past two weeks; we did a Cataract Canyon trip in one and a half days, ran Westwater five times, and did a three-day Desolation Canyon trip.

Cat went by fast with an S-rig and one row boat. About 20,000 cfs.

I had never done Westwater before, and I was amazed at the incredible rock formations and intense rapids. Desolation Canyon is the best multi-day trip, but Westwater is a new favorite.

About 15-20,000 cfs

The black canyon walls are metamorphic rock called "Vishnu Schist." Westwater Canyon is the only place on the Colorado besides the Grand Canyon where Precambrian rock is exposed. It's eroded by water pushing around smaller rocks creating little tunnels called "fluting."

Meet Kirk, Ghia's husband as of January. He came along and helped train, as well as motor and cut down rowing time. He's a fly guy, and his boat is sweet!

This was my fourth time down Deso (about 22-24,000 cfs). I love that canyon; the history is full of ranchers and outlaws, indian lore, fun rapids, and incredible beauty.

Celebrating Joe and Jordan's birthdays with dutch oven carrot cake and lots of burning things.

 

Joe and I had a minor sinus issue... allergies.

A few of the crew this year: Will, Dallin, me, Ivy, Cameron, Joe, Libby, Ghia, Matt, Jane, Kim, Jordan, and Lexy.

Atop a towering cliff about Rattlesnake rapid. I love this place!

Perfect weather... perfect weekend

It's been in the 70's all week! Perfectly beautiful fall weather. On Friday Ammon and I went sport climbing on Wall Street. After a couple disappointing attempts, we finally completed a route. Good practice, but I really need to work on forearm strength. In the afternoon Emily and Karen joined us to set up a slackline at the park. I hadn't slacklined since last year, but I worked and worked at it until I could walk it! It's amazing how much balance and technique it takes. Pretty soon I was jumping on the line and walking! I love it... and it's a cool social tool; so many people walking down the road came over and asked, "Hey, can I try your line?" It's great to learn from different people. I'm getting enough webbing to make my own line, and I'm planning on setting up some posts in my backyard so I can practice anytime.

Later that night, a few of us had a bonfire in rememberance of Guy Fawkes. We also blew up cans of gasoline and aerosol instead of fireworks. Enough said.

Ivy and the Whitewater Kayaking Club from BYU came Friday night, so Saturday morning we floated the daily. It was crazy to be on the river the beginning of November, so late in the year! It was really cool to be floating past yellow cottonwoods and see the fall wildlife. The water was so cold, but the outside air was great. I couldn't go in a whitewater kayak because I've never rolled, but I wanted to try something new besides a duckie. So I rented a sit-on-top kayak... dumb idea. It was huge and heavy, and basically the same as an inflatable duckie, which are easy to roll up and stow in a car. Oh well, I tried something new, and now I know I won't try it again.

After the daily the club ate at Fiesta Mexicana and left town (Ivy hitched a ride back to campus on Sunday with a visiting riverguide).We finished up the night with hot chocolate and "River Wild." Perfect weekend!

Deso #3

Last week Karen, Kerri, Ammon and I did a three day Desolation Canyon trip. We actually did the whole thing in about 50 hours (Karen had to be back for a Cat trip), without a motor. Cooking on the boat, naps on the boat, grooving on the... no, just kidding! We rowed into the dark every night, and even floated Range Creek Rapid in the dark. Camp was always late, but we enjoyed it and the weather was beautiful. No rain, hardly any wind, and it was pretty warm. We stopped at the iron-prowed skiff, Rock Creek Ranch, the Three Canyons Bridge, Last Chance Rapid (in the dark!), and climbed up the cliff at Rattlesnake. Most of these places we don't stop when we're on commercial trips. And the wildlife was amazing! There were bald eagles, two herds of bighorn sheep, and lots of beavers. It's the best in the fall - I love guide trips.

Company Cat

This year we got to do a company Cataract Canyon trip! It was just a bunch of guides, friends, and one of Nicki's friends with her family. It was so much fun, and the rapids were awesome.

The crew: John, Mark, Mike, Stephen, Joe, Ivy, Karen, Chris, Jordan, Lexy, Erica, Scott, Jane, Dale, Suzy, Clinton, Morgan, and Sheena.

Like always, Suzy just can't seem to keep her hands off me, and of course Clinton has to help her out. Some passengers on other trips have even asked if Suzy and I are dating because she horses around a lot more than Ivy does :P

Holly wanted to "go on the boats" instead of driving back with Steve.

