Tomorrow morning I will head out of Western North Carolina with my good friend Becca and we will head out west to hit some Idaho paddling as well as Oregon paddling. This is not my first road trip out west for kayaking but it is my first trip that will include an over-nighter and that, has my wheels turning on what to pack and how to pack. Thankfully, there are some great posts out there on the internet and some friends that have done this before that I am able to ask a million questions to.
Here is a tentative timeline of our trip: leave tomorrow a.m., hit the jackson warehouse for some brand new shiny pink boats for myself and carry across the midwest. Night two will probably consist of stopping in Denver and then hopefully we carry through to Yellow Pine Idaho where we will hit our first kayak destination; South Fork of the Salmon. This is where we will paddle 52 miles of what I am told is an Idaho classic. This will be accomplished in a self-support, 3 day paddle.
Onward to Oregon for some boating with friends, back to Idaho to have a reunion with everyone I met years ago out there kayak instructing, Becca will split up and head to the Selway while I terrorize her car (which by the way will be an adventure in itself for me because it is a manual and I can’t say I am confident in my skills driving a manual), and then we will stop off to act like normal tourists in Yellowstone. This is one that has been on my bucket list and I was upset with myself that I didn’t visit when I was in Idaho before.
Wish us luck, one way or another, we are in for some adventure. Stay tuned for pics and trip reports. At the end of it all, I plan to put together a video. Yeah that’s right, another whitewater kayak video.
