It is tough where to begin, what to say. So much has happened during the last thirteen years that I am at a loss as to how to start this blog. Since the spring of 1996 I have been taking trips downt he Bigfork with family and friends on Memorial Weekend and making some of the greatest memories of my life. The reason I say (I) is because I am the only person to make the trip every year, wheather it was only two of us or fourteen of us.
We are a week away from the thirteenth trip and the anticipation meter is running high. My sister and I have been discussing the trip since Christmas, which is pretty normals ever since her first trip back in 1999. There are only six of us going this year, my woman and I, The General and Duckie, and The Mule and her old man. The Mule and her old man will be making history this year as they will be the first married couple to go on the trip. They have gone on the trip together before, but they just got married at the begining of the month so congrats to them.
Ever since Grandpa went on the trip back in 2003 we have been trying to get every possible combination of relationship to take the journey down the Bigfork. We have had an aunt, uncle, brother, sister, girlfriend, boyfriend, fiance, father, son, daughter, grandfather, and bestfriends, I believe that is all of them. We have yet to have a grandmother or married couple, up until this year. Opps, I forgot one, cousin.
I have been monitory the river's leve since ice-out this year and from comparisons from past year's levels this years is looking to be about average flow. Today I checked the level on the Bigfork bridge today and the gage read six and a half feet. It shouldn't drop too much before the launch at 9:00 AM Friday morning.
As with most years we will be taking off in the town of Bigfork this year. We will travel approximatley fifteen miles on Friday haveing to shoot the Rice Rapids and the Highway One Rapids. Both sets only rank as class one rapids we requires a basic knowlege of canoeing skills. Even still, both sets of rapids have claimed some victims to where they either swamped their canoe or tipped it over an lost some of their gear. We will camp about a mile away from the Highway One Rapids at the Busti Camp Site.
On Saturday we will have a shorter strech of river to cover, only seven miles, however, we will have to shoot the first part of the last set of rapids we will go through on the trip. The last set of rapids that we shoot are the Muldoon's, which are ranked at a class two level. They stretch for over a half mile, however, that half mile is broken up a little with short calmer center. Nevertheless, there is still quite a few obsticles to dodge within the calmer center of the Muldoon Rapids. Like I said, on Saturday we will have to go through the first part of the Muldoons to reach the landing for the campsite. The Muldoon Camp Site is one of the pretties in all of Minnesota. It sits atop a huge as hill, which by the way is a bitch to get all the gear up to, but the view is absolutley worth the pain. It overlooks a section of the rapids with some white water and some tiny islands. The best part though is that the deep valley creats a gentle thundours hum that hangs thickly in the air.
As you haver probably guessed, the Muldoons have claimed the most people as far as dumps and losses of items. As this is the start of the blog, these stories will come in due time.
Well, it is time for me to go, until next time...I remain Crazy Joe
