Funeral Range

We awoke to the wind howling around the camp, knocking over one of the kitchen tarps. Sam was up and got it sorted. No other tents took off mainly because people were still asleep...

Breakfast was pancakes and bits of sausage and coffee, delicious!

As we packed up it started to cloud over. We left at about 11:00 and it started to rain soon after.  For the first time I was in the stern, and Sam quite enjoyed the bow! We soon realized that we should have put our rain trousers on as we both got rather wet. Anyway we stopped soon enough at rocks that looked like a stack of books and called Library Rock and put them on.

We paddled through the rest of Third Canyon, magnificent shale cliffs soaring above us. At one time we went left of where Luke went and got bit of a shock when we encountered a large rock in the river but managed to scoot around it. It continued to rain with the wind blowing into our faces so we kept paddling. Then on to Second Canyon. At one moment Luke asked us if we wanted some excitement. We of course said sure so he led us through some rapids. Sam and I hit one wave which was much bigger than expected and Sam got a face full. Apparently it was quite spectacular sight from the side!

We paddled on in the wind and rain and in to the Second Canyon. Again magnificent cliffs, this time limestone. This canyon goes through the Funeral Mountains, well-named because in the rain and cloud they were pretty miserable looking, in fact we saw a bit of snow on the peaks.

Luke made a decision that we would stop for lunch and camp. Good decision. The first spot he suggested did not work out, not a lot of open space. The second spot, at the top of Deadman’s Valley, was great and we set to. Lunch was welcome hot soup and tuna salad.

The afternoon cleared up and we pottered around the camp. Sam and I found bits of wood and carved little wooden paddles for the Paddle Hut tomorrow.

Dinner was Mexican. We started off with a cup of tequila and then had chicken enchilada pie. Delicious! 

After dinner we heated up a bit of wire and burnt our initials into the paddles. Everyone had their own style but enjoyed the participation.

The evening continued cool and a bit drizzly and it was good to get to bed.