Guide School Day 13: Gourmet Gamp to the Chisos Basin

Today Sara B and Manuel were the designated leaders of the day.  The guides let us sleep an hour later today, waking at 7am instead of 6am.  This facilitated the campfire time the night before, which was great bonding time for us.

We had toasted bagels for breakfast, which was great with butter.  I ate at least two, as I was pretty hungry after the quesadillas came up a little short in quantity the previous night.

Sean taught me how to steer today.  His teaching style matched my learning style nicely, and he's just generally a great person.  Definitely a role model for me in how he acts on the river and in camp.  Sean taught me the various strokes and then coached me through when to use them.  He was a great person for me to be paired with, and I'm very appreciative of his patience and great attitude throughout the entire trip.

We stopped at Fern Canyon after paddling for about 1 mile.  We were supposed to take a hike into the canyon.  We started to change into hiking boots, but stopped when we learned that we would be hiking through knee deep water and mud.

Chris and Jakub paddled ahead to make sure the cars and keys had reached the take-out point as planned.  We thought Chris had said to hike left to the rock wall before entering the canyon to avoid knee-deep mud, but this led only to dead ends.  We finally backtracked and found a way to the canyon entrance, but this took about 30 minutes.

Many people in our group thought we should just leave since we already used 30 minutes (and the leaders of the day claimed we were only scheduled to spend 45 minutes at Fern Canyon), and the first scramble would require us to crawl on our stomachs through the dirt under a ledge next to a muddy pool.  The consensus seemed to be that we could either spend more time to explore Fern Canyon now or do the Window Trail in the Chisos Basin that night.

The leaders of the day decided to put it to a vote, but Sean and I insisted on making points before the vote.  Sean noted that the Window trail is a front-country trail that can be done in '6 minutes' whereas this was a back-country trail.  People objected that the Window trail would take more than '6 minutes' and lost the point.  Billy then said something that supported not exploring Fern Canyon, but I do not remember what it was.  And then I said what Sean later said he meant: The Window Trail is a front-country trail that can be done any time you come to Big Bend, whereas it will take a canoe and time to be able to explore Fern Canyon on a future trip.

We then took a vote -  7 people voted to do Fern Canyon, 2 people voted not to do Fern Canyon, and the remaining 5 people abstained.  Emily, Billy, and Tessa opted not to go into the canyon and instead stayed with the canoes.  I was super excited about exploring the canyon, and scampered 3rd (after Brenden and Sebastian) under the ledge next to the muddy pond.  It was a tight squeeze and then we had to climb up a smooth, narrow space between two rocks.  Brenden gave me a hand up, which helped a lot.  Both Brenden and Sean were great in the canyon.  There were a lot of rock scrambles in the canyon - and my river shoes did not provide a reassuring amount of traction.

Tight squeeze under a ledge by a muddy pool at the entrance (photo by Manuel).

Sebastian next to the ferns near the mouth of Fern Canyon (photo by Sara B).

At one point it seemed like we had to bolder up a rock face, but I froze about halfway up.  I told Brenden this and both he and Sean came over to help coach me.  Brenden originally encouraged me to downclimb, but Sean encouraged me to climb up as he felt it would be safer and easier for me.  Brenden spotted me from below and Sean coached me up and gave me a hand through the toughest part (but told me not to pull if I fell, as then I would pull him down since he didn't have a great hand hold!).  They both helped me find good hand holds and foot holds to get out of the uncomfortable situation.  We soon realized that this was the part of the canyon that Chris had meant when he said there was a section where you could either do a sketchy rock scramble or an easy climb thorough a tunnel and up a water fall.  Sean later apologized for pushing me past my comfort zone, but that he felt going up was ultimately going to be the safest decision for me.

Sebastian and Hannah exploring in Fern Canyon (photo by Sara B).

Exploring in Fern Canyon (photo by Manuel)

Sebastian and Ellie dealing with some tricky footing as Brenden helps (photo by Manuel).

