CATARACT CANYON DAY 1

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

DAY 1

Joe Nielson and I started are trip on November 11, 2008, two months later then we had planned. I admit that it was my fault because I was up in Wyoming hunting with my dad. Joe was not happy with me but to me it was worth it, I had the opportunity to hang out with my dad. I also killed a nice Mule Deer Buck.

Another reason we didn't put on until later is because Joe Nielson, Brady Larsen, and I went to Cody to go boating. We ran the Shoshone River and also we went and did a super low water run of the Honeymoon section of the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River. It was really pretty but beyond low! I can't wait to get on it when there is some water in it!




I am also stoked to get on Crandall Creek in the spring. I hope that I have time in the spring to do some boating before I am either working full time or I go back to the Grand Canyon for the summer!

Joe and I then headed to Southern utah to meet Shannon Finch, John Alsen, and a group of their friends for a one day Westwater. We left Salt Lake City around 10PM because Joe had to some training he was suppose to be done with at like 4 pm. We started up Spanish Fork Canyon and about 30 minutes into our drive we were pulled over for no trailer lights. He let us go if we continued on with the emergency flashers going for the rest of the drive. So we were on our way and we got to Westwater around 4 AM.

Joe and I took his Dory down Westwater for the first time, it went a lot better then I ever thought it would, especially after surfing it in the hole in Little D rapid. It was a great surf session! HAHA!!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Shannon Finch ran the domer rock pile at the bottom of Last Chance Rapid, Crazy!!!!!


After the trip we headed back to SLC to just turn around and head out on the Cataract trip. We left one day later then we intended. But Joe kept saying that we left 2 months later then we intended which I finally have come to admit!


We drove to Moab, picked up our permit from Marcus and did our shopping at City Market. Then we headed to Green River State Park in the middle of Green River, Utah to rig our boat for our trip that had no set time limit or agenda. I told my family I would be home for Thanksgiving. After rigging in the sun for about 2 hours this awesome State Parks Ranger shows up and starts demanding permits, safety gear, you name it he wanted to see it, except for our first aid and our patch kit! Good thing because we for got our patch kit! He had no idea what he was talking about. He wanted to see our bail buckets for our kayaks, what a moron! We spent 20 minutes explaining to him why we didn't need bail buckets for kayaks because they don't get water in them! WOW!!!!! All I have to say is WOW!!!!! You have to love the Government!!!!!Then we ran the 5 hour shuttle to Hite. We got back to Green River, found a place to park Joe's car and hiked the 3 miles back to the State Park. By the time we got back to the park it was just about dark. We pushed off and we were on our way! We passed under the rail road bridge with kids fishing and yelling things at us with "Dawg!!!" at the beginning or end of the phrase. We also passed under the Freeway by lining up on the storm drain that looked like a white line painted on the cement but its not, just like the awesome ranger told us to. HAHA! We floated in the dark through shallow rock bars while scraping and putting lots of holes in the floor of Joe's clean one owner raft. We went about 7 miles that night before pulling over to sleep at the sign of man camp at mile 113ish. SIGN OF MAN, SIGN OF MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA!!!