Last Hoorah

This is my final blog post and for it I want to recap on every post I've ever written this year.  First I wrote about was "My Rafting Trip" and for this post I had a really hard time thinking of things to write about and I was dreading writing more after that post because I would never be able to write about anything. As I continued I started to figure out that I could write about anything I've done over the my break from writing. I realized that I do a lot because I had to write about stuff so it made me realize all of the fun things that I do every day. My next few posts were "Stanley the Bear," "UEA," and "Redskins" and all of these were just me needing to get a post and those were the only things I could think to write about. My next posts were "SNOW!!!," "Snowking," "Slalom," "Snowbasin," and "Super G." The theme of it all was skiing because it was ski season and that's all I do in the
winter is ski so that's all I could write about and that's what I love most in the winter so I wanted to share my fun trips and cool skiing experiences with everyone else. My posts got a little more interesting from the on, I had my "Lacrosse" post which made me super excited to play lacrosse because I was getting pumped for game season and to kick some major lacrosse but which me and my team did just that. My letter to Ted Ligety was a super cool post because I wrote it just for Ted Ligety and it showed how much I really like watching him ski and I thought that was amazingly cool. My next three posts all had another theme. The posts were "The Fight Against Juan Diego," "Pleasant Grove's Cry for Help," and "Just Pee Your Pants" all of theses have the same theme of lacrosse.  I

Thanks Mr. Parker! Pic. Courtesy of Popcorn Fest

think my interest factor in my writing got a lot better in these posts and my titles got a lot better because I started thinking of better names for my blogs too. My last two, "SUMMER!!!" and "The Final Countdown", were all about how ready I am for summer and how I am done with school but sad that ski season is over and the writing in this I felt like got a lot more appealing to read.  What I would like to say is thank you to Mr. Parker for helping me and push me to do something that I might not like but it helped me in the long run.

SUMMER!!!

I am so stoked for summer to come around and although summer is only in a few weeks, I know this will be a long hard race to the finish. I am sad that ski season has come and gone but it will be back soon and in the meantime I can enjoy my other favorite sports, like lacrosse, river rafting, and camping (if you consider camping a sport.) I have had some ups and downs this year but as long as it will be over and I won't have to think about it four a few months that's fine with me. I am so excited for all the fun things that are going to happen this summer!!

Picture courtesy of Your Weekend View

River rafting is one of my favorite, if not my favorite thing to do in the entire world. I love the water and I love the beautiful scenery that you see on every trip. All the places we go to are so unique like the Gates of Lodore section on the Green River has these huge walls of rock that just tower over you and waterfalls that you can't reach without being on the river. The best part of the Green is some of the hikes that you can go up and see petroglyphs and pictographs that were created maybe a hundred years ago. The whitewater on the Green is also a lot of fun to mess around in because it's not too big at certain levels of water but it's big enough that you can have a blast. Then you have the Salmon River which is completely opposite of the Green River because it isn't a desert river but is a forest-type area that has beautiful trees surrounding you on either side of the canyon and big whitewater that is sure to make your heart beat a little fast. The Salmon River is my favorite. The hot springs on the Salmon River is one of the best things ever. There are hot springs everywhere on that river and each of them are so unique and are so fun to sit around in and enjoy the relaxation. Then there's the Snake River which is in the Alpine and it has a lot of consist, one, after the other kind of whitewater. The canyons for the Snake are so amazing and are darker colors of rock that make the scenery that much more beautiful. And I can't go river rafting during the winter so I am happy that it is time to move on to rafting.

I also love to play lacrosse and this summer I am joining Tribal West's lacrosse club called Mamacci and I am so stoked to get going on that because my lacrosse season is basically over but I don't want it to be over so I am going to continue doing lacrosse this summer. I get such a rush when I play lacrosse, especially when I am running and just absolutely crush the person trying to get in front of me or when I get in front of the girl who thinks she left  me in the dust. Lacrosse and rafting are my entire life in the summer and it is the most enjoyable things in life including skiing.

I JUST CAN NOT WAIT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!

Westwater!!!

I have a river trip coming up for spring break that I am super excited for. I haven't been on the river since last summer and so I have been wanting to get back on the river. My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got a new life jacket that doesn't have any sun spots and it has places to put your hands when they are cold. It also has pockets to put things in which are super handy when you need them. I am excited to wear my life jacket but I am even more excited for my first fly fishing pole. I have

This is my life jacket, hammock, and fishing pole

never tried fly fishing but my parents got me a fly fishing pole for my birthday and I love fishing so I am super stoked to try fishing with a fly pole. I also got a camping hammock for my birthday that I have been wanting forever and now I have one and I get to use it which is so cool because I'm going to set up the hammock and bath in the sun then go fishing with my new fly fishing pole and than I will go rafting in the morning with my new jacket with hand warmers and pockets.

