Thursday, July 26, 2012

Salmon River Trip, Day 3

I've waited a couple days to document this day and it's starting to fade in my memory. Leisurely morning, as usual. About a mile downriver, we stopped at the hot tub. Some enterprising people dammed up the hot spring waters with stone and mortar. They also diverted two different temperatures of water with two different pipes. The tub has a plug and etiquette states that you unplug the tub and let it drain, then plug it up again before you leave. We had to fill up the tub when we got there. At first  the water was burning hot and I couldn't stand it on my sunburned feet. I eased myself into the pool by standing on a rock and letting the cooler of the two pipes run over my body. Eventually, I as able to get my whole body into the pool and enjoy the water. It's a good thing that we visited the hot springs early in the day though because the rest of the day was scorching hot and a hot springs wouldn't have sounded appealing at all.

There was another hot springs further downriver that flowed directly into the Salmon but it was difficult to find a happy medium between the scalding hot water and the chilly Salmon so we didn't linger long.

Mike jumped in the duckie and I took the oars. I had been practicing eddying out and steering and felt a little more comfortable in the driver's seat. However, much to my terror, Mike decided to stay in duckie through two class 2 rapids and two class 3 rapids. Mike McBride encouraged me and gave me a few directions but not many. I followed the path of the rafters in front of me and had no problem at all! I decided that we needed to stop at the in-holding at Yellow Pine Bar because I read in the guide that the caretakers might be willing to give a tour of the garden and grounds. The Mikes, Chris and I ventured up the dirt road. There were a couple of girls hula hooping on the green grass in front of the two story house. Behind them a lush garden overflowed the fence and the whole place had a festive feeling. We learned from the caretaker that it was her husband's 60th birthday and they were having a luau. Guests were getting jet boated in as well as kegs of beer and decorations. We just did a short tour of the garden and grounds and chatted a little about the history. There used to be a school on the bar that served 8 children. Many of them boarded with the residents of Yellowpine bar but some of them took a cable across the river to att
end school. Unfortunately, the schoolhouse had been burned down.




We camped at a rocky pine needly beach. The game of the night was bocci ball and I was worse at it than I was at ladder ball. Kent and Jim cooked up a buffalo rice goulash thing. It was pretty meat and starch with no veggies at all. But the buffalo was shot by Kent's friend and I decided to give it a try. It reminded me of elk, tough and chewy but savory and gamey. Overall, a succesful dinner. My favorite though, was the dutchoven brownies. They were gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside and had a wonderful chocolate frosting. They were wonderful and I got the leftovers!

The wind blew torentially and laid Mark's tent flat. Poor Mark also broke his chair and his fishing pole on this trip. Thank goodness he didn't pop his boat!

I may have overimbibed a bit that night and remember playing out the rest of the eveing with my head in Mike's lap listening to the conversation above be. I decided to sleep under stars, partly to escape Mike's snoring, but mostly to escape the heat and enjoy the beautful twinkling expanse of the sky.

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