Photos continued. The oregon wilderness educators course has a rock climbing component at Smith rock, a Wilderness First Responder section, a river section on the lower deschutes, a mountaineering section in the sisters wilderness and lastly a finals section that contained the Owyhee river and an ascent of Mt hood. I didnt get many photos of smith or the deschutes for some reason but did get a fair few of the other sections. I worked the whole course with other staff coming in to work specific sections. It was great to be out there for the whole time and also to get to work with so many good people (we ended with 10 different staff working the course). 50 days is a long time and I was interested in how I would feel afterwards. Generally I just feel like there really is something I should be doing or someone I should be talking to but apart from that I feel energised to go on my own adventures right now. which will follow in the next post.... Chilling in the tent with meagan and steve (day 47 or 48) on mt hood. We spent a bit of tent time on hood due to a storm then from the sun.
Hot dogs in the snow at Mt hood trail head (timberline). The salad kept blowing away.
Meagan making fresh cinimon rolls on the Owyhee river.
Descending Mt hood toward the hogs back with the rope team strung out in front of me. (mt jefferson in the distance)
Rusty cooking in the snow kitchen, sisters wilderness.
Montgomery rapid (class 4) in the canyon section of the Owyhee (theres a raft in there somewhere)
Finally making it to the trail head in the sisters wilderness after slogging it out with my pack and a sled. (the sled was great except when i wanted to change direction!)
Tony sorting food in our mini snow kitchen in the sisters wilderness.
The camp at illumintation saddle (on the left) with the clouds rolling past.
Have just finished working the oregon 50 day wilderness educators course. 55 days of work and now i find myself back at base with the feeling that i really should be doing something. So I'm going to. Heading off today, south down to raft the rogue (flows out of crater lake) followed by an attempt to climb Mt shasta. Here are some photos from the course though.....
Tony getting some skiing done while students are on solo (having skiied in an epic amount of food to ressupply us in the mountains) (photo taken from zen puddles for the oregon people)
Steep snow climbing from golden lake to the zen puddles, sisters wilderness.
Base camp at golden lake with broken top behind. We attempted the NW ridge (the one on the right side of the mountain) but were turned back by intense cold and hard conditions.
Slogging it out with the snowshoes trying to get to golden lake Chilling - cup of tea in a natural hotsprings (around day 43) on the Owyhee (oh wa hee) river, eastern oregonKayaking Montgomery rapid (class 4) on the Owyhee at the start of the Green dragon canyon. (Thanks to Mike Mourar for the lend of the Kayak, allowing me a lot of fun while the rest rafted - also a lot of fun!) A wee bit chilly - day 46 on Mt Hood as we try and dig platforms in for the tents in the middle of a storm. Meagan steve and I with our tent behind at illumination saddle on Mt hoodSummit day - day 48, 7am and we are just above the Hogs back (well i am anyway - steve is still standing on it as the last person on the team) on the south face of Mt hood.
And now back in the states again. My last couple of weeks in Scotland have flown past, managing to get a bit of climbing done (yes there were sunny spells) a bit of Kayaking and even a two day trip down the River Earn with my Dad. Dad has lived over 40 years of his life somewhere in the Earn valley and wanted to explore the river (after an aborted attempt and a run in with a dead sheep/capsize last year). It was kind of the wrong time of year but we did get an amazing first day of sunshine through some amazing scenery, a cold night by the side of the river and then a whole lot of snow on the last day. The trip was great, to spend time with dad and also canoe a beautiful river so close to where I grew up.
Unfortunately as I was preparing to leave Scotland I found out that a good friend and colleague Travis Lizzotte passed away. Travis was living his dream and living life to the full and his loss to the world is immense. More on the amazing person Travis was can be found on the memorial page on Facebook. I am now back in the USA to work a 50 day Wilderness Educators course to start of another season with OBUSA. Finally time to work again, a bit of a shock to the system...
The put in for the River Earn (Comrie)
Paddling into the snow storm on the 2nd day Ice in the pan, morning in the tent Below the 1st portage (the weir up river swamped us)
An ancient monument - exploring a castle on the first day Matthew pretending he isnt struggling! the final moves of the imaginately named "the arete"(E1) at the Hawkcraig The Abseil into The Hawkcraig, Edinburgh From left, Travis, Amber, me and Steve on prouty point in the sisters wilderness last summer
Already the grand canyon trip seems like a while ago but thats probably due to my laziness in not finishing the blog. We did eventually make it to Lake mead. Unfortunately Ryan left in a helicopter as he said he had an infection though its more likely that he just didn't want to do any of the flat water rowing. The last few days were crazy as the river cuts through the silt built up from the dam leaving big crumbling mud cliffs on either side. By this stage there was no power left in the river and the last few miles were tough, head down and get on with it rowing and trying not to focus on the 2 miles an hour boat speed. Suddenly the Japanese tourists in speed boats dont look so stupid. An early morning saw us pull into south cove take out to wash the gear and our ride back to civilisation but only after the driver had given us a full run down on a months news.
