Cody Redmon - Photoblog

I made it back from my rafting trip late last evening and slept as hard as I can remember. We had a wonderful time and couldn’t have asked for better weather. It snowed on us driving up to the Smith River, so we were prepared to be cold and wet the whole time, but the first morning broke wide open and we hit the most amazing pocket of warm days. Yesterday, our last day, we did 21 miles and it was a bit gray at times, but still warm. My friend, Max, invited me to go along with he and a bunch of his co-workers and consultants from Oasis; what a great group of folks. I knew only two other rafters from the group prior, but ended up making some new friends and really had a blast the whole time. There was never a period of time longer than a few minutes when the group wasn’t laughing at some comment or antic, unless we were sleeping…and even then sometimes a tent would roar out in the darkness. The first night I laid in my tent for two or three hours, just listening and laughing quietly at those still huddled together talking. A guitar made it along and several of the guys were rather proficient musicians - it’s funny what just a little tune can add to an evening around a fire. These two images are from Camp Baker, the launch point for the trip. The top image shows the campground on the first morning…a bit chilly, but things were warming up nicely. The second image shows the actual put in while most people were still gathering their gear for stowing.