Since going through security in Boise airport a year ago, after spending three weeks discovering Idaho, its rivers and beautiful landscapes, the idea of going back to America hadn’t left me. I had been very lucky with my first trip. After a couple of messages on Workaway.info, the coolest family I had ever met, Andie, Kris, Luke and Aksel, welcomed me so warmly and gave me an amazing tour of the area. Back in Ireland, I struggled not to talk about Idaho everyday. With a couple of photos and videos, I managed to convince Podge, Rob and Dan to go on a paddling trip there.
Apart from booking flights and sorting our ESTA visas, it is safe to say that we only started planning our trip twelve hrs before departure. After a few stressful hours, we confirmed our rental cars at two in the morning, the day of our flight. A few boats on the conveyor belt and pints later, we were boarding! And after eight hours looking through the window, watching Greenland from the sky and negotiating with the flights attendants for more snacks, we arrived in the Land of Liberty!
We immersed ourselves in the American culture with a few Coors Lights in downtown Seattle before heading to Home Depot the next morning. Essential to any kayaking trip, the dream team had to sort out roof racks. Two by four planks and a few U-bolts were enough to tie four boats on the roof; off we went to White Salmon. Camping in BZ Corner, we enjoyed a few laps on the Main White Salmon, Farmlands and the Truss, Rob’s new favorite river. More relaxing activities in the area included hiking to Spirits Falls, duck-taping Rob to a tree and cooking the cheapest and tastiest dinners; our chef Dan treated us with his delicious mash potatoes and ramen dish.
After a few days enjoying the local clean drops, ledges and creeky rapids, we were ready to hit Idaho and its big volume rivers! A short stop in Riggins to paddle the Main Salmon, and we quickly arrived and set camp at Otter’s Slide, on the banks of North Fork of the Payette. We warmed up on the Staircase and Canyon sections of the South Fork before challenging ourselves on the Lower Five of the North Fork. Only two days before the North Fork World Championships, we started to lap S-turn on the Upper Five.
NFC was an absolute blast. Racing on such a difficult but fun section of whitewater was incredibly exciting. We definitely learned a lot of from this experience, and we’re already thinking of racing again next year. The first night of the event held the Whitewater Awards in downtown Boise. After an eventful night, we returned to the wilderness for some more kayaking and drinking. As Dan was perfecting his tan, we watched the finales at the top of Golf Course, before heading for more shenanigans in the Dirty Shame.
After what seemed like the longest morning ever packing our tents and loading the car, we took the road to Bend, Oregon. Stopping at a café, by the side of a sixty mile long straight road, in the middle of the desert, was probably our most american experience. Podge’s new crush treated us with the local Cowboy Breakfast, badly needed and definitely well deserved. It turned out the eggs probably came from a toxic waste area, labeled as an « experimental area » …
We paddled our last river of the trip, the Deschutes river, with the rest of the Irish crew before returning to Seattle. The team decided to treat themselves with a hotel room to take the second shower of the trip, so not to be rejected from the plane home.
This trip was overall a big success, with only a few swims and several laps on the rivers of our dreams. We all came back in one piece, with plenty of wild landscapes and spicy rivers in mind, and only one broken heart… to next year!
