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We breakfasted in Jackson, and donned wetsuits for the team photo. It was lucky we didn’t bring our car –
A 20 minute drive got us to the put-in, and we split into rafts, with Goodfellows all together and Dad predictably in the driving seat up front.
One reason I needed a good view was that I had planned to descend the same river again the afternoon, only in a kayak. I had heard stories about the “Taco” and “Burrito” rapids on this stretch and wanted to get a good look at them before the afternoon trip.
Tom was our guide, a veteran rafter, who according to my guide in the afternoon was a bit of a legend in Jackson rafting circles. He had done a number of first descents in his time, across the globe, and was full of good stories about the river and its wildlife. MY favourite one was of a Dodge Van that is submerged somewhere along the river, after some folk reversed it down to the get-in so they could more easily take the raft off the roof, only left the handbrake off. The van duly rolled into the river, but didn’t sink because of the raft still on top. Finally, the whole setup got caught in a stopper and the raft finally pulled off, leaving the van free to sink into the depths of the river.
We all had a good time in the water.
Jemima and Monty took it in turns to ride up front,
and Sarah even rode one rapid (the biggest) in a particularly undignified position rodeo style right on the nose of the raft.
After lunch, the family went off to some hot springs up the valley,
;
; while I was dropped off at Hoback Junction to meet my kayak guide. He turned out to be a good guy, Jon Souter, now a kayak guide but once in the US team so I was in good hands. I had learned by now that because everyone in America tells you that they are completely brilliant at everything, it is the wrong place for modesty when they ask you how good you are. You need to really cook it up, or else you get stuck in some great fat boat which won’t ever turn over. I had followed my own thinking here, and Jon turned up with a snappy little boat for me, along with some lovely carbon fibre paddles which I fell in love with. He tested my Eskimo roll (deemed “solid”), and then we were off. Paddlers have different obsessions on the water, and mine is standing waves, so we headed for these, with Jon giving me tips along the way. Again, technology has really moved on in the kayak field and with carbon fibre 30 degree offset paddles, and a very comfy seat I would have been happy paddling all day. Highlights were indeed the Taco and Burrito rapids, the Big Kahuna, the Lunchbox, and Ropes. Taco sits right next to Burrito and at this low water level was merely a big hole, even if one you wouldn’t want to go into. At higher water levels, Jon told me that the hole can be “terminal”. Burrito, on the other hand, was a big standing wave, quite tricky, but good fun from watching Jon and some others play around on it. I only got onto it once, not quite ever getting the entry point right, and I kept falling off the back. There was also quite a gnarly ledge below the rapid which I didn’t really fancy riding upside-down.
After that feature, there is some II and mellow III until a flat stretch known as gauging straits. Immediately after that are the 3 best rapids of the run. Big Kahuna is a big huge fast wave in the middle of the river. After my failure to get onto Burrito, we decided to run this straight, which was a good decision – big high waves and lots of chop. After that was Lunch Counter, which is apparently one of the best surfing waves. This one I did catch, much to Jon and my surprise, and I rode this for a while. It was while grinning at Jon, who was surfing next to me, that I flipped over. No time to see it happening, I just slammed upside down. A moment or so upside down, but then much to my surprise I managed to roll up again – a real confidence booster for my next trip up to Perth with Tom. This wave is apparently “downright huge” above 15,000 cfs and gets ridden by big wave surfers who fly in when conditions are right. Not quite sure what happens when you fall off it, but apparently noone’s died yet.
Then it was a couple of mellow II-III's until the last rapid, which is the longest but not hard at all, and one of the most fun, with multiple small waves to surf. There is a big house sized rock in the middle and that's the only thing you need to avoid. The get-out was directly after this rapid and I was reasonably pleased to see it – we had spent a good 3 hours on the water and I was ready for a beer.
