Grande Ronde

Took me a bit to get these shots up, but here they are from the boys river trip to Oregon the week before the Smith River trip.

Rigs at the put-in, Minam, OR. Population.....about 8.

Standard river debotchery the day of putting on trying to figure out how to get 40 cases of beer properly cooled, packaged, and ready for consumption.

It is a sweet trip, filled with all kinds of good times. The water was really high, dirty, and we essentially didn't fish at all.

So high in fact, we sank my drift boat to the bottom of the river! Chris is on top of the bottom of the drifter trying to figure out how to attach a strap to it to winch it out.

Sitting around the campfire trying to make sense of the sinking of a boat, loosing all the gear, how we were going to row it out the next 4 days, and where the hell the Barber Barge was?

That there is what a raging river can do to some fiberglass. Ooops.

Yep, the rowers seat and front fishing seat both got ripped out, not to mention the gunnels. Some well positioned duct tape sufficed for the leak on the bottom of the boat.

And there she is, floating strong, the next day after being resurrected from the bottom of the river. Thanks Nate!

Oh yea, the drifter didn't want to feel along in it's weakened state, so, for good measure, Jacko's raft suffered a 6 inch gash. The crew, sitting around, bullshitting, waiting for the patch to adhere.

Despite all the boat issues, the Grand Ronde was a really cool stretch of river mixed with wilderness, roadless area up top for the first couple of days, then a healthy dose of desert floating the last couple too.

Caught our only rain of the trip on the 3rd night.

Hell yea.

Battle tested!

Ohh yea, and Proops managed to get a treble hook into his knee. "Anyone have a piece of leather, a stick, and some whiskey?"

Perhaps the shot of the trip. I will leave the explanation up to your imagination on this one!

Our last nights camp.

Just about to the take out.

It is just me, or does BC look like he is taller than Yao Ming on steroids in this shot?

Yea boys, epic trip, already stoked to find a new river to explore next summer.