"We're so small, we can fit in anywhere"

Stage two of the Owyhee journey finds our intrepid trio in higher spirits as the country turns into a more magical place and the routines become...well, routine. Let's watch!

Alright, after our layover day, we had a calm morning of cinnamon rolls, eggs, and leftover chili verde. Which consequently means a put-in time of about 1230...not too far off the norm. We made it down into the chalk basin where some more interesting landforms began to appear...breaking up the mundane landscape we spent three days in previously.

Zach...somewhere on the Owyhee

Enjoying the scenery in chalk basin

Happy rafters in chalk basin

Pretty much all there is to chalk basin

Getting downriver...near Potter's cave?

This alcove was FULL of swallows...see their nests above Zach?

Directly above Whistling Bird rapids

Lunch after Whistling Bird rapids

Of course our bluebird morning was interrupted by rain on the water as soon as we got going, but it was finally becoming familiar and expected. So much easier to deal with if you anticipate it. We found a nice little spit of land and set up camp. It was one of the few camps that had a rather large view of the surrounding country, which was nice, because then you could see the weather coming in at least a LITTLE in advance. It was a mellow day and mellow evening. The river was definitely getting more interesting with cliffs, caves, erosion, etc. A small hike on the hill behind camp yielded great light for photos and a good view of the river to come.

Paul...eager to get off the raft at "bat camp"

Zach taunting a T-storm at bat camp?

Nice shelter eh?


View upriver from the hill

Happy Tom on said hill

It's even tough to be SAGEBRUSH out there

View upstream from bat camp

Pretty much all there is...summarized

Paul mentioned seeing some mouse-like critters in the brush, so extra precautions were taken to make sure no straps or edibles were left laying around. Good dinner of grilled sausage and veggies. Simple and elegant all at the same time. We spent the evening watching bats dive and perform their acrobatics in the air...coming closer and closer as the insects were attracted to our fire. "Bat camp."

Nice camp

Zach auditioning for REI photo contest...or am I? Why do I keep bringing up REI?

Bat camp from the hill

View from my tent at over-stated camp

Sunday was by far the most interesting scenery and best weather of the trip. It was a blast entering "Green Dragon canyon" even though the name is wrong. The rocks are RED. Perhaps there is a story behind that. This canyon is what people talk about when they call the Owhyee the "mini-Grand Canyon." Steep and deep canyon walls, gorgeous little sandbars, caves, TREES. Almost feels like Utah for a little bit. But it makes the float that much more interesting. I had a heck of a time with the camera. I'd take it out and shoot shoot shoot, then put it back in the dry bag...bring it back out and shoot shoot....put it away. I could have spent many days down in there. Which, by the way, is a good piece of advice for anyone going on that section of river. Hustle down into that canyon and enjoy yourself for a couple days. That IS the place to be.

Entering the dragon

Zach entering Green Dragon canyon...gotta love the light!

Looks foreboding...

Well, there were cliffs...

And Zach looked at them...as did we all

Well, we left Green Dragon Canyon and found the campsite we were anticipating at "Jackson Hole." Good view of the opposite hill with a PINE tree to boot. While we were hanging out on shore, we saw a herd of probably 12 Bighorn sheep rams running on the opposite shore. Not much hunting pressure down in there, because all of them had very decent curls on them. Tough country for a sheep I would imagine. We set up a tarp and our tents and got all the stuff out to start cooking. Milling around camp, another group pulled up about 100 yards from us and proceeded to make camp. It is truly amazing how other people's idea of space, noise, and crowding can be so different. It was a group of teenagers with very little adult supervision. They crowded our camp looking for petroglyphs (twice), they yelled as a group late into the night to hear the echo, and then they cheered and yelled at the lightning. Inappropriate and we were glad when they left in the morning.