After this, we scrambled around the canyon for a while.  Way too quickly, it was time to go back.  I led the way out with Ellie, and had a blast going down the water fall, through the tunnel, and finally down the last scramble to drop down before crawling my way out.  By this point, we were so muddy!  But I was so happy.  This was my favorite part of the trip besides Joel's Canyon.

I was so muddy after exiting Fern Canyon (photo by Manuel)

Once everyone was out of the canyon, we snacked and then took off.  I was still steering, but doing much better now.  I made a few poor decisions -  one caused us to slam into a wall shot, another caused us to get stuck on gravel (Sean had to hop out and push us), and yet another caused the front of the canoe (and Sean!) to run straight into a river cane thicket.  However, Sean was so patient and encouraging the whole time - such a great canoe partner!

Nearing the exit of Santa Elena canyon (photo by Manuel)

As we exited the canyon, we saw our first tourists hiking the short Santa Elana trail.  It was definitely strange to see other humans, and to have to consider how our behavior might affect them (be it singing, telling jokes, or peeing behind bushes).

Group picture near the canyon exit (photo by Manuel).

Now pretend you actually like each other (photo by Manuel)

Sean and I were the first to reach the take-out point.  We quickly unloaded all the canoes and then carried them up to the canoe trailer.  Then we ate lunch and loaded into the suburbans to go to the Chisos Basin - somehow ahead of schedule even though we spent extra time at Fern Canyon.

Sean and I approaching the take out point.  Note our flag (aka spare paddle). (photo by Jakub)

Once in the Chisos Basin, we found two non-reserved sites next to each other at the Chisos Basin campground.  I'm not sure why Chris did not know there were group sites.  Then about 10 of us went to hike the Window Trail for 2 hours while the other 6 put up three tents and cooked dinner.  Brenden cooked a delicious potato soup with bunches of left over food, like almonds, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, ect.

The Window Trail was disappointing to me.  The actual window was not that cool, and I was bothered by all the cement brought in to make a trail near the actual window.  We then took another tail to see an overview of the window, which was cooler.  However, this left us to hike about 1.5 miles back in the dark with headlamps, which is pretty much one of my worst nightmares.  Even with the headlamp, depth perception is still poor and hence hiking is difficult.  Jakub was hiking slow too, so we hiked back together although the rest of the group was hurrying ahead of us.  At least Sara B was kind enough to not push us to hurry.

Hiking towards the window on the Window Trail (photo by Manuel)

 

Group picture of the group that hiked to the window (photo by Manuel)

Once at camp, we ate dinner, bear proofed everything (which was surprisingly time consuming), and had the leader of the day debrief.  I do not remember what was said about Sara B and Manuel, as I was nervously anticipating my upcoming leader of the day status.

Sebastian and I decided to have breakfast the next morning at 6:30am instead of 7am, but still have people wake up at 6am (since we would not have to pack-up our camp).  After meeting with the 4 guides to get briefed on the upcoming day, we sat and talked about our schedule for tomorrow, our safety talk, and how we wanted to organize the hike.

Guide School Day 12: Entrance Camp to Gourmet Camp

Ellie and Tommy were the assigned leaders of the day as we entered the Santa Elena canyon!  My team (Sean, Manuel, and Sara B) was in charge of meals today.  For breakfast we served apples and bagels with dried fruit, peanut butter, jelly, honey, Nutella, and cream cheese.  We left camp at 9:02am.

Entrance Camp in the early dawn (photo by Manuel)

Entrance Rapid has been making us nervous since we had first seen it on our hike on the second day on the river (guide school day 10).  Navigating Entrance Rapid did require some good steering and draws - but we all got through without any serious issues.