 We left the put-in at about 9:30, so it was dark as we motored to our first campsite. It was cool, I've never rafted in the dark! People read, slept, and ate leftover cheesecake from some wedding reception.

The fun boat with Mark, Joe, Suzy, Me, Ivy, Morgan, Steven, and Scott.

For dress-up night all three of us unintentionally wore Hawaiian-themed clothing.

I love Cataract Canyon

Desolation and Grey Canyon

At World Wide, every riverguide gets a free river trip a year for a family member. I decided to take my brother Joseph on a five-day Desolation Canyon river trip. Ivy came too, so the three of us got our own boat. There where two other guides on the trip, Suzy-Q and Morgan. The first day we have to cover 25 out of 86 miles of the Green River, so we took a motor with enough gas for one day.

Rigging our boats at Sand Wash, the put-in, Monday evening.

The next morning while we waited for Suzy and Morgan to get the passengers from the airstrip, I found a snake. When Suzy came back we put the reptile on her back. At first she thought it was her sunglasses and chums.

Unfortunately Jed, our driver and the motorhead, forgot to tell us to open up the gas tank while the motor was running, so it died a lot. It was embarrassing because all our passengers knew we didn't know what we were really doing. Luckily for us, they were very nice and helped out.

It took forever for us to figure it out. Everyone except for Suzy wanted to shoot ourselves. Instead she just swears, right Suzy? ;)

Outlaw hide-out in Firewater Canyon.

One of the nights it stormed the whole time. Cool lightening and thunder but we didn't appreciate the rain very much.

Morgan tried to stay dry by sleeping in her dry-bag under the table. I don't know why she's smiling, it didn't work that great.

Ivy and I at McPhereson Ranch. I'm glad we use groovers on the river now.

We stopped on a small isolated beach after Rattlesnake Rapid and hung out there for about thirty minutes. One of our young passengers pointed downstream and said, "Hey! A bear!" We got off that beach pretty quickly. The black bear looked like an awkward adolescent. I love the wildlife in Desolation and Grey Canyon!

In camp we played the whipped cream game with our passengers. It's my favorite river game.

Ivy and I drew straws for our favorite rapid on Deso, Three Fords, and I got it! I really hope that the year I come back to guide I can be trained for commercial trips like Cataract and Desolation Canyon.

Love ya deso ~ until next time!

Gold Bar Float

A couple weeks ago Sheena, Cody, Ivy and I took four duckies with our overnight gear and floated down the river. We put in at the beginning of Potash road after it had thunder-stormed that afternoon.

The crew.

It was so shallow that you could almost walk across the river at some points.

We found a random croquet set on a small sandbar so we took our paddles and played a game. Weird.

One of the best parts of this trip was the food. We had chips and various dips for dinner, and eggs, bacon and fresh fruit for breakfast.

Random river hippy playing the harmonica. What the?

What we woke up to in the morning. Beautiful.

We four-strapped the noses of our duckies together and just floated for hours. Best party-barge ever! I love making food for only a few people and taking care of just myself. No responsibility over passengers! We played around a lot on this trip. 

When we got to Gold Bar we packed up our stuff into the truck and cliff jumped. Gold Bar is a river-side campsite that's right across from the trailhead to Corona Arch. It's even better than Left-hand, the cool-off waterhole in Moab, because the cliff is higher and the water is warmer and deeper.

Go Burn in Hittle

On one of our three-day Cisco river trips, we were cleaning up after dinner at Hittle Bottom, when all of a sudden we notice a 30-ft flame coming right at us and boys yelling, "Fire!" We threw all the propane into the truck and slammed the trailer doors, then drove it out of the way. A wild wind whipped up, bearing down right on camp. All the campers jumped up and grabbed everything we could find- every jerry can, Gott cooler, bowl, ice cream bucket, and even wash buckets (our scrubbies were lost in the flames- someone forgot to get them out before tossing the water ;). We ran back and forth from the river and got it out pretty quickly. The lucky break came when the wind stopped, and then we just dug around and dumped water on the charred remains. After we finished it up, we found out that a boy from our group was playing with a lighter with some of his friends. Kinda reminds me of what happened to Dewey Bridge, a kid burned it down. Later a park ranger and other officials came out to investigate and everything turned out alright.

The firefighting crew

Hittle Bottom lives on to provide riverway camping for more passengers.