might be 10 or 15..im not sure...10 seems right though. but yeah..the trail of dots is our position through the courseThe blue dots on those tracking maps is your team's location every 10 minutes sent by the satellite tracking device (same thing that provided the live "dot watching"), right?
Excellent write up Aaron!
That lake crossing definitely sounded sketchy.
How was everyone matched up on your team? was it easy to keep everyone together? or did you have to wait up/chase alot?
awesome storyLeg #4, Paddle #2...the one where everything went wrong.
It is 10 AM on Friday, we are now 28 hours into the race. We are looking at about 25 miles of fast river paddling, and then can hop on our bikes to explore the rest of the course. This paddle starts at the exit of the dam for the reservoir we almost died on last night. The dam is currently releasing and the river is moving faster than yesterday. Also, all the water is coming out of the bottom of the reservoir, so its pretty cold. The skies are cloudy, and there is a solid breeze in the air. We push off into the river and are immediately moving into a nice solid class II rapid. Nothing to worry about, just keep it pointed straight and we make it through after a few cold splashes. I am feeling yesterdays paddling in my arms big time....but thankfully the speed of the river is doing most of the work for us.
View attachment 38059
The miles flow by and after a few hours of small rapids and chilly water, we come into a steep walled canyon. The only other sign of humans is a train track on river right. every once in a while an enormous coal train rolls through under then canyon walls. We round a bend, and see a sizeable rapid in front of us. definitely going on class III. the right side of the river is looking alot smoother, though its funneling into the rapid, so we have to stay as far right as possible to get through this. Tamela and JD head through it first and make it through. Now its our turn. we line up and start in, but i can already feel we are a bit too far left. as we head down the line, the water pushes us quickly to the left and we move directly into a standing wave that comes over the side of our boat and fills it with water....shit..were going in!
View attachment 38060
The boat floods and we are being swept down river in the cold water. I see my dry bag, full of gear start to float away..."that should have been strapped in" i think to myself. I grab for it and my paddle. Then I hear yelling from the riverbank. JD and Tamela have pulled over and are screaming for us to swim to shore. I look down stream and there is a MASSIVE standing wave in the river we are headed for.
The race directors told us that the paddling would be class II...this is a class III+ rapid
another surge of adrenaline and John and I let go of the boat and our gear and swim to shore. "SWIM HARD! SWIM HARD!" is all i can hear. I am moving towards the rapid faster than i am moving towards the shore, but were making progress, we just cant let up. I really wish i was a better swimmer right about now...
i make it within feet of the shore and spot a large rock...I lunge for it but am swept past, a few more strokes and i can claw at the shoreline, finally getting purchase on some wet rocks and I drag the rest of myself out of the current. John sweeps past me and manages to grab the shoreline 10 or so feed downriver. we are safe.
I look down river in time to see our canoe in the main rapid, jammed up on its stern, sticking straight into the air. It tumbles for a bit longer through the rapid like a ragdoll. Boy, am i glad that im not still hanging onto that canoe. We crawl up the steep riverbank, up to the train tracks to get somewhere we can sit. I am in a stage of shock right now. I flop onto the rocks and just kind of lay there. after a few moments, John decides to walk down river to see if we can find the canoe or our gear. There was an eddy after the rapid, hopefully things got caught there.
John comes back. The canoe is jammed up in some rocks on the side of the river His drybag is shoved into the bow of the boat really well, so its still with the canoe as well as the portage wheels, which were strapped to the center seat. He also found an empty duffel bag in the eddy which we had used to keep our paddle gear in. everything else is gone.
