Took Alexi on a 5 day floating adventure down Desolation Canyon on the Green River. An I can tell you that it was quite an adventure. See those people below all dressed up warmly as if it was a fall or spring weather. Well it was not mild weather, it is mid June and its hot. A hot of about 90 degrees. Here you see from right to left, Terra (scratching her butt), Brian (in hat), and Sam (busy tweaking his riggings).
So why all the clothes, you might ask? Well June is Mosquito season on Deso. I had heard the bugs could be bad at the put-in, but I never had big bug issues on two previous trips (low water July/August.)
On this trip the bugs were bad as you can see from the photo of my pant leg.
One solution to this pesky blood loss issue is exemplified by my Papa below.
You smoke cigars to keeps bugs of the face and drink heavily to reduce the build up of clinical Bug Stress. (This is not an exact medication science. I attempted to explore the LD50 of Ethanol Itch Depression to my detriment in the AM the next morning)
Further preparations for Bitting Bug Psychosis had been made. The day before our scheduled launch, we arrive at the put-in in the evening without the young ones and their mothers and set up the boats.
This was extremely fortuitous planning because it avoided exposing the kids to The Night of Blood Sucker Hell. When the kid carivan arrived in the AM we ushered them into the lifesaving screened-in bungalows the BLM has mercifully provided to us hapless boaters (can be seen in background over my Papa's left shoulder).
The weather and scenery was beautiful as we prepared for launch. Below we have a picture beter than the bent over butt of the trip leader, Sam "the Man," as he makes last minute manipulations on his boat. This was the boats maiden voyage, the "Canyon Monkey."
I also made some last minute preparations for Alexi as we started getting underway. Like clockwork, he needed his 11 AM ba-ba just after launch.
I dont know how it happened, but this is the only picture with Sam's wife Julie in it (the back of her head). I suppose she was never captured on film because she was such a frenetic and fantastic mom, hardly had a moment still moment.
As we moved into the canyon the walls built up in dramatic desert contrast to the lush green of the river bottom.
The middle of the river gave nice respite from the Malicious Mosquito Onslaught. The closer the boats drifted to the shore, the beating of a billion wings would build to a harmonious hum of hideous proportions. Thankfully, the BLM ranger was right, once we got about 20 miles into the river the mosquito problem dissipated greatly.
Mossi problems were not fully eliminated though. My Papa, who always had a few flavors of repellent handy, became the revered Doctor Ya-ya Bug Juice.
Here's Dr Ya-ya discussing the "less toxic" effects of bullfrog repellent with one of the other moms on the trip, Kim.
After a good lathering of the Doctor's juice, beach time relaxation was achieved, with only a little bit of itching as demonstrated by Logan (Kims boy) who is hiding a scratching just below the edge of the picture.
In fact, the further down river we went, thing became so pleasant that one could find time to catch up on a little light reading.
Here we have Bryan catching up on the latest in String Theory.
Here is Sam toasting up some tasty bites.
A cute one of Sam and Julie's Jenna, posing with her "teddy"
Their older boy, Dillon, hamming it up in the sand.
Alexi enjoying his first taste of Fosters.
Beautiful cotton woods, serene in the setting sun.
Tent sites of stunning vistas.
And one of Alexi's favorite views, the inside of our tent.
"Are ye matie, a mad dog to a blind mans thigh?"
"All a' Boaaard!"
"Me and me-crew test chew dis here beanner, makes sure good n lubed wid me spit"
"len me ar hand Gpa Ya-Ya, and help me convince that no good Pa-Pa to get me da ba-ba"
"Hey now, no malicious mind mulling mutenous missdeeds made behinds me back over there, or it'll be the cat-o-nines an a walk of de plank, if you know what I means"
"Hey, ho, land ho"
"geznor-geeznorz-gezenorrrr...."
