River trips that make you who you are

Chaz and I were talking the other day, during our epic trip down the Black that there are a few River trips that make a person who they are, that you will remember for the rest of your life. I've got a few of those sort of trips and I wanted to share one with you today.

My first real whitewater trip was a trip down the Hudson River Gorge section with ARO. It was the Senior Class trip for my High School and I had just turned 18 a couple of months prior. I call this my first real whitewater trip because I had gone down the Sacandaga River a few times as a Cub Scout with the Old Forge Troop and of course, I'd done plenty of goofing off in the rapids and drops of the Moose River growing up. Anyway, it was June and the weather was just getting warm- it was a beautiful sunny day and I was in Gary's boat along with a few guys from my High School class (Gary is a principle owner of ARO, we call him 'the big guy'- if you know him you'll know why). We had a great time with Gary taking us down the river. He told a lot of jokes and shared a lot of information that I still use on the river to this day.

The sun was hot and the Hudson can be a very long trip in the low water days of June- I got sunburned on my hands pretty serious. We surfed at Bus Stop for a while, all piling on in the front of the raft and keeping the water flowing over the bow. For the last two miles we drifted out. At the end of the day, at the barbecue, Gary asked me about working (he knew that I was looking for a job guiding). I told him I was for sure up for it and started guiding Ducky trips on the Middle Moose the following week (this was about the time Chaz was starting at ARO also, in June 2001).

So I went home and told my mom that I knew what I wanted to do for a weekend/summer gig through college- I told her I was going to be a Whitewater Guide. She was a little nervous like mothers are even though she's been rafting in some pretty big stuff along with my dad (like Moose River at nearly 9 ft and Hudson in Spring) and she told me "Johnny, I want you to be very careful out there...you came into this world on a busted rubber and I don't want to see you leaving on one."

I hope to share a few more of the river trips that have made me who I am in the future.