Off to Deso

[Alex]

See you guys on Tuesday!

Woohoo!

[shaneras]

Have a good time Alex, you should have a great flow...wish I was going too

[Alex]

Had the best time of my life on this trip. AWESOME weather, people and white water, couldn't ask for more!

The flow started at 20,000 and by the end of our trip came up to 21,900 cfs. The temps were in the mid to high 80s, the water was too cold for long swims, but warm enough to cool off from the sun.

The camp sites are just too awesome on the Deso canyon, sandy beaches for the kids, tree cover for adults and the awesome mountains for everyone to adore!

We took 4 rafts, 15 people total. Two families with small kids and the rest folks 20-37 years old. Great crowd. We had some good eating too (teryaki chicken, salmon burgers and sirloin burgers).

Not too much of wild life, saw some sheep, lizards, frogs, craw fish.

We didn't run into any problems or incidents, even though we hit every possible hole we could find. We went Right on Steer Ridge, we hit left on Wire Fence and nailed the Thunderous Hole in Steer Ridge (probably biggest hole/rapid on Deso).


....I wish I was in my sleeping bag tonight and the sound of waves in the background.....smell of camp fire in my tent and unlimited supply of beer in the cooler.....damn... got to go to work tomorrow

PS: The pics were brought to you by redbonez (Adam Ford) and his camera that costs more than my whole raft!

[Sombeech]

Awesome shots, adam.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Wish I could have gone with you, but just started my summer job.

[shaneras]

Alex,

Glad you all had a great trip, no place on earth quite like Desolation Canyon...

[Alex]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=2IdrIzVsNrs[/youtube]

[Brewhaha]

Those are great action shots. Much like your Dolores River shots. How are you taking them? I assume you are on shore which would take alot of planning and forethought.

[Alex]

Yup, we usually have two cameras going. Some I take with my waterproof camera either holding it by hand or on my helmet. Most videos were taken that way. The still images are by Adam (redbonez), he uses his DSLR camera. Either he takes it from my boat or from the shore. Since we had multiple boats in our group, he'd hitch a ride on the last one and take all the action photos of the first boats through.

We got it down to a science now, Somebeech is on our little team as well with his clamp setup that we should try soon.

[redbonez]

Thank you, I do my best to get some good shots.

Yes, for most of the good action shots I am on the shore, though I spend a lot of time with it out on the boat as well just in-case a good shot comes my way. Usually I find a good rock or outcropping that will put me out into the river some and I usually will lay down to get at river level in order to capture the size and intensity of the waves. The camera lens makes a huge difference as well, it is a Canon 2.8L series zoom lens, which helps me capture the detail of every little water drop.