Sneakin' in the whitewater between receptions

So, after Mandee & Jordan's wedding, almost everybody came up to Washington for the open house. My work partner, Travis (center back with sunglasses) called me up and said, "Mike, you and the kids ready to take on the Icicle river?" Just the week before, it had been running at about 6,000 cubic feet ~ today it was almost 12.

"Travis," says I, "if I ask my wife if I can take everybody and skip most of the day Friday, the day before the open house, she just might kill me!" "Mike," says he, "the answer is ALWAYS no to the question you don't have the nerve to ask."

Made sense, so I asked, and here we are.

Spencer and I went with Travis the week before, and at 6,000 feet, it seemed fairly tame. I'm here to tell you, at 11,000 feet, we had ourselves a ride.



The only problem was that, as crew photographer, I could get shots of what we were heading into, but well before we got into it, I was obligated to paddle for my life. The other problem was that, from my position on the boat, I shot a lot of really good backs-of-heads.




At one point, Travis invited Spencer to go sit up front on the bow, holding the guy rope between his legs and ride the run like a bucking bronco. He started off bravely enough, but ended up like a wet poodle in the bottom of the boat.


Still, the best part of the day was a stretch called Drunkard's Drop. That's where Dana became the poster child for "Proper Safety when Washed Out of the Boat."

Now, look at the picture up top again. Jordan took that from the front left corner. On the left side, from front to back, we had Jordan, Mandee, Dana & Spencer. On the right, front to back we had Jon, Amelia, Mike and Travis. (Dana's husband Brian was unable to make the trip due to work ~ bummer!)


As we headed into Drunkard's Drop, the boat was angled slightly from right front to left rear. We came up over a tremendous swell and nosed down into a trough. The same trough a week ago had been about 4 feet deep. Today it was at least 6 and it seemed like 12. At the bottom, we were looking up at raging wall of whitewater that was at least 4 feet over our heads. For the first time in my life, I wondered if I had gotten myself into something that I couldn't get out of.


The water broke over the front right of the boat and washed across diagonally. I was swept off the side of the boat into the middle and bumped into Dana's leg. Quickly I grabbed for her, but she was already gone. I had pushed my baby princess overboard!


As we came out of the torrent, I spotted her behind and to the right, feet together in front of her as she "sat" in the river like an easy chair, both hands clutching her paddle, just the way Travis had told her to. I was so proud of my little castaway!


We had also lost Jordan from the left side of the boat. Spencer was still huddled in the bottom front of the boat. Somehow, Mandee was still steadfast in her position, the only one remaining on the left side. We asked her how she managed to stay aboard and she said, "As I saw this wall of water coming up at us, I realized that Jon would never let Amelia get washed overboard, so when the wave broke over us, I just held on to Amelia for dear life!"