View attachment 38061
I get my soaking wet self together and slop upriver on the train tracks towards Tamela and JD. They had just gotten their boat out of the water and are setting it up on the portage wheels. they werent chancing the next rapid at all.
we tell them the situation. we have no paddles. and I lost my backpack and mandatory gear
sidenote: Mandatory gear is required to be on racers at all times. it consists of: long sleeve pants and shirt, warm hat, rain jacket, water purification, hydration device (camelback bladder), space blanket, knife, lighter, first aid kit
We talk about our options. This train track will lead us straight to the transition area after about 7 or so miles. we can split up the paddles and have 1 paddle per boat. we can tow one of the boats...or we can continue down the train tracks with the portage wheels.
our big concern with getting back on the water is having more rapids like we just experienced. we are still in this canyon, and there is another very narrow canyon near the end of the paddle. the chances of hitting more rapids is high, and we would have even less control and power now that we are down 2 paddles. we decide its best to portage the boats down the active railway.
Since the canyon is narrow, the railway wasnt built with much room, so we are forced to roll down the center of the tracks, bouncing the carts over every railroad tie. The wind is howling. I am shivering, but at least we are making forward progress...no matter how slow. Every so often we have to stop to fix the wheels, as they get bounced around and loosen up. After a little while, we hear the tracks start to squeal..."GET OFF THE RAILS! TRAIN IS COMING!!" we pick up the boats and hop sideways off as far as we can go...about 6 feet. The huge coal train rolls on through and we wait for its many cars to go past. This is not my idea of fun.
Back on the tracks. Carts are bouncing, we are trudging. After much more walking and a few more train incidents. we make it to an open junction in the tracks at the end of the canyon. There is a crew of workers moving rocks from one pile to another pile with big machines. They look quite confused to see us.
"you guys trying to get into the water?"
"no, we flipped in a rapid and lost our paddles...we need to keep heading this way"
"well, there is a train tunnel down past there...you cant go through the tunnel"
None of us needed any convincing about that....nobody wanted to die in a train tunnel. we take out the map to look at our options, we also find that one of the cart wheels lost an axle nut and the wheel is falling off...shit.
it takes a while but we manage to find a spare nut from one of the workers trucks, get it on with a pair of pliers, and are able to get rolling again. We move 20 feet and the other side of the axle falls off!
seriously??? is this a joke??
time to fix the other side. but unfortunately our helpful worker friends had already left for the day. We spend the next bit of time searching around on the ground for any bits of wire or metal that we can use to get the axle set back up. After a while we give up and decide to stack both boats on one cart. Since we cant go through the tunnels, we are headed out onto the country roads for a 7 mile detour to get where we need to go. As we start out, a park ranger truck rolls in...we begin to prepare some kind of excuse and apology at the same time.
The ranger pops out of the truck, along with one of the event staff. Apparently they were watching our tracker and saw it stopped for a long time here. They were curious and worried, so the event staff asked the ranger for a ride over to check on us...isnt that nice =]. We explain the situation and that we area all physically OK, and want to remain in the race...we just need to get our boats 3 miles down the tracks to the transition area. The ranger also informs us that he has a whole bunch of nuts and bolts in the truck, and we can use them to fix our cart...awesome!
the icing on the cake is that there is an access road thats not on the map. It follows the train tracks and stays out of the tunnels, it heads straight into the campground to where we need to go. This is music to our ears. We can fix our cart and take the shortest route in! The course worker and ranger leave after we thank them and we roll on down the access road. no more bumpy railroad ties. Hello smooth gravel!
A few more miles of moving and talking with ourselves about our situation....we had one incident with a runaway boat cart, down a hill....but we made it to transition with our boats to the cheers of the course workers. They offered us bottled water and fun sized candy, and we see our bikes sitting there....the last ones left.
I mention the situation with having lost my mandatory gear. The worker calls the race director and we hear our options.
1. we can quit now and get a ride back
2. if we feel comfortable continuing with less gear, we can continue through the course, but there will be some form of penalty assigned later on
we sure as hell arent quitting.
we eat some candy. fill up water and switch up backpacks. I take tamela's pack, and she takes one of the small camelback bladders off of our PFD to bike with.
Friday at 5:50 PM, way behind the rest of the teams, we roll off on our bikes to continue the course.
....we should have skipped the paddle
Leg #4, Paddle #2...the one where everything went wrong.
