Black River- Death Trip Resurection Trip- Saturday 7/12

Yesterday I was on the Black. It was a great day on the river- probably one of the best ever with customers (as opposed to a fun run, with other guides or my buddies). We had a group of like 20 guys who were on a bachelor party. The General Chris Cole set it up. The guy who was getting married was the son of one of the original 'Death Trippers', a bunch of guys who used to do pretty badass stuff like 25 years ago and go crazy big. The Death Trips are pretty legendary stories at ARO.

Anyway, it was a private trip so we went pretty big- we ran True Path at Knife's Edge and also surfed the shit out of the Cruncher. I believe every single guy on the trip swam at the Cruncher. Chip, one of the other guides, flipped his boat while surfing. Great Times! We drank a bunch of beer on the tow too. At Hole Brothers, the third rapid on the trip, we surfed a bunch and Larry Lafavre popped his boat on some churt (super sharp rocks that are all over the place on the river). So we ran over to another rafting company and borrowed a boat. I was jealous of him once he got the boat because it was a sweet little 14 foot sotar and the rest of use were in 16 foot boats.

When we got back to the shop, after the BBQ, me, Scary Larry Lafavre (another guide- he'll scare you but hopefully not hurt you), Mary (the front office girl in H2O) and Brandon (a trainee in H2O) paddled the boat we borrowed down to Hole Brothers and surfed around and drank a bunch of beer. The Death Trippers and the other guys from the bachelor party and the General were down there chilling. We also were surfing with a body board- pretty good times. Larry, The General and myself then proceeded to drink a bunch of beer at a couple of bars. We even got the bartender to mix up a bunch of 'Paddler's Punch'. Paddler's Punch is awesome stuff, basically pure alcohol that tastes like juice (Vodka, Peach Snapps, some other liquor, Orange Juice and a splash of Grenadine). We had a great time and I got a a sweet Death Trippers t-shirt out of it. Chaz would have enjoyed it, but I'm sure that Southeast Asia pretty rad too!