All but three canoes decided to line the next rapid, since it was an easy line and the chance of flipping seemed high (and there were no anchors nearby if we wrapped a canoe on the rocks).  Manuel and Chris as well as Sara B and Jakub (video complements of Manuel) went through the rapid with no issues.  However, Sean and Brenden (who had decided to run it together as their partners - Zack and I - lined the other canoe) flipped (video complements of Manuel).  It was an easy recovery, but they and the stuff in Zack and Brenden's boat got wet (luckily we had removed the guitar, just in case a flip occurred).

Then, we reached the rock slide rapid (which was only about a mile from Entrance Camp).  Manuel and Chris 'went to Mexico' to scout, and then Sean and I followed.  As we cut across the current from the Texas side to the Mexico side, I was certain at multiple points that we would flip and/or end up going through Rock Slide prematurely (with or without our canoe).  But we made it.  Then we did a tough but fun rock scramble up to some lookouts where we could see the entire rapid from above.  I did not go as far or high as Sean (who is really comfortable with rock climbing), but could still see all of the rapid.  We stayed high to watch as some of the other groups made their way through the Mexico Gate of Rock Slide (Texas Gate was blocked by a strainer).

 Scouting rock slide rapid from above on the Mexico side (photo by Manuel)

Sarah and Emily aiming towards Mexico Gate (photo by Manuel)

There was a bit of drama when both Emily and Tommy were standing on a rock in the middle of Rock Slide yelling conflicting instructions at couple groups.  Some of the people in those groups got really irritated.  Seeing this, I asked Sean before going into the rapid whether I should listen to his directions or theirs while in the rapid, and he said theirs - I felt better knowing we were on the same page going in.

Sean and I ran the rapid 7th, and actually ended up going through the narrow middle gate although we were originally aiming for Mexico Gate.  We started to go towards the middle gate, and just opted to go with it, since we knew from looking from above that we would be fine.  Although the middle gate was narrow, it was actually much easier.

Sean and I starting off from Mexico side, getting ready to go into the rock slide rapid (photo by Manuel)

We stopped for lunch at Camp Misery, which was located right after rock slide.  We served sandwiches with tomatoes, bell peppers, avocados, summer sausage, salmon, tuna, cookies, oranges, and chips.  After lunch, we saw a presentation by Manuel and Sara B on the 'Respect Wildlife' Leave No Trace Principle.  Their presentation was really cute, and involved them role playing with Sara being knowledgeable in Leave No Trace and Manuel being a naive tourist.

We ran a variety of tough rapids before reaching Gourmet camp at 3:29pm (4.88 miles from Entrance Camp).  Sean had been pushing me to learn to steer, but I was glad while running these rapids that Chris has said to wait until the following day.  Sean and I are working well - my paddling skills have improved a bunch since day 1!  We rocked rapids today that we would have struggled with (or chosen to line) on day 1.

Sean and I chilling (photo by Manuel)

Once at Gourmet Camp (in the middle of the canyon!), we set up the kitchen, changed into dry clothing, and cooked quesadillas for dinner.  We served tortilla chips, salsa, and oranges as an appetizer.  As I was cooking, flocks of birds began swarming inside the canyon, which was pretty awesome to see (especially considering how it relates to my research!).  The presence of the birds also decreased the presence of the small flying insects we had experienced earlier in the night.

Looking downstream from Gourmet Camp (photo by Manuel)

 Looking upstream at Gourmet Camp (photo by Manuel)

For dinner we mixed and cooked corn and pinto beans and grilled zucchinis and onions.  We then had people add these ingredients and/or sun-dried tomatoes and cheese to a tortilla, and then we grilled their made-to-order tortilla for them.  Sean insisted on manning the grill the entire time, claiming it kept him warm.  Everyone seemed to really like the quesadillas, but I think we could have had more food.

After dinner, everyone started chilling at the fire listening to Brenden play guitar. Sean and I washed the dishes, and most of the girls were braiding each others' hair.  After we finished the dishes, we all sat around the fire listening to Brenden playing and singing with Sebastian playing drums on an empty water container.  It was a pretty cool feel.  For me, the most memorable song was about the Groover: 'My name is Charles (thanks for asking)'.  Brenden is indeed really talented at crafting lyrics on the fly.