It is 10 AM on Friday, we are now 28 hours into the race. We are looking at about 25 miles of fast river paddling, and then can hop on our bikes to explore the rest of the course. This paddle starts at the exit of the dam for the reservoir we almost died on last night. The dam is currently releasing and the river is moving faster than yesterday. Also, all the water is coming out of the bottom of the reservoir, so its pretty cold. The skies are cloudy, and there is a solid breeze in the air. We push off into the river and are immediately moving into a nice solid class II rapid. Nothing to worry about, just keep it pointed straight and we make it through after a few cold splashes. I am feeling yesterdays paddling in my arms big time....but thankfully the speed of the river is doing most of the work for us.
View attachment 38059
The miles flow by and after a few hours of small rapids and chilly water, we come into a steep walled canyon. The only other sign of humans is a train track on river right. every once in a while an enormous coal train rolls through under then canyon walls. We round a bend, and see a sizeable rapid in front of us. definitely going on class III. the right side of the river is looking alot smoother, though its funneling into the rapid, so we have to stay as far right as possible to get through this. Tamela and JD head through it first and make it through. Now its our turn. we line up and start in, but i can already feel we are a bit too far left. as we head down the line, the water pushes us quickly to the left and we move directly into a standing wave that comes over the side of our boat and fills it with water....shit..were going in!
View attachment 38060
The boat floods and we are being swept down river in the cold water. I see my dry bag, full of gear start to float away..."that should have been strapped in" i think to myself. I grab for it and my paddle. Then I hear yelling from the riverbank. JD and Tamela have pulled over and are screaming for us to swim to shore. I look down stream and there is a MASSIVE standing wave in the river we are headed for.
The race directors told us that the paddling would be class II...this is a class III+ rapid
another surge of adrenaline and John and I let go of the boat and our gear and swim to shore. "SWIM HARD! SWIM HARD!" is all i can hear. I am moving towards the rapid faster than i am moving towards the shore, but were making progress, we just cant let up. I really wish i was a better swimmer right about now...
i make it within feet of the shore and spot a large rock...I lunge for it but am swept past, a few more strokes and i can claw at the shoreline, finally getting purchase on some wet rocks and I drag the rest of myself out of the current. John sweeps past me and manages to grab the shoreline 10 or so feed downriver. we are safe.
I look down river in time to see our canoe in the main rapid, jammed up on its stern, sticking straight into the air. It tumbles for a bit longer through the rapid like a ragdoll. Boy, am i glad that im not still hanging onto that canoe. We crawl up the steep riverbank, up to the train tracks to get somewhere we can sit. I am in a stage of shock right now. I flop onto the rocks and just kind of lay there. after a few moments, John decides to walk down river to see if we can find the canoe or our gear. There was an eddy after the rapid, hopefully things got caught there.
John comes back. The canoe is jammed up in some rocks on the side of the river His drybag is shoved into the bow of the boat really well, so its still with the canoe as well as the portage wheels, which were strapped to the center seat. He also found an empty duffel bag in the eddy which we had used to keep our paddle gear in. everything else is gone.
View attachment 38061
I get my soaking wet self together and slop upriver on the train tracks towards Tamela and JD. They had just gotten their boat out of the water and are setting it up on the portage wheels. they werent chancing the next rapid at all.
we tell them the situation. we have no paddles. and I lost my backpack and mandatory gear
sidenote: Mandatory gear is required to be on racers at all times. it consists of: long sleeve pants and shirt, warm hat, rain jacket, water purification, hydration device (camelback bladder), space blanket, knife, lighter, first aid kit
We talk about our options. This train track will lead us straight to the transition area after about 7 or so miles. we can split up the paddles and have 1 paddle per boat. we can tow one of the boats...or we can continue down the train tracks with the portage wheels.
our big concern with getting back on the water is having more rapids like we just experienced. we are still in this canyon, and there is another very narrow canyon near the end of the paddle. the chances of hitting more rapids is high, and we would have even less control and power now that we are down 2 paddles. we decide its best to portage the boats down the active railway.
