Backpacking and whitewater rafting British Columbia and Yukon.

I'm afraid I squandered some of my time here in Haines this week and don't have much time to write this post, but I wanted to at least get something up before I head out again, which will be in an hour or so.  

So the course that I returned from on Sunday was backpacking/whitewater for 24 days.  Our group was 6 students and 2 instructors.  I knew one student, Chris Roots, from Sea Kayaking.  Myles (age 23) was from Massachusetts, Eli (age 18) was from Memphis Tennessee, Ron (age 40) was from Kansas City, taking the course to learn skills in preparation for leading hiking trips with his son and his friends with their kids.  Chris P (age 19?) was from Maryland.   We backpacked in British Columbia, about 90 miles north west of Haines, for the first 12 days.  The route that they usually do had too much snow and swollen rivers so we had to do a different, unexplored, area...which was also super snowy, but less so I guess.  Apparently, they had crazy, record snow levels this winter.  Anyways, about 90% of our hiking was on snow.  We made our way to a glacier valley with a deep river gorge and waterfalls.  It was some tough hiking...very little level ground, let alone trails.  

The second half of the course was whitewater rafting.  After hiking to the road at the end of the backpacking section, we got a ride from an IWLS driver up to Tatshenshini Expediting which is a rafting company in the Yukon.  After living with nothing but what we carry on our backs for 12 days, the rafting camp was a luxurious vacation spot to us.  The place was built from scrap wood, metal, logs, and salvaged school buses, but it had everything we needed.  We spent most of our time in the cook shack which had a roof, a woodstove for heat, and multiple coleman stoves and more dishes and utensils we could use...and a sink.  

Anyways, the first 3 days were swift water rescue where we learned about rope systems and methods for rescuing people, and ourselves, from rivers.  We also rafted the river every day, for good measure ;)  The next 4 days were guide training, where we rafted the river everyday, practicing guiding the rafts, sometimes with 5 paddlers, sometimes with only 2, or sometimes with only one other person in the boat.  I also spent a lot of time rowing the oar boat.  Next was a 3 day river trip where we learned what's involved in putting together a multi-day expedition.  Then finally, we went to a different river for the last 2 days and made two runs down some more extreme rapids.

My break in Haines has been great.  Weather is perfect...mid 60s or 70, sunny and clear and calm.  Been doing some reading about mountaineering, getting psyched up for my next 24 day course.  I have to go now actually...we are driving out shortly.  We'll be in the vacinity of Flower Mountain, which is 30-40 miles west of Haines.  We'll be learning about traveling and camping on snow and glaciers, crevasse rescue, ice climbing, and we'll be climbing some peaks.  I will be back on August 13th :)  Sorry this hasty post sucks...