After a bit, Sara's dutch oven chocolate cake was finally done cooking.  It turned out pretty nice (especially considering we didn't know the exact proportions of the ingredients), and we all shared a few plates and forks around the camp fire.  Tonight was a great night of bonding around the camp fire.  Looking up and seeing the stars and the canyon walls was also completely amazing.

Relaxing around the camp fire (photo by Manuel)

Gourmet Camp at night (photo by Manuel)

Tonight the guides announced that Sara B and Manuel would be the leaders of the day tomorrow, which leaves Sebastian and I to lead the Emory Peak day by default.  I'm pumped, as I wanted to be leader on the Emory Peak day from the start.  Sebastian seems cool, so I'm excited to be working with him.

Everyone seemed to think today was amazing.  I thought it was cool to be in the canyon (looking up at the walls is pretty neat), and I enjoyed the challenge of the many rapids today, but I thought yesterday was so much cooler.  I guess different people have different things that really excite them.  For me, although today was awesome, yesterday was super amazing.

Guide School Day 10: Ledges Camp to Entrance Camp

Zack and Sarah Rose were the assigned leaders of the day today.

My sleeping pad was on a weird split incline, so I slept somewhat poorly because I could either sleep on the split incline or I could sleep on flat ground against the side of the tent (which seemed to be a better option, but led to me waking up often due to cold).  I woke up at 5:30am, since Hannah and Tessa were on the food team today, but didn't get up until around 6am.  Apparently Hannah had a dream about nature taking revenge on us and Tessa started her (apparently) nightly dreams of having sex with various people in our group.  Pretty strange but interesting dreams.

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal and yogurt.  It was a really cold morning, so I had some hot chocolate and two packs of oatmeal before having a bit of yogurt followed by some hot water (to 'clean' my nesting bowl).  I had left out my wet water shoes (old tennis shoes) and wool socks to 'dry' overnight - what a mistake!  They were frozen and pretty miserable to wear in the morning.

False Sentinel from Ledges camp (photo by Manuel).

Ledges camp in the morning (photo by Jakub).

We loaded the canoes - Sean and I took the big kitchen dry bag, two ammo boxes with food, 2 8-gallon water jugs, and the Groover. The Groover is the portable toilet that we used for solid waste.  The equipment team would set it up somewhere a short distance from camp that was both private and had a good view.  We would then use a paddle to designate whether it was in use - when you went to use it, you would take the paddle from a tree nearby and when you returned you would replace the paddle.  We were supposed to take a bit of hand soap after using the Groover and go wash our hands in the river.

Our introduction to the Groover the night before (photo by Manuel).

We got on the river at 9:13am, and it was extremely cold.  We only had 4.14 miles to paddle today.  We stopped to take a water break and a snack break.  In general, the paddling was simple today so we didn't need to stop and scout and/or line any rapids.  However, it was extremely cold when we were not paddling, to the point that I would start shaking every time we stopped.  At one point I remember thinking that I was the coldest I had ever been.

On-water water break (photo by Manuel)

We didn't quite run this rapid shortly before Entrance Camp correctly...

 ...which led us to run into the river cane (photos by Manuel).

We reached our camp for the night - Entrance Camp - at 10:53am.  We were all terribly cold, and Zack was semi-hypothermic as evidenced by his decreasing ability to function and his blue fingers and toes.  Emily tended to Zack (warm sleeping bag, warm drinks, rest, ect) as the rest of us unloaded the canoes, changed into dry, warm clothing, and enjoyed some warm drinks.

Once we were dry and warmer, we set up the rest of the kitchen, tents, and the Groover.  Then the food crew prepared lunch.  After lunch, we had two Leave No Trace presentations.  The first was one by Sarah Rose and I on the 'Dispose of Waste Properly' principle.  We focused on packing out trash and on disposing of human waste properly in different environments.  The second presentation was on the 'Leave What You Find' principle.

Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel)

Sarah R digging a cat hole in the sand for demonstration purposes during our Leave No Trace presentation (photo by Jakub).

Entrance Camp from the kitchen area (photo by Sara B).

Our canoes nicely lined up for the night at Entrance Camp (photo by Jakub).

Originally we were scheduled to have paddling practice in a calm area near camp, but the water and air were so cold that the 4 guides decided a hike into the Mesa de Anguila was a more appropriate activity.  It was an optional hike, so about 5 people stayed behind and about 11 of us went on the hike.  The original idea was to hike across the back-country to see the Rock Slide rapid from above.  We started by hiking up the cliff by our camp, and then joined a rarely-used but carned back-country trail.  We took the trail for a while, but eventually Chris decided that we would need to walk 45 more minutes to get to the Rock Slide rapid and that we didn't have enough time to get there and back to camp before sunset.  Hence, we went back to camp on a more visible and quicker back-country trail before taking the faint trail back down the cliff.  Partway down the cliff, we detoured to see the Entrance Rapid from above, which we would be tackling early Wednesday morning.  I walked near the front of the group as we hiked, usually behind Brenden and Chris and right before Hannah and Zack.  We walked against and through many spiny bushes and cacti, which left lots of thorns in my sweat pants and socks.  I learned on this hike to only wear nylon pants (even thin ones) when walking in the back-country - sweat pants were a terrible idea (they were a magnet for spiny things).  Ellie got some spines in her hand and Sara B got a few spines in her feet (that's why you wear close toed shoes!) - both required tweezers to remove.  Sara B noted that even upon returning home she still had two spines in her foot.

The mouth of Santa Elena Canyon from our hike up the cliff (photo by Manuel).

 Hiking up the cliff from Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel).

Entrance Camp from the hike up the cliff (photo by Jakub).

Hiking across the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Group picture taken with a timer in the Mesa de Anguila (photo with Manuel's camera).

Wide-open space in the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Short break during our hike in Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel).

Manuel's GPS track from our hike - Start: 3:01 pm. Finish: 4:48 pm. 1.95 miles round trip.

It made me really happy to go hiking in the back-country!  It was neat to see so far, and to see no one but us.  It was also pretty cool to hike in an area that very few people visit.

We did see one person today, once while canoeing and then once at camp.  It was a Hispanic guy on a horse.  He ignored us, and we attempted to ignore him.

We had dinner shortly before dark.  The do it yourself kebabs were good - but there was not enough food and some people resorted to eating leftover quinoa from my group's dinner the night before.

Tent mates! (photo by Manuel)

Great sunset photo at Entrance Camp (photo by Jakub).

After dinner, we had another Leave No Trace presentation on the 'Minimize Campfire Impacts' principle.  We carried two fire pans on this trip in which to build fires, which is one way to minimize impacts.  Chris said that UT is trying to move towards not having any fires on trips.  However, sitting around a campfire is important to some people, so in those cases, we should attempt to minimize the impacts.  In this presentation, we learned how to build a 'log cabin' base for starting a fire using small sticks and kindling.

Although some people were sitting around the campfire chatting tonight, I opted to go to bed early after our final meeting of the night since I did not have kitchen duty and I had no personal dishes to clean.  It was to be the coldest night on our trip, so I slept in long underwear, tights, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt inside my liner and sleeping bag.  It was still pretty cold all night.  I used a cotton scarf to cover my nose and mouth to make breathing easier (to avoid breathing really cold air).

Tessa and I were talking in the tent after she had been assigned to be leader for the next day about what day I would want to be leader.  I stated that I would strongly prefer to do the Emory Peak hike day because I thought this day would showcase my abilities best.  Only after saying this did I remember that Chris and Billy were in the tent right next to us, and were probably awake.  Whether they heard me or not, (spoiler alert) I got my wishes and led the Emory Peak day on the last day.