Leaving the dragon, I like this photo

Jackson Hole

View from my tent at Jackson Hole camp

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. As soon as we were getting some dinner going a large thunderstorm (or two) collided overhead and creating a lot of wind, a lot of rain, and just a general ruckus around us. Luckily Zach had the foresight to angle the low end of the tarp in the expected direction of incoming weather. It created a small dry patch where you could fit exactly two chairs. For the most part, I hunkered on the lee side of a tree. It was chicken curry for dinner with a dessert of tea and whiskey. Perfect combination to combat the cold and wet conditions. The rain stopped when we went to bed, but the thunder and lightning continued a good presence. 65 degrees at 2200 while all that was going on. Very pleasant.

The following morning...I believe Memorial Day...woken by a very restful night and the indescribable need to use the head. Nice to be the only one out, on a comfortable seat atop an ammo can, with a nice view of the river and hills. I retired back to the tent and warmed up again...the sand was still very wet (down about 4 inches) from the rain the previous night. I was laying there reading when I saw some rafts come around the corner...the lead dude hollered to the folks in the upper camp, "You going to sleep all day!!?" They responded appropriately, "well, we were up all night!" Then he floated down to our camp and I waved...he waved and came back with, "You guys gotta get up!" The two women on front of his raft looked embarrassed so I just said, "Go scout it for us!" What I WANTED to say was, "EAT ME" or "F**K off" or something just as colorful. The best came from Zach or Paul later after they found out via me who was doing the shouting, it would have been, "What's your hurry?" So much more appropriate than my responses. Again, the etiquette question kept coming up on this trip. So many different personalities and attitudes out there. I think that's why I like backpackers so much. They always tend to be pretty quiet and reserved. Very respectful (for the most part) of other people's camps and need for solitude and peace. I mean, that's why we're all out there no?

We left camp at our normal time under normal conditions. Then, while going through a little section of whitewater the sky started screaming at us. Not wind or thunder...but warthogs! Five A-10s came out of the clouds, descended above us and all followed each other into the canyon. Turning on a wing, they banked upstream and away. It was hard for Paul and Zach because they had to try not to hit rocks as well as stare into the sky. I just had to try to keep my mouth shut while looking up. We all got a serious kick out of that! Incredible. I would NOT want to be on the receiving end of those critters!

A-10 Warthogs (Google images)

Then we entered a torrential downpour. Yes, torrential. At one point, the impact of the rain was making upward-bound drops off the river at a height of probably five inches. Then I had to say, "Well, at least it's not hailing." Seconds later....

Rain is a'comin!

Zach had to leave his sunburned feet in the river so the hail wouldn't smack them so hard. Miserable and wet, but at this point we were used to that kind of thing and could laugh. It did a good job of cleaning the sand out of the boat.

Nearing Greeley bar, it turns out we passed the hot springs and the anticipated camp for the night. After a lunch a short ways downstream, we decided it wasn't worth it to make a camp there...about 2 miles from the take out...so pushed on to Birch Creek. There we concluded our trip down the lower Owyhee and made our final camp. It was odd sleeping on compacted dirt after so many nights on sand and consequentially, I didn't sleep worth a darn. That night we did see something interesting though. About 10 buzzards flew in over the field...big, black, and silent. They circled for awhile, then seemed to catch a thermal off the adjacent cliffs and circled their way up....reaching the altitude they desired, they all trailed off the way they came. It was eerie and interesting at the same time.

Greeley Bar

Anyone else feel like ice cream?

Zach and bigfoot

Birch creek take out.

View from camp at Birch Creek

Another view from camp

Final camp

The next morning was the same routine, just putting stuff into the bed of Paul's truck instead of the boat. We drove out to Rome, they dropped me off, and the trio was broken. We all had places to be with about five ours of driving ahead of us, so it was a short and quick parting.

I drove north, planning on camping along the Salmon. As soon as I crossed into Idaho, the weather cleared and it was a nice afternoon to drive. I made it to the Salmon and didn't really know where to camp. Missing the ONE good spot I finally ended up at the Super 8 in Grangeville and took TWO showers. I made the remaining three hours the following day...unpacked immediately and took care of gear.

Everything is now ready to go again. I wonder what will be next?

I need to save some leave, two weeks worth...as I put in for moose this fall with Zimmer. He drew a tag, so now we both have bull tags! Northeast corner of Idaho in October! Have some planning to do for that!