Photographer Gary Lane, who does Salmon River rafting with Wapiti River Guides in Idaho, captured this image of a rare natural phenomenon that occurs in slow moving water in cold climates.
The text came in after 10:00pm Thursday night: “Wanna go boatin’ Saturday?” Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?
For December in northern Idaho, the weather was just about perfect: upper 40’s and low 50’s, non-driving rain from time to time, and sunny blue skies as we approached the takeout. We were on the road pre-dawn (I haven’t seen 5:30am in a good long while) and home in time to read stories to the kids before their afternoon naps.
Fantastic day.
When my buddy Tom asked in an email what I’d be doing over the weekend, I told him I had been nursing a nasty cold all week, and as such I’d probably be just hanging out on the couch trying to rest and get better. No sooner had I hit “send” on that email, friend and co-worker [redacted] asked, “Wanna go boatin’ tomorrow?”
I never claimed to be all that bright.
It was a great afternoon of kayaking down northern Idaho’s Clearwater River. I’ve decided that “ideal October Idaho boating conditions” simply means the wind is blowing the icy rain into the back of your helmet (as opposed to your eyes).
Quote of the day (in the context of passing all the surly Steelhead fisherman huddled miserably on their boats): “I would feel less silly if I weren’t dressed like a giant Power Ranger!” True, but we were warmer. And smiling.
I always loves me some good behinds the scenes footage. Here we have the creator/director of that work-sponsored video project I’m tangentially associated with talking about how it all came together.
Labor Day brought three generations of Maxfield’s together onto a relatively placid portion of the Clearwater River for a fun family float.
OF SOULS + WATER: THE WARRIOR
The fourth episode of that work-sponsored video project I’m tangentially associated with launched yesterday, and it’s by far the best of the series (and a seriously cool piece of storytelling).
Last week’s status (a.k.a. my good reason).
(Entering Blue Canyon on the Lower Salmon River.)
Instead of getting the house sorted on Saturday, we opted to run a work-borrowed cataraft down a mellow stretch of the Clearwater River. It was the kids first time on moving water, and I think they had a good time. After hitting a few small (small!) waves, they kept asking for more “wavy parts” over and over. I’ll take that as a good sign of things to come.
Sleek sea kayaks replace Will and Zak’s packrafts as they undertake the second leg of their epic source-to-sea journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Ride along as they paddle a Class V reservoir, surf a tasty play wave, get a sobering lesson on river ecology and enjoy a king’s feast of chicken, chips and beer.
It’s going to be a perfect weekend to get on the water. And…we’re still going to be moving/cleaning. *pouts*
A couple of weeks back, I excitedly posted a trailer for a movie about two guys tracing the Colorado River from source to sea; I really wanted to see how the whole thing turned out. Well, I eventually got to see the whole flick, and it’s pretty great.
The Powers That Be™ at NRS got a look at it, too, and decided they wanted lots of people to get to see it. Hence, Friday Films were born. Every Friday throughout the rest of the summer, a new segment of the flick Remains of a River will be released on the company’s nrsfilms.com webpage. The first chunk is above. Did I already mention that the whole thing is pretty great? Because, well, it is. Enjoy.
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This is the mind dump of J Maxfield, a former whitewater river guide, bike shop mechanic, and kayak rental dude that now finds himself making a living in 