Finally back into Ernie's

 It had been almost 9 months since I was last in Ernie's Canyon. I had almost forgot what I was missing. Ben made the call and I rallied out. I was a little hesitant as I would be boating my old, partially destroyed Burn.

                                           Popping up for some air in some quality boogie.


I spent all day Thursday, Thanksgiving,  practicing my plastic welding on an old boat and got to a point where I was confident welding up my newest broken Burn. 

                                           Trial and error at its best.

 Will she hold?

                                                               She will.

                                           Final "bat" test on my best weld: Success!

                                                            Now all I need is some water.

Luckily Ernie's had it and felt like sharing.  I met up with Ben, Andrew, Lane and of course: Rob Himself. I got to the takeout and had a full half hour to psych myself out of getting on the river. Level on the stick was around 6.60 and I couldn't remember what kind of a pucker factor that translated to.

Boofing the Hell out of Raft Catch.

                                                         
But within minutes of being on the river, I was glad I put on.

Boof Or Consequence, for real son!

                                                           After I came out of the bottom hole in double hole, whatever you want to call it, I just started paddling through to the next eddy. Maybe because the closest was full, maybe because I'm an idiot. I don't know if my mind was just in a daze or I just wasn't paying attention, but by the time I realized I was paddling into a strainer I was past the point of no return. All I could do was yell "Wood!" and boof. Luckily it worked out.

                                                                           Boof Left

                                                     Outflow of the current hydro plant on Ernie's.

Good times where had and I was able to snag a little video... Good day on the river. Good people to share it with. And $1.50 tacos at the takeout. Can't complain one bit.