(this post is written by Jarod)
So due to the shortage of cooking fuel, we lit a fire first thing in the morning so we could cook our oatmeal. We learned our lesson for buying cheap oatmeal this morning, because I swear no matter how long you boil it, it just doesn't get soft. This stuff was like oats for horses.... but we ate it anyway. We all packed up camp, got on our bikes and rode about 1 mile down the road to the hot springs! For many of us, this was our first hot spring experience. We parked, hiked about 1.5 miles and came to a large steaming pool of water. It was GREAT! They were so warm and the air was so chilly still.... it felt amazing! Tamera and I had our $3 rafts, so we were able to float in the springs which made them even more amazing! We all sat around, talked, took pics, etc. for an hour or 2 in the spring then decided it was time to make some progress towards our next destination. Well, because Tamera and I had our $3 rafts, and the river was flowing in the direction that we needed to hike, we thought it would be a good idea to float back to the bikes rather than hike. We sat in the FREEZING river, got on our rafts and away we went. I immediately flipped off my raft and just hooked it with my arm. I got tossed around and beat up for probably 200 yards down stream, off my raft the whole time. Tamera was able to do a whole lot better than I did. She just sat on her raft through all the rapids, almost making the float look relaxing, but was still unable to get to the right side due to the fast moving water. So now I'm standing on a rock in the middle of the river and she is on the wrong side of the river. I jumped back in and swam over to her but now we had no idea what to do. The rapids down stream were way to big to swim through and the river was too fast to swim across. We began to hike back up river probably 200 yards, freezing cold! Finally we came to the only possible spot to cross and sure enough, there was an old, wrinkly, butt naked man right where we needed to swim too. We couldn't believe it but we had to cross there so we jumped back in the river and swam on across. I thought once the man would see us, especially a girl, that he would maybe try and hide himself or be a little embraced, but nope, he just looked up, smiled, and remained naked, squatting in the river - washing or whatever he was doing. We hurried out and died laughing at the whole deal - but were scared because we thought everyone was going to be furious that we wasted so much time. Well it wasn't long until we saw Chad and Chaz. They weren't mad a bit. Turned out they were off exploring the forest. They found a hot spring waterfall where they showered and also found a snake that they were able to kill. So they were not mad at all, probably not ready to leave yet to tell you the truth. Turns out the other girls weren't too upset either, they were just waiting patiently at the bikes. So we grabbed our bikes and rode on. Eventually we came to a town called Powell where we ate lunch. We got Bologna and cheese spread which tasted great, but we think the cheese spread gave chad a bad stomach ache - but he toughed it up and rode on with an upset stomach. We immediately came to Lolo pass which was several miles long. Chad and I decided to ride the pass fast so that we could nap on the top while we wait on the rest of the group.We thought Chaz was coming with us but after riding a big I looked back and he was nowhere to be found, so I just figured he stayed with the girls. So Chad and I make it to the top, figured we would have about 20 minutes to sleep until the rest of the group catches us. We slept in the picnic shelter, got cold so we moved and slept in the grass, got hot and moved back in the shade and before we knew it almost an hour probably had past and nobody was at the top yet. We began to get worried but a couple told us they passed a group of girls almost to the top. Sure enough the girls got to the top but no Chaz. LOL. They told us that we took off, Chaz didn't realize we left because he was having chain issues, then tried to catch us and I guess he rode right on by the rest stop. We all had a good laugh, watered up and headed down the other side to find Chaz. We went down the hill, almost ten miles until we see Chaz along side the road. Sure enough that's exactly what happened. He said he didn't see us at the rest stop and kept riding. We rode on into the town of Lolo where we first ate some double burgers from McDonald's. We figured the only way to make a double cheeseburger from McDonald's more unhealthy but more Delicious was to add ranch dressing... so we did and it was amazing! We then went to the grocery store and met a guy named Steve who let us stay in his back yard!! Worked out great because the campground wanted 40 bucks for a night! So the three of us got a half gallon of ice cream apiece to celebrate a new state, met up with the girls who had eaten somewhere else and headed to Steve's back yard!