For me it was then a quick changeover straight from Flagstaff to see Becca in New York. It felt very strange to be back in "the real world" and definitely took me time to adjust though as soon as I was in New York, Becca whisked me up to Vermont where we house sat a beautiful old Inn for some people Becca used to work for and I got a quick tour of some of Vermont.
Then within a week another massive change back to Scotland and the wonderful Scottish winter. Rain that is. Since I've been back its been a whirlwind of catching up with people along with bits and pieces of walking, kayaking and climbing. Next up is a canoe trip down the river Earn with my dad.
Dont worry folks I will soon be back at work....... Rowing into the Lake Mead eveningEarly morning sun across the Lake as we derig the boatsSome cold washing of boats (and people)The Whitford house Inn in Vermont Becca trying to avoid the camera on an icy cycle ride in New York
A sudden change. The New York Skyline from Central Park above and a storm rolling across Rannoch moor in Scotland
Scottish winter mountaineering at its best. Robin sheltering below Ben Lui
Having now watched the Lava falls video many times I'm pretty sure the boat comes out without the oar frame which means for any of you tightfisted scottish people out there there must be a free raft frame (aout $600) in the bottom of lava if you want it - go and get it.
So "the canyon". I'm not too sure how I ended up knowing how to raft, or even if I actually know how but here I was accepting the fact that I was meant to know what I was doing on a river running between 9,000 and about 15,000 cfs (thats 3-4500 cumecs for you people who like decimal) somewhere in the US of A. The Colorado River is dammed above Lees ferry by the Glen Canyon Dam and below by the Lake Mead Dam. Inbetween it is 300miles of the Grand Canyon with one access point about 80miles down where you can hike to the rim in about 5 hours a possible take out at Diamond creek (@ about mile 220) and a whole lot of rapids. The rapids on the colorado work a little differently from normail with basically anything around a 2+ to 3+ on the normal scale given a rating from 1-10. This suprisingly seems to work though as ever the guidebooks seem to have not graded some things which were definitely rapids while others seemed fairly inoccous.
Our plan was to raft from Lees Ferry down to South Cove on Lake Mead, taking 25 days and all our food and gear in 4 oar rigs. We outsourced to an outfitting company for our food, transport and one boat and Outward Bound (who most of us do or have worked for) kindly supplied the other boats. The trip was way more of an exploration than I think I expected with a lot of layover days to drink cofffee, play guitar and time to go for a wander around. The canyon itself was amazing, I would continually find that I had got sucked into staring at some impressive scenery to suddenly find that if I turned round that there was something as equally amazing all around. For me one of the beauties of the trip was that no-one knew more than 2 or 3 people and therefore the whole first 10 days just really felt like getting to know people. Also with it being winter there were no guided trips and we really only saw a couple of other people in the whole 25 days. Yes we took beer. Yes we it ran out near the end.
The good news is I managed to retrieve the deleted photos and most survived. The bad news is no videos. Anyway heres some more photos.
The gear piles up next to the snow in Flagstaff (with Eric in the photo)Unkar rapid (6) from above (the weather is about to change...)Yes we had a couple of cans of beerAnazasi granaries in the wall above the classic view of the river.Yes Ryan really is a big enough geek to play chess against himself. (2nd last layover day)Redwall cavernScouting lava falls, late in the (9)Jeff and Kai get the stove going after a late pull into camp (night 2 or 3)Jeff gets the right line almost perfect.. until the end. (Peirce ferry rapid) Kai tries to find a way around in a side canyon.You shouldn't really be able to do this. The raft that popped (day11?)Rowing into the evening light, lower river (below specter rapid)
The year has started incredibly. From an epic new year across scotland with Robin I then got back to my parents house to hastily pack and jump on a plane to New York. After the usual abuse of a scottish new year (both the consumption and for my accent) it was great to be in New York with Becca who quickly changed my diet (dont worry folks i wasnt quite converted to veganism(okay so thats only funny if you know the difference between the average scottish diet and beccas!)). It was great to see some of New York (in 4 days!) with my own personal tour guide though our attempts to do any hiking were soon twarted by the ice everywhere. Very quickly it was time to leave and fly on to phoenix arizona. I thought I was being met there by Ryan and Kelly but as it turned out Ryan was still miles away. This meant that Kelly and I were going to stay with "grandpa" (Ryans Grandpa) I quickly realised, after warnings from both kelly and Ryan (on the phone), that this was going to be an experience. Really staying at Grandpas was great, kelly had leftovers in her truck which we ate so that we could tell grandpa we had already eaten, Grandpa talked to kelly most of the time while I pretended to be interested in American football, he only smoked 12 cigarettes in the evening we were with him, kelly only had to use her inhaler a couple of times in his house, he only swore at the TV a few times (including telling Bill cosby to get back to Mexico), he took us out for breakfast and promptly out ate us both(with whipped cream on everything) and the next morning we headed back into Phoenix to see if they sold new lungs. And then it was off to Flagstaff to meet the crew for the Grand Canyon rafting trip.
