I was sweatin' the weather last Saturday!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My co-workers and I are allowed 1 annual get together at company expense and the expenses are limited. The past couple of years that get-together consisted of a night in a motel, a nice dinner and attending a hockey game. Not my cup of tea.......so this year when the subject came up I said "How about a jet boat tour of Hell's Canyon?" They said ...get some estimates of costs. I did and they said "It's your baby. Give birth!" I made the arrangements with a local jet boat outfitter and a local Holiday Inn Express. The day was last Saturday.

Friday a cold front moved in and it rained (here in this dry climate it's really not rain like others know it!) and high temps for the day was 58º F. I started sweating.....The jet boats they use have heaters, canvas sidewalls with clear plastic windows, a toilet.....Saturday dawned with temps around 48º F and clearing. We departed at 0745 and returned around 6:00 p.m. The weather continued to clear and the temps eventually got up to 65º F. It was nice.

During the trip we saw snow in the high country around us, golden eagles, mule deer and bighorn sheep. We stopped at the Kirby Creek lodge for lunch and later stopped the famous Kirkwood Ranch. It was once operated by Len Jordan who later became Governor of Idaho and a US Senator representing Idaho. There were a few hearty rafters (or crazy as you may think) and even one crazy kayaker! Check the pictures for the kayaker. We went through a number of class 3 and class 4 rapids and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 26 adults and 4 children.

Later 22 folks invaded our home for supper. Our oldest son, the deputy sheriff and his wife came over about 3 hours before we returned. They assembled several of the salads Sharon had prepared and then cooked burgers, braut and hotdogs to go with the pork ribs Sharon had in the slow cooker (6 racks of ribs). Everyone had a good time.

After everyone left, we collapsed.

Sunday, I insisted Sharon let me do the cleanup. She remained in bed all day while I did dishes, put away chairs, tables etc.

The weather sure cooperated better than I expected!

Here's some photos of Hell's Canyon....Idaho on the east side...Oregon and Washington on the west......God's country IMHO....


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[Ken Fitzgerald]

A few more photos......

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[Dennis Peacock]

Beautiful Ken!!!!! Sure wish I could have been there. I sure could use the fun and get away time. Glad all of you had a good time....even the goofy kayaker!!

BTW Ken.....where's all the "vegetation" around them parts? Either that or you've certainly collected a LOT of turning stock to feed that 3520B of yours.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Uh....Dennis.....Hell's Canyon.....gets really hot.....not much moisture.....temp's exceed 115-120º F each summer. Ranches there were/are winter range. In the summer sheep and cattle are taken to the high country. After early June things turn brown and stay that way until fall when the temps go down and they get some rain and snow. But it also comparatively warm in the winter so cattle and sheep survive better. Seldom do they get snow in Hell's Canyon. The few trees that grow along the river hackberry and one other kind. Believe me as the captain/guide said that I was thinking...I've seen some really pretty hackberry turnings. "I wonder who I know that has a cabin down here?"

If you look really close in some of those photos you can see the results of some of the wildfires we had this summer. We passed 3 major fire areas on the trip Saturday.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Glad you had a great time Ken. Enuf about the crazy kayaker though. Any reasonably competent and experienced whitewater kayaker should have no trouble, just a good challenge, with class III and class IV rapids. It's class V where things get really hairy and you are really pushing the limits. Though I haven't done any whitewater for about 10 years now, I used to be one of those crazies.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave....we stopped at 100 miles up river. We were in a jet boat that holds roughly 50 people. It had 3 387 hp desiel engines but the draft is about 16" when not planing. The wall of water we were looking at was conservatively 4-5' class 5 and boulders sticking out all over it. That "crazy" kayaker had already negotiated it. All of the boat captains are USCG certified. When we stopped for lunch at Kirbee Creek, the owner of the company got on and took over the "driving" duties. We were too low in the water to try to traverse Granite Creek rapids.

If you are interested in kayaking...check out the Lochsa River near Lolo Pass...on the Idaho side. We have a couple of kayakers killed there every couple of years. They are usually folks running privately, without a guide and during spring snow melt runoff......Treacherous waters during spring run off......Excellent western slope cutthroat trout fishing ......catch and release only but 50 fish days are not unusual for experienced fly fisherman!