So due to the shortage of cooking fuel, we lit a fire first thing in the morning so we could cook our oatmeal. We learned our lesson for buying cheap oatmeal this morning, because I swear no matter how long you boil it, it just doesn't get soft. This stuff was like oats for horses.... but we ate it anyway. We all packed up camp, got on our bikes and rode about 1 mile down the road to the hot springs! For many of us, this was our first hot spring experience. We parked, hiked about 1.5 miles and came to a large steaming pool of water. It was GREAT! They were so warm and the air was so chilly still.... it felt amazing! Tamera and I had our $3 rafts, so we were able to float in the springs which made them even more amazing! We all sat around, talked, took pics, etc. for an hour or 2 in the spring then decided it was time to make some progress towards our next destination. Well, because Tamera and I had our $3 rafts, and the river was flowing in the direction that we needed to hike, we thought it would be a good idea to float back to the bikes rather than hike. We sat in the FREEZING river, got on our rafts and away we went. I immediately flipped off my raft and just hooked it with my arm. I got tossed around and beat up for probably 200 yards down stream, off my raft the whole time. Tamera was able to do a whole lot better than I did. She just sat on her raft through all the rapids, almost making the float look relaxing, but was still unable to get to the right side due to the fast moving water. So now I'm standing on a rock in the middle of the river and she is on the wrong side of the river. I jumped back in and swam over to her but now we had no idea what to do. The rapids down stream were way to big to swim through and the river was too fast to swim across. We began to hike back up river probably 200 yards, freezing cold! Finally we came to the only possible spot to cross and sure enough, there was an old, wrinkly, butt naked man right where we needed to swim too. We couldn't believe it but we had to cross there so we jumped back in the river and swam on across. I thought once the man would see us, especially a girl, that he would maybe try and hide himself or be a little embraced, but nope, he just looked up, smiled, and remained naked, squatting in the river - washing or whatever he was doing. We hurried out and died laughing at the whole deal - but were scared because we thought everyone was going to be furious that we wasted so much time. Well it wasn't long until we saw Chad and Chaz. They weren't mad a bit. Turned out they were off exploring the forest. They found a hot spring waterfall where they showered and also found a snake that they were able to kill. So they were not mad at all, probably not ready to leave yet to tell you the truth. Turns out the other girls weren't too upset either, they were just waiting patiently at the bikes. So we grabbed our bikes and rode on. Eventually we came to a town called Powell where we ate lunch. We got Bologna and cheese spread which tasted great, but we think the cheese spread gave chad a bad stomach ache - but he toughed it up and rode on with an upset stomach. We immediately came to Lolo pass which was several miles long. Chad and I decided to ride the pass fast so that we could nap on the top while we wait on the rest of the group.We thought Chaz was coming with us but after riding a big I looked back and he was nowhere to be found, so I just figured he stayed with the girls. So Chad and I make it to the top, figured we would have about 20 minutes to sleep until the rest of the group catches us. We slept in the picnic shelter, got cold so we moved and slept in the grass, got hot and moved back in the shade and before we knew it almost an hour probably had past and nobody was at the top yet. We began to get worried but a couple told us they passed a group of girls almost to the top. Sure enough the girls got to the top but no Chaz. LOL. They told us that we took off, Chaz didn't realize we left because he was having chain issues, then tried to catch us and I guess he rode right on by the rest stop. We all had a good laugh, watered up and headed down the other side to find Chaz. We went down the hill, almost ten miles until we see Chaz along side the road. Sure enough that's exactly what happened. He said he didn't see us at the rest stop and kept riding. We rode on into the town of Lolo where we first ate some double burgers from McDonald's. We figured the only way to make a double cheeseburger from McDonald's more unhealthy but more Delicious was to add ranch dressing... so we did and it was amazing! We then went to the grocery store and met a guy named Steve who let us stay in his back yard!! Worked out great because the campground wanted 40 bucks for a night! So the three of us got a half gallon of ice cream apiece to celebrate a new state, met up with the girls who had eaten somewhere else and headed to Steve's back yard!
No comments:
Post a Comment