Camp #3--Horse Canyon

EASTER SUNDAY

This day we leisurely paddled 13 miles before setting up camp at mile 16 on the tip of a sandbar just before Horse Canyon at 5 pm. We averaged a little over 3 mph much of today without paddling very much. Mostly we drifted and snacked and birded and oohed and ahhed over the sights. Saw a northern harrier and quite a few cinnamon teal, always the spotted towhee, Canada geese, ravens, and the descending song of the canyon wren.

This one looked like a giant squirrel to me

Wearing my lizard earrings, one of which I lost at this campsite

Each time we camp, we vow that this site is the most perfect. This one really was. There was a driftwood board on the beach and we set it up with the canoe seats and set one on the little red cooler, too. Peter made a great fire quite a distance from the kitchen, and we found a perfect secluded ledge for Groover. Driftwood was plentiful and so were nice sandy places to pitch our tents. The views both up and down the river were truly awesome. Life was good.

Before dinner we watched several birds pecking along the end of the sandbar. One was a killdeer; another looked very robin-like. We never did positively id it, but the bird it looks most like in the field guide is a water pipit. Our books say, however, that water pipits travel in flocks, and this bird was solitary. Of course the spotted towhee called too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the “mewing” we heard came from green-tailed towhees, also. Mama Mal-lard said not a word but swam placidly at the stern of the T-cat.

I pulled the left side of my back out yesterday and cannot bend over without pain. Thus, Jess carried my dry bag back into a little willow clearing out of sight and about 75 feet from the others, and I very slowly set my tent up there, kneeling and crawling rather than bending whenever possible. Jess also helped me set up a wash station back there, and I really bathed for the first time in three days. Jess used the wash station that evening, too. I was too high above the river to easily pee in it at night, so I decided to pee into a container in the tent and empty the container into the river in the morning. This made life much easier, so I continued this practice for the remainder of the trip.

Supper this evening was supposed to be ham and pineapple for Easter, but Kim was tired and wanted to simplify, so made a one-dish curried tofu. Quite yummy. We joked that to celebrate Easter we would have to pick the jelly beans out of a crazy trail mix I brought with me. In addition to the usual ingredients, it contained jelly beans and wasabi peas. Before supper we had hor d’ oeuvres of crackers and cheese, olives, and red pepper and some red wine. We ate our supper sitting in our comfy chairs around the fire.

Shortly after supper and wash up, I went to bed (about 9 pm). I had the best night’s sleep since putting into the river. Peter decided not to set up his tent. He slept on the beach in his sleeping bag and under piles of his clothes. He cannot get  his shoulders into his bag, so piles on his coat etc.