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.

Guide School Days 4-6: Swift Water Rescue Trip

On the evening of the last day of finals, we gathered at 4pm to do all of the preparation work for our 2 day / 1 night swift water rescue training trip to San Marcos.  This trip also served as a 'shake-out' trip in which we could determine what personal gear was needed for a longer trip (for example, many people forgot bowls, cups, and utensils).

We split into two groups: a food team and a gear team.  I was on the food team.  We started by deciding what type of meals to prepare.  We are lucky, since we only have two minor food concerns in our group: Hannah prefers to not eat meat and Manuel can not have milk.  Chris helped us design our meals for this trip - we opted for sandwiches for both lunches, chicken and beef tacos for dinner with rice and fruit cobbler, and breakfast tacos for breakfast.  Of course, we had to specify exactly what was needed for these meals, as well as the necessary quantities for 15 people, when making the grocery list.  Before going to the store we checked the pantry and refrigerator to determine what foods the outdoor center already had.  Next we took the Suburban to Whitaker Fields to pick up the box trailer.  While there, we learned how to hitch the trailer.  After dropping the box trailer at the outdoor center, we went to the HEB on Red River.  Once there, we split into 3 pairs to shop for all the items on our list.  Hannah and I shopped mainly for dry-goods.  We all met up at the end,  checked through the list one last time to ensure we had gotten everything, and made our way with three somewhat full carts to the checkout area.  Our bill came up to just under $400 without tax (which we don't have to pay since UT is tax-exempt).  Once we returned to the outdoor center, we sorted the food by meal, repackaged a few items, packed the non-refrigerated goods into dry boxes by meal, and refrigerated the items that needed to be kept cold.  Finally, we went to get water gear - wetsuit, helmet (which we each labelled with our name), dry bag, water jacket, and life jacket - from a little storage area under the stairs in front of Gregory Gym.  We also picked up sleeping bags, sleeping bag stuff sacks, and sleeping bag pads from the outdoor center.  By this point, the gear team was also finished, so we shortly met to debrief the session before heading our separate ways for the night.

We met at the outdoor center at 7am the next morning.  We packed the refrigerated items into a cooler, put our person gear in some combination of a small dry-bag that would stay with us and a larger dry-bag that we would share (I shared with Manuel), and loaded up in the 2 Suburbans.  We drove to the Lions Club tube rental parking lot at Texas State, where we unloaded the 7 canoes (plus the kayak for Chris) and got 'river ready'.  Being 'river ready' means having on your wetsuit, life jacket, river shoes, and helmet.  We learned a bit about canoeing stokes, on-river communication, and how to float if you fall out of the boat.  We paired up and paddled upstream to the mouth of the San Marcos River.    Chris told us these San Marcos Springs are home to a few threatened species, including the Texas Blind Salamander and Texas Wild Rice.  We then switched partners (and I moved to the back of the canoe) before paddling downstream to the San Marcos paddle park.

Paddle and safety talk (photo by Jakub).

San Marcos paddle park (photo by Manuel).

At the San Marcos paddle park, we pulled our canoes up onto the bank and prepared to gain experience swimming rapids.  We swam various combinations of the three rapids in this area, working on keeping our feet up going through the rapids and then eddying out.  Eddying out involved attempting to swim and roll out of the current and into a particular eddy.   We probably tried this 10-20 times from various starting points and into various eddies.  Throughout, Emily or Jakub stood at the end of the rapids with a throw bag in case any of us were unable to escape the rapids, but we never needed them.  I struggled more than most people to escape the rapids quickly, but always was able to eventually get into the eddy.  It's really awkward trying to swim with a life jacket and helmet on!

Approaching a rapid (photo by Jakub).

Approaching another rapid (photo by Manuel).

