Chillin' on the Chatanika

Hoooooray! After feeling very down for a lot of this weekend because of perfect weather (70 and sunny, doesn't get better than that.) and inability to enjoy it fully AND knowing that last year on this weekend I had the most scenic bike trip ever, Erica and Steve invited me on a float trip up on the Chatanika. I was totally pumped about this, because I have been fighting with a semi-handicapped-ness in the sense that I am able to get around just fine and walk, but not for very long - so mentally I am in a go-go-go mood but my legs are like - "what the crap are you trying to do?! I still have stitches in me! You should be sitting down and wasting time away watching movies!" So, a less than 3 hour float on a new river was just up my ally. I sat there and barked orders at my paddling chauffeurs and provided commentary... and Twizzlers.

Colors are at their peak right now. But the good news is I get another (east coast!) autumn in October..... mmm speckled trees! Remembering that makes me not feel so bad about missing a few of my favorite weeks of the year here.

Erica was our guide. She used to be a canoeing guide down in Georgia so I trusted her with my life to not knock us in the water. So I guess this was a bit risky of a trip for me because it would blow chunks to have fallen out caught up in a sweeper without full swimming capabilities, but it was a risk I was very willing to take for this last beautiful weekend of the year. Everything worked out. But it sure was an exciting float trip. There were a lot of sweepers, tight turns, fast-moving water, and small rapids. A lot of stories didn't get finished because Erica and Steve would get distracted by more-intense-than-usual manuevers.

Cam tried so hard to nap on the trip but it was a bit too bumpy for him to pass out.. though it looks like he is below.

Thumbs up for floating something more exciting than the usual! I could get into this.

We made contact with a few trees... err.. maybe 4 or 5 total.. there were 3 in a row that we could not avoid. I was able to get my sunglasses on, sweatshirt hood up, and get down to canoe level but Cam shows some damage below from the sweeper contact. He was such a trooper!

I took a ton of pictures with Steve's fancy camera so once I get them from him I'll post more of the colors. In the meantime, my camera is at a near-death state.. moreso now because it got some water damage. It decided to turn on today (by itself), and let me grab these photos, so maybe it needs another day to dry out. Maybe it's just going to malfunction from now on. Meh, now's not the time to buy a new one so hopefully it will make it through another few months! This blog would suck without pictures!