rafting expedition

Got up bright and early and headed to Leadville to meet up with the other car full of guys en route to Renn's bachelor party rafting trip just north of Buena Vista. After a nice brunch at the Tennessee Pass Cafe, we headed to teh outpost and packed all of of our gear (and beer) into water proof bags, wetsuited up, and hopped on a bus to go to the launch point. The 8 of us were part of a group of 23, plus 6 guides. Two guides were in charge of the gear, and the other 4 manned the 6 person rafts. After a quick succession of rapids, waters were a bit calmer on our approach to the campsite in Brown's Canyon. Then it started raining and got kind of cold. Not too long after we landed, however, the sun popped out and we could set up camp. The guides were in charge of cooking up our meals, which was pretty sweet - we had steak, corn on the cob & baked potatoes. After dinner we all just hung out around the fire until , myself, Andy, and Renn were the last one's (sort of) standing.



After a killer breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and leftover steak cooked in bacon grease, we hit the river again. This second run was rife with rapids and at one point we pulled off to shore and went rock jumping.





After we got to the rendevous point, we had some PB&J's loaded up on the bus and headed back to teh oupost. We rafted approximately 20 miles start to finish. On the way back the road was closed for a head on collision from some idiot passing in a dangerous spot. We got a late start leaving the outpost and hit some bad sunday mountain traffic from Georgtown > Idaho Springs. Got home and passed out after eating dinner - phew!