Since the canyon is narrow, the railway wasnt built with much room, so we are forced to roll down the center of the tracks, bouncing the carts over every railroad tie. The wind is howling. I am shivering, but at least we are making forward progress...no matter how slow. Every so often we have to stop to fix the wheels, as they get bounced around and loosen up. After a little while, we hear the tracks start to squeal..."GET OFF THE RAILS! TRAIN IS COMING!!" we pick up the boats and hop sideways off as far as we can go...about 6 feet. The huge coal train rolls on through and we wait for its many cars to go past. This is not my idea of fun.
Back on the tracks. Carts are bouncing, we are trudging. After much more walking and a few more train incidents. we make it to an open junction in the tracks at the end of the canyon. There is a crew of workers moving rocks from one pile to another pile with big machines. They look quite confused to see us.
"you guys trying to get into the water?"
"no, we flipped in a rapid and lost our paddles...we need to keep heading this way"
"well, there is a train tunnel down past there...you cant go through the tunnel"
None of us needed any convincing about that....nobody wanted to die in a train tunnel. we take out the map to look at our options, we also find that one of the cart wheels lost an axle nut and the wheel is falling off...shit.
it takes a while but we manage to find a spare nut from one of the workers trucks, get it on with a pair of pliers, and are able to get rolling again. We move 20 feet and the other side of the axle falls off!
seriously??? is this a joke??
time to fix the other side. but unfortunately our helpful worker friends had already left for the day. We spend the next bit of time searching around on the ground for any bits of wire or metal that we can use to get the axle set back up. After a while we give up and decide to stack both boats on one cart. Since we cant go through the tunnels, we are headed out onto the country roads for a 7 mile detour to get where we need to go. As we start out, a park ranger truck rolls in...we begin to prepare some kind of excuse and apology at the same time.
The ranger pops out of the truck, along with one of the event staff. Apparently they were watching our tracker and saw it stopped for a long time here. They were curious and worried, so the event staff asked the ranger for a ride over to check on us...isnt that nice =]. We explain the situation and that we area all physically OK, and want to remain in the race...we just need to get our boats 3 miles down the tracks to the transition area. The ranger also informs us that he has a whole bunch of nuts and bolts in the truck, and we can use them to fix our cart...awesome!
the icing on the cake is that there is an access road thats not on the map. It follows the train tracks and stays out of the tunnels, it heads straight into the campground to where we need to go. This is music to our ears. We can fix our cart and take the shortest route in! The course worker and ranger leave after we thank them and we roll on down the access road. no more bumpy railroad ties. Hello smooth gravel!
A few more miles of moving and talking with ourselves about our situation....we had one incident with a runaway boat cart, down a hill....but we made it to transition with our boats to the cheers of the course workers. They offered us bottled water and fun sized candy, and we see our bikes sitting there....the last ones left.
I mention the situation with having lost my mandatory gear. The worker calls the race director and we hear our options.
1. we can quit now and get a ride back
2. if we feel comfortable continuing with less gear, we can continue through the course, but there will be some form of penalty assigned later on
we sure as hell arent quitting.
we eat some candy. fill up water and switch up backpacks. I take tamela's pack, and she takes one of the small camelback bladders off of our PFD to bike with.
Friday at 5:50 PM, way behind the rest of the teams, we roll off on our bikes to continue the course.
....we should have skipped the paddle
Not to turn this recap into an Aaron and Aly show
Could they not find a replacement for this team member in time?Your Narrator: Aaron Courain
Strengths: Losing all his shit in the river
Weakness: yes
View attachment 38142
Utah x 1,000, if you can believe that. Even the other team member JD was maybe Utah x 200. Tamela and JD shared a hotel room before and after, pretty sure they didn't actually sleep ever but rather just talked through the night and shared stories with one another amazing people. It does take a unique breed with high energy, and perhaps a few screws loose, to tackle something like this race anyway."Superpower: talking....she literally never shut up the whole race. its amazing i dont understand how someone can talk that much and not die"
Um. Have you meet Utah?