For Westwater there are two sections the upper which is ruby horse thief and the lower part is just Westwater. We are making the trip a three day trip. You can make the trip just one day but they usually only do one section to do the trip in one day. The first section is super flat and is mainly just for fishing because there isn't any whitewater in the ruby horse thief section. In the second section there is a big amount of white water but in the end there is no whitewater and it is basically a lake that will be very obnoxious to oar through. We are staying one night on the ruby horse thief section than on the second night we will be staying on the actual Westwater section.

Out of everything that I am excited I am most excited for just being on the river. I get to oar the river on my raft which I love to do. My favorite thing in the entire world is rafting and my whole family will be there. I am so excited that my grandpa is coming with us as well which is actually a pretty big deal because the last time my grandpa went was on the Main Salmon which was five or so years ago and he hasn't gone near a river since, not because he doesn't love them but because he got older and life had to catch up with him but now he's retired and is coming with us on the river. The only thing that sucks is that I won't have any friends on the trip and no dogs can come because the rivers a national park or something stupid like that which will kind of be annoying but I will still have a lot of fun because I have family and I am going to be on the river which is the best thing ever. I am so excited for this trip and i will make the best of it.

My Rafting Trip

The Gates of Lodore section on the Green River is a beautiful section that you can fish, white water raft, and just have a great time. For me and my family it is one of the best places on this Earth. I love the wildlife and beautiful things you see. Not too long ago I went on this section of the river for the fourth time. Usually I ride along on the raft and maybe oar a few rapids but this time I got to oar the entire section. All I had was my gear Melissa, a close friend that rafts with us, and her gear. Although the river doesn't have much whitewater it is still a blast. The best part of rafting is the people you are with and how they will react to situations good or bad. My favorite to do is raft, no matter what you offer I would always choose to go rafting over it.

The wind was crazy fast the entire way and to add to that it was all blowing upstream. The entire time I had to fight 40 mile per hour winds wall trying to pick my way through the rapid or rocks. My arms felt like they couldn't even pick up a pebble by the end of the trip. Every night I had to set up camp and some nights I had to make dinner, because of this my arms were begging for a break.

At camp everyone talks about stories. Granted, we have heard every story three hundred times it is still fun to hear the stories. We sit around the campfire or play games like horseshoes or ladder ball. Often times our camp will be at a place where you can go on a hike. Most of the hikes on the Gates of Lodore are to go see some amazing pictographs, we didn't go on very many hikes because time ran out because the wind doubled the time it took to get to camp. My favorite hike is up to a waterfall that we call Butt Blocker Falls. We call it Butt Blocker because what you do is have someone stand at the bottom and then a lot of people will plug the water up with their butts' at the top and then all at once they stand up and get the people at the bottom soaked by the water.

The Gates of Lodore only has about three bigger rapids. One rapid is Disaster Falls which is super fun all you do is avoid rocks and hit the waves. Then there's Triplet which has two sections to it. The first part of Triplet is just hit the waves big and avoid two big rocks but then the second section has a birth canal and you go left. The birth canal is really scary because you don't want to go between the rocks that look like you may be able to go through because if you do you would get trapped and many people have died from trying to go through and getting stuck and drowning. Luckily, no one in my group has gone near the birth canal even though it sucks you into it. The last rapid I am going to talk about is the biggest, Hell's Half Mile. Hell's is tricky because you have to go through giant rocks and not go over the ones that may look like you can go over. There is one big rock that you don't want to hit because if you do you will get rapped and then hit the huge whole at the bottom and most likely flip the raft over. After the first part you have a rock garden that you have to try and avoid the rocks. I hit one of the rocks in the rock garden and almost fell out but Melissa grabbed me before I fell out and pulled me back in. This is a video of the upper part of triplet.

One of my favorite rivers is the Green because of how fun it is and how pretty it is to look at everything. I saw so many animals. I swam a lot in the river and floated down the river at camp on our sleeping pad that hold you out of the water. Over all, I had such a fun time but I usually always have the best time of my life on the river.

This is me and Melissa on my raft, Purple Goob.