Huddling together to try and warm up (photo by Jakub).

After doing our last swim from the top of the first rapid, it was lunch time.  4 people were picked for lunch duty, and the rest of us were able to take off as much wet clothing as possible (getting down to bathing suits so that our clothing could dry and warm up).  Lunch was set up relatively quickly, and we had cold-cut sandwiches with chips, apples and oranges, and cookies.  After lunch a group presented on different decision-making strategies.  We then worked on throwing throw bags on land in pairs before taking our pairs out to three points in the rapids and practicing real throws to Chris, Emily, and Jakub as they repeatedly swam through the rapids.  Sean and I each threw 2-3 times from two different points - one point at the middle rapid was really difficult to time, but he managed to get that throw once.  The other rapid was easier to throw from, and I 'saved' Emily once and Sean 'saved' people twice.  After we finished, we paddled back upstream to the Suburbans.

After loading the canoes onto the trailer (which takes people climbing on the trailer, as well as people spotting/supporting), we drove to San Marcos River Retreat.  We were the only people in the large tent area, which had bathrooms and a pavilion with a fire pit.  4 new people were chosen for dinner duty, and the rest of us worked to set-up tents and start a camp fire.  Once we were done setting up, we sat around the fire talking and relaxing while the dinner crew worked on cooking the chicken and beef tacos, Spanish rice, and fruit cobbler.  Dinner took a long time to cook, but was really good once it was finished (besides the small mix-up in which cumin was sprinkled in our cobbler instead of cinnamon!).  After dinner we had two group presentations - my group's presentation on leadership ethics and a presentation on leadership styles.  My group discussed different models that can be used to when making an ethical decision, and then presented four different scenarios that could happen as guides and encouraged the group to discuss (1) what decisions could be made and (2) how to actually carry out these decisions.  One scenario was that you overhear a participant refusing to use the portable chemical toilet and another participant telling her to just go behind a rock.  The group decided that a meeting should be held with the entire group in which the group is reminded about the importance of using the chemical toilet.  The other group's presentation required 9 of us to make a human pyramid.  We had a lot of fun, but it was really hard to hold the weight!

Human pyramid! (photo by Jakub)

I ended up being alone in my 5-person tent, as the others in my tent decided to sleep under the stars and everyone else had already settled into other tents.  It was kind of nice to have the tent to myself, but I kept expecting to have company every time I woke up (due to either mosquitoes or cold).

Since I was on the breakfast crew with Ellie, Sebastian, and Sean, I had to wake up at 6am.  I quickly packed up my personal gear, sleeping bag, and pad and started helping with breakfast.  We prepared breakfast in the dark using our headlamps.  Sean cooked the eggs, Sebastian cooked the shells, and Ellie and I helped with the other aspects.  I also gathered more wood since the people sleeping outside had managed to keep the camp fire going throughout night. Breakfast was breakfast tacos, cut apples, and coffee/tea/hot chocolate.  After breakfast we used four buckets to wash the dishes - one for clean water, one with a facet to clean, 1 with soap, and 1 with water and light bleach.  We then dried and packed up all the kitchen supplies.  Then it was a quick rush for the kitchen crew to get personal gear packed up and to get dressed for the day.

We met over by the river in the camp ground.  We were split into three groups to have a rope-tying relay.  I struggled a bit on tying a bowline tightly around something.  Our team ended up getting second, I think.  Then we all spent some time working on knots on our own.  Once we all had our knots down, we learned how to put together a z-drag, which can be used to rescue a canoe from being wrapped, or stuck, on a rock or tree in the river.  We broke up by age for a two team race to pull a canoe using a mechanical advantage of three (I'm second oldest! Our group has people ranging in age from 19 to 45.).  My team had all of the guys that already work as guides, so we won the race substantially quicker than the other team.  Hence, we were instructed to attempt to rig a z-drag with mechanical advantage of five, which just required two more pulleys to be put into the system.