Unfortunately at this stage my photos are very limited as I am computer illiterate and seem to have lost most photos at this stage but I will see what i can do......... watch this space, some more posts to follow.
The crew, from left. Kai, Jeff, Caitlin (me behind), Sabari (Sage and Eric in front), Levi, Ryan, James and Timbah. (taken at Redwall cavern day 4 or 5)
The rafts tied up at camp, 3rd morning.
Ryan and Kai chilling on a Layover day (day something? maybe 7)
So while I desperately search for all the photos and videos i think i've lost above should be the famous "where are the people, take a photo" video of some folks running Lava falls (one of the biggest rapids on the grand canyon) taking the wrong line and paying the price. This will have to do till I can find the video of Kai getting the line spot on (river right is the correct line, these guys run middle and end up in "ledge hole") enjoy.....
Chilling in the tent with meagan and steve (day 47 or 48) on mt hood. We spent a bit of tent time on hood due to a storm then from the sun.
Hot dogs in the snow at Mt hood trail head (timberline). The salad kept blowing away.
Meagan making fresh cinimon rolls on the Owyhee river.
Descending Mt hood toward the hogs back with the rope team strung out in front of me. (mt jefferson in the distance)
Rusty cooking in the snow kitchen, sisters wilderness.
Montgomery rapid (class 4) in the canyon section of the Owyhee (theres a raft in there somewhere)
Finally making it to the trail head in the sisters wilderness after slogging it out with my pack and a sled. (the sled was great except when i wanted to change direction!)
Tony sorting food in our mini snow kitchen in the sisters wilderness.
The camp at illumintation saddle (on the left) with the clouds rolling past.
Night 3 on the Owyhee sleeping in the cave.
Chilling - cup of tea in a natural hotsprings (around day 43) on the Owyhee (oh wa hee) river, eastern oregon
Kayaking Montgomery rapid (class 4) on the Owyhee at the start of the Green dragon canyon. (Thanks to Mike Mourar for the lend of the Kayak, allowing me a lot of fun while the rest rafted - also a lot of fun!)
A wee bit chilly - day 46 on Mt Hood as we try and dig platforms in for the tents in the middle of a storm.
Meagan steve and I with our tent behind at illumination saddle on Mt hood
Summit day - day 48, 7am and we are just above the Hogs back (well i am anyway - steve is still standing on it as the last person on the team) on the south face of Mt hood.
The put in for the River Earn (Comrie)
Paddling into the snow storm on the 2nd day
Ice in the pan, morning in the tent
Below the 1st portage (the weir up river swamped us)
An ancient monument - exploring a castle on the first day
Matthew pretending he isnt struggling! the final moves of the imaginately named "the arete"(E1) at the Hawkcraig
The Abseil into The Hawkcraig, Edinburgh
From left, Travis, Amber, me and Steve on prouty point in the sisters wilderness last summer
Rowing into the Lake Mead evening
Early morning sun across the Lake as we derig the boats
Some cold washing of boats (and people)
The Whitford house Inn in Vermont 
Becca trying to avoid the camera on an icy cycle ride in New York
The gear piles up next to the snow in Flagstaff (with Eric in the photo)
Unkar rapid (6) from above (the weather is about to change...)
Yes we had a couple of cans of beer
Anazasi granaries in the wall above the classic view of the river.
Yes Ryan really is a big enough geek to play chess against himself. (2nd last layover day)
Redwall cavern
Scouting lava falls, late in the (9)
Jeff and Kai get the stove going after a late pull into camp (night 2 or 3)
Jeff gets the right line almost perfect.. until the end. (Peirce ferry rapid)
Kai tries to find a way around in a side canyon.
You shouldn't really be able to do this. The raft that popped (day11?)
Rowing into the evening light, lower river (below specter rapid)
Jeff at warp speed in specter rapid (6)
The crew, from left. Kai, Jeff, Caitlin (me behind), Sabari (Sage and Eric in front), Levi, Ryan, James and Timbah. (taken at Redwall cavern day 4 or 5)
The rafts tied up at camp, 3rd morning.