BarefootBlog

This is a picture of my friend Adrienne and I kayaking on the snake river last year. Nate, and Drew fell into the water and almost died of hypothermia (notice the snow in the background). I include an excerpt from Nate's description of the events,
"About a week ago I went kayaking in the snake river. The day was largely beautiful and mostly clear. We had two vehicles(an suv and a pickup) and three water crafts to transport. It took all the engineering logic we could muster together to attach one kayak to the little suv, and a canoe and a kayak to the upper side of the little pickup truck. To the road we went, a massive conglomerate of transportative means, wheels underneath us, sterns above. Many gawcked and stared at the site, a parade of vehicles forcing all who saw it to realize that we were having more fun than them. We got to the water shoved off and promptly fell over in the two feet of river. It wasn't that we couldn't float, we just didn't float right side up. After a little work on the direction of our floating skills we were well on our way to fun and excitement. As we approached the first rapids I was ready. The closer we got to it the louder I yelled things like "hoist the main sail" and "avast!" I think this yelling of commands got me and my date a little confused, it wasn't long after I gave the command that I could see that no one was doing anything with the main sail, and clearly the "avast" went ignored. (I think the main difference between a good sailor and a lilly livered land lover is the ability to recognize and then acknowledge a good "avast!") despite our lack of main sail to hoist I set about hoisting, figuring if the main sail was around somewhere. Just then it occurred to me that we should probably turn around and go backwards through the rough water. We were already about half way through the rapids so I had to work fast. It took a lot of "sailors words" and all I had in me to get us turned around but we did it. Then something dramatic happened. I forget exactly what it was- just know that after this dramatic event I was in the water, that's the important part. While I was in the water I made a new discovery - I call it liquid Ice. Its just as cold as ice, but you can drown in it. I was so ecstatic with the discovery that I made my date try it out. She thought it was really cold too. It was so cold I actually sensed the feeling leave my arms and legs in about 5 seconds time. It was great. After getting us and the kayak back on the shore the rest of the group went on ahead and my date and I drove in the truck."
As you can notice Nate is much funnier, more eloquent, and more verbose than I am. That is why I used his description to relate the event.

(click on image for larger)