Believe it or not, there will be some real planning at this meeting, including the serious tasks of choosing what section of the Current River we're going to float and picking our campsites. And you will all be a part of it. It's true those things usually happen magically on their own and there are some drawbacks to revealing how the process works. You don't take the frog apart to see what makes him croak.
But on almost every previous trip we had already paddled the section of river we were going on and we knew exactly where the best campsites were. The only exception, besides the Chicago River which was a day trip, was the Green River in 2007 and that was a white-knuckler. You may recall the river was high and there were zero places to pull over, much less camp. Lunch was on a tiny spit of gravel in the middle of the river.
When we finally found what looked like a decent place to camp, it was earlier than we wanted to stop but we were wise to take it. The next morning we didn't pass a single gravel bar before the take-out.
Since we don't know where any of the campsites are on this trip, we're going to all share the risk of paddling for miles in the dark or passing the last good gravel bar and sleeping on an uncomfortable rock ledge.
Actually, we have been on the Current before. Many times. But it was a long, long time ago and we weren't scouting campsites for a bunch of middle aged men.
Two Future RRCC Members on the
Lower Current River - Summer 1978
We also weren't drinking beer, which is the real key to river planning and is something the Coop has plenty of. So see you next Thursday if you can make it. We'll also try to get a first rough head-count and talk about travel plans.
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