Next we got river-ready and went down to the river to work on wadding through rapids.  We walked in groups of 2 and 3 through some light rapids before walking in a group of 6 through a tough rapid with some areas in which your feet could get stuck if you were not careful.  We then worked on walking alone with a paddle through some light rapids.

Me right before we began the 6 person walk through the rapids (photo by Jakub).

Then it was lunch time.  4 people worked on preparing lunch while the rest of us unloaded the canoes from the trailer and loaded them with paddles, throw-bags, and buckets.  For lunch we had chips and salsa, pita bread, salami, lettuce, tomatoes, chips, apples, and oranges.  We also listened to the final group presentation on outdoor teaching styles.

After lunch and the final presentation, we finally hit the river.  Since Manuel hurt his calf in an exercise that morning, he rode with Emily and Jakub.  This left me without a partner, so Chris canoed with me instead of in his one-person kayak.  This was a great experience for me - I have less canoeing experience than almost anyone else in guide school, and hadn't had a good experience the previous day with partners.  One girl got frustrated and told me to just always paddle on one side in the front (and got angry if I tried to do anything else), while another girl was supportive as I attempted to steer in the back but was unable to really give me advice on skills.  Hence, getting to paddle with Chris was a great experience since I was clear upfront about my lack of experience and he taught me how to do pull and push stokes and generally made me feel a lot more comfortable.  He communicated what I needed to do, and I generally think I executed it well.  We were the lead boat through all the rapids, and did well.  He also worked with me on how to hold a throw bag (underhanded) and how to tie a good bowline knot to secure a canoe to a tree.  Chris said that he'll match us up appropriately for the Big Bend trip now that he knows our skills - so hopefully I'll get a partner that is okay with giving me directions - since I do not think I'll be at a level where I can successfully decide what to do.  However, I'm sure I'll improve a lot over the 5 day canoe trip!

As we were canoeing, we came across a submerged canoe in the middle of the river (that Chris and Jakub had wrapped earlier in the day).  This gave us the experience of unwrapping a real canoe in the rapids using a z-pull.  Hannah was put in charge of directing the effort, and she did a great job.

Setting up the z-pull (photo by Jakub).

We stopped before 2-3 rapids (including Broken leg and Old Mill) to scout the rapids and decide reasonable paths through the rapids.  Chris said you should look at where you want to be at the end of the rapid and work backwards to determine how to best approach a rapid.  Since we were the lead boat, we went through each rapid first so that the group could watch.  We got through each rapid without any big issues, and then eddied out, tied off the boat, and got throw bags ready to assist others if they flipped.  On Broken Bone, the first two boats after ours did indeed flip, but everyone was fine and no one needed a throw bag.  On Old Mill, multiple boats got stuck, but no one flipped or needed help.

After going through Old Mill (which required a bunch of back strokes), we reached a deeper, open part in the river where we worked on T-rescues.  In pairs, first one boat would flip, align their flipped boat perpendicular to the other pairs' boat, the people in the other boat would lift the boat across their boat, turn it over, and then pull it next to their boat so they could act as an offsetting weight as the other pair attempted to get back in their boat one at a time.

 Groups practicing T-rescues (photo by Jakub).

After finishing the T-rescues, we went to the bridge where we got out, and waited for Sean and Brendan to go in Chris' car to get the Suburbans.  Then we loaded up the canoes and gear into the trailer, changed out of our wet outer-gear, and started on our way back to Austin.  As we were nearing Austin, our Suburban ran out of gas near Ben White.  We pulled over, called the other Suburban, and waited for them to bring us a can of gas (and snacks).  This delayed us, but we eventually got back to campus, changed into dry clothing, washed and stored the canoes, hung up all the wet gear and tents, put up unused food, and said our good byes around 8:30pm.

 Paddling through some light rapids with Chris (photo by Jakub).

 Taking Manuel through the Old Mill rapid (photo by Jakub).