Jackson Hole

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong. ~George Carlin

As much as I love camping it seems like this years camping and rafting trip up in Jackson Hole just didn't go as smooth as we all hoped. From the very beginning nothing seemed to go right. We got our first camp spot taken over by some guys from "Happy Valley" who thought they ruled the world so all of us had to cram in the trailer with Brandon's parents and grandparents. It was quite the tight fit. The following morning we moved to the camp ground where we were going to be staying the rest of the time. We got all set up and went to pump the raft and kayaks and realized we didn't have the caps to keep the air in the kayaks. So after a few hours and going store to store in Jackson Holes we finally found some. But by the time we got everything pumped up it was about 5 and starting to cool down. We decided to take a run down the river on the kayaks any way. The water was only about 40 degrees and it was only about 75 outside so after about 15 minutes I was freezing and couldn't hardly paddle, and the water was so high and fast it didn't help much. Cory and Andy got thrown out twice after the second time they couldn't catch their kayak and had to hike up to the road and walk to the end of the river and hope that someone got the kayak. Brandon and I got out before lunch counter because I was so cold and when I saw lunch counter I didn't want to go. Brandon's dad was there to take pictures of us all so he helped us back up the trail to the truck and we drove to the end. We noticed Cory and Andy on the side of the road so we picked them up. We got to the end just in time to see Lindsey in one kayak and Bob in the other. They were able to get the other kayak back. The rest of the day went good we got back to camp and had some amazing dutch oven chicken thanks to Kendelle! The next morning we all woke up and got ready to go ride the river again. This time around I didn't want to go on the kayak so I rode the raft with Brandon's parents his grandma and little sister Hailey. Everything was going good until we hit lunch counter. We hit a huge rapid and went almost straight in the air. I held on as tight as I could thinking we were going to flip backwards but another rapid hit us knocking us sideways and propelling me on top of Hailey. We held each other in a bear hug hoping we wouldn't fall in but with her foot up my butt and it still pretty rough there was no hope we went in. Well kind of you can see in the pictures I was hanging on by my ankle. My leg somehow went under the rack which has maybe an inch of space between it. We got out of the rapids and I realized I was stuck. I didn't know what to do I couldn't move an inch and was stuck half in the water and in pain. Brandon's dad realized I couldn't get out and got up to help me. My leg wouldn't budge and we had to force it out. When we got Hailey and I back in the boat my ankle was dented and bruised already. When I look at the pictures I see how lucky I am that some how I didn't break a bone. When Brandon saw us go in he paniced and told Bob that they needed to find a way back up there to help us out when really it was impossible for them to make it back up. But we got back in and everything was fine from there on out. And as for me I was done going down the river for this year! Even though it seemed like everything went wrong, all in all we really did have a good time, it was fun being able to all camp out in the trailer together and just be with friends and family and all the dogs in the good old out doors. We all can't wait to do it again next year!