The Rest Of The Story

So I stopped writing again, no surprise there.  I'll continue on the story and catch you guys up to what is going on here in Tacoma, WA.

The next day we headed to the pick up spot for the river trip.  The driver who picked us up was friendly and knowledgeable if a little unconventional.  He drove us down to the base of the Hoover Dam and we put our rental canoe in the water and got out of the area as quickly as possible to avoid the rest of the tourons...

The trip was only about a total of 12 miles but it was relaxing, slow moving and had spectacular scenery.  The days were incredible with temps in the 90s on the river and in the 70s in the various side canyons that we explored by foot.  There were numerous hot springs along the trails, all of which looked a little on the overused side for us.  Most of them were barricaded in with bags of sand to make them deeper, which gave them a very dirty feel...  I'm sure they were fine but just not my thing.  Also every hot spring in the world, and much of the worlds stagnant water, contains a certain type of amoeba called Naegleria Fowleri.  This amoeba can enter the body through the nasal cavity and attach itself inside the nasal passage.  Once inside it migrates up through the sinuses and eventually finds it way into your brain... then you die...  So I decided that a dip in a dirty hot spring was not worth even a small percent chance that I would die.

We camped at the mouth of a side canyon that night and enjoyed dusk as the temperatures dropped down to more manageable levels.  In the morning as we were cooking breakfast we heard a clatter from across the river and notice a herd of Big Horn Sheep coming down to the water.  The sheep were walking down nearly vertical rock like it was a staircase.

They stopped to drink long enough for us to get some shots from across the river but you could tell they were aware of our presence and on alert.  After they were finished drinking they scrambled back up the canyon walls.  At one point they literally jumped and ran up what appeared to be a 15 ft cliff.  It was a sight to behold.

The second day was much like the first.  Hot, breezy and lazy.  It was really nice to be in a canoe again just meandering along without much of a timeframe.  We arrived at the takeout around 2pm and our pickup wasn't scheduled to arrive until 3pm.  So we walked up to the corner store and bought a six pack of beer and some party mix and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon from underneath a shade tree.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this picture...

It was windy and I was doing my Michael Jackson impression... priceless.