Guide School Day 9: Lajitas to Ledges

Hannah and Sean were the assigned leaders of the day today.

My team (Sean, Sara B, and Manuel) was in charge of meals today, so we awoke at 6am to start breakfast. We had all slept at Brendan's house near Terlingua. Brendan's house was simple, but had really pretty stonework and beautiful land. Their property actually included a cliff behind their house, and Brendan had apparently explored all around the cliff when he was younger. He said he had planned to take us up to a cave if we had arrived earlier the day before.

We served wraps and instant oatmeal for breakfast. The wraps contained bananas, raisins, and peanut butter, and we had walnuts and dried fruit to mix into the oatmeal. Clean-up was easy, since we just had to boil water and then wash the knife used with the peanut butter.

Chris and Sean took one of the suburbans to Terlingua to attempt to fix a window that had stopped working the night before and had fallen down into the door. However, the mechanic had said it would be impossible to get it fixed in 'this part of Texas' on a Saturday. So Chris arranged with Far Flung Outdoor Center (who was shuttling our vehicles anyway) to deal with the repair while we were on the river.

We drove the two suburbans to Lajitas, and unloaded our canoes and gear near the river by the Lajitas Golf Resort. Meanwhile, Chris and someone (Jakub maybe?) drove the two suburbans to Far Flung while we loaded up the canoes. They came back in one suburban with a guy from Far Flung, who drove away in our suburban soon after. Far Flung was to drop both suburbans at our takeout point by 10am on Thursday (4 days later).

 Loading up the canoes at the Lajitas put-in (photo by Manuel).

We put in our canoes at around 10:45am. The canoe pairing were assigned by Chris that morning, and I was paired with Sean. I was happy with this pairing, since Sean seemed to have canoeing experience, and he also seemed like a great guy from my experience with him so far. Since he was a leader of the day, we were the chase boat until our lunch break, which meant we carried the rope bags and were the last canoe down the river. In addition to the rope bags, we also carried a few ammo boxes with food, the big dry bag with heavy cooking equipment, the portable toilet (more on that tomorrow), and some 8 gallon jugs of water. Throughout the trip, Sean always liked taking what many would say was more than our fair share (which was fine with me).

Calm water and beautiful scenery (photo by Jakub).

Scouting Matadero rapids (photo by Jakub).

We stopped for lunch after a few hours of paddling. My group served pitas with hummus, deli meat, cheese, cucumber, sun-dried tomatoes, apples, chips, and cookies. After lunch we continued paddling to the Ledges camp, which was 7.88 miles by river away from Lajitas. After lunch, Sean and I were the lead boat, and hence had to read the rapids and run them first. Sean did a great job reading the rapids and giving me directions. He also had a great attitude, and was patient and encouraging with me.

Sean and I causally paddling (photo by Manuel).

Sean resting while we wait for other boats to catch up while we were lead boat (photo by Manuel).

I'm also resting while we wait for the other boats to catch up (photo by Manuel).

We choose to line the canoes through two rapids after lunch. These lines were not easy, and both required at least some people to stand in the middle of the rapids. On a simple line, two people can simply use the bow and stern lines to walk the canoe along the shore while staying on shore. However, these rapids required people to stand in a well spaced line throughout the rapid and slowly pass each canoe through the rapid using the bow and stern lines. The first lining operation was messy, since many of us had not lined canoes before and the operation was not well explained beforehand. However, the second lining operation went much better - although the rapid was more difficult and I almost fell in due to the strong current.

The terrain between Lajitas and the Ledges camp (which was shortly after False Sentinel) was mainly desert, but there were some large cliffs. We saw no one after putting in at Lajitas, which was pretty neat.

We reached the Ledges camp shortly before dark, and we immediately unloaded the canoes and set up camp. We started by lugging all the personal gear to one location, all the group gear to another location, and all the kitchen gear to another location. Then, my team worked with Chris to set up the kitchen and start cooking. Meanwhile, another group worked with Jakub and Billy to set up the tents and organize and clean the canoes while the third group worked on outdoor skills with Emily. We spent about an hour setting up camp before we could change into dry clothing.

Ledges Camp (photo by Hannah).

Dinner was quinoa with tuna, salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeños, and celery. For an appetizer, we served apples with chips and salsa. For dinner Sara B made a cobbler in a dutch oven using 2 cans of cherries, 1 can of diced pineapple, 1 box of yellow cake mix, and 1 stick of butter. Everyone - except for one person who complained that we mixed in the tuna and salmon - liked the quinoa, as it was tasty and plentiful. The cobbler was pretty amazing - I'll have to include it on a future trip (assuming I take a dutch oven, which is kind of a pain due to weight and the need for a fire or a fire bowl and charcoal).

Sean manning the stove, while Brenden reads a book (photo by Manuel).

After dinner, my team heated river water on the stove and washed the dishes using a four bucket system - one bucket was for gunk, another bucket was for soap and water, another for rinse water, and the final one was for water and bleach. After we finished washing everything, we strained each bucket as we dumped it in the river (and packed out the trash caught by the strainer).

We had two Leave No Trace presentations after dinner - one on the 'Plan Ahead and Prepare' principle and another on the 'Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces'. Each presentation was less than 30 minutes, and had to include a visual aid and an activity.

I shared a 3 person Mountain Hardware Hammerhead 3 tent with Tessa and Hannah the entire trip. This first night, we all attempted to sleep the same way, which led to a slightly tight fit. Thankfully, the tent was long enough for men though, so we could fit a bit of our gear in a pile at our feet. At some point, I accidentally called Hannah 'Heather', so we jokingly stuck with it the rest of the trip. I also became 'Karen', and Tessa became 'Tiff'.

Hannah and Sean were great leaders of the day, mainly because they worked well together and were well organized. Sean told Hannah that his main goal was to make sure she had a great experience leading (since Sean is already a guide in the program, but just hadn't attended guide school yet). Sean and Hannah were great choices for the first leaders of the day as they set a great tone for the trip and a good bar for future leaders of the day to meet. My only complaint at the time (which I did not voice) was that Hannah and Sean seemed overly enthusiastic at points - but as I got to know them both better throughout the trip, I realized that the enthusiasm probably was real. They are both two really amazing people that I'm glad I got to share this trip with, and that I'm looking forward to working with in the future.