Last trip of the year for John- Black 7/26

We had a good trip on Saturday. I had a group of people from the Syracuse "Miata Club"- a bunch of people who drive Mazda Miatas. The water was big, about 5,900 CFS and we all had a real good time. We ran right, right, right at Knifes Edge, had about 2,100 CFs in the Gorge and ran Three Rocks and surfed the Cruncher. I was in one of our bigger rafts, a Maravia with real big tubes and my surf was just in and out real quick after a couple of swimmers. Erika, who was also in Maravia, had a similar surf, but for the people in the smaller NRS boats had real good, violent crunches. The people who had been there in the past were like 'let's surf, we did it last year, etc.' They didn't realize that the river was significantly bigger than the last time they went rafting with us. So we paddled 'em up into the hole and I don't think some of those people were prepared for the crunch.

We got the tsunami beyond Rocket Ride. That's when they release the rest of the flow from above the dam in two man made water falls just below Rocket Ride, so we were back up to around 6,000 CFS. The waves were real big in Square Rock and Shave and a Haircut. It was my last rafting trip for the year as I have to go away for a few months and al in all, it was a great day on the river.

I had to shoot back to Old Forge after the trip because it was my younger brother Dave's 21st birthday. So I said my goodbyes to all the guides and hit the road. I went to my brother Olin's house and had a sausage, peppers and onions sandwich and started drinking beer. We walked to Slickers, a good joint in Old Forge at around 9:30 and started it off right with a round of shots of Crown Royal. We drank a bunch of beer and both my folks ended up meeting us at the bar. So it was the whole family out partying. My dad bought a bunch of shots of Yagermeister for us. I also tried a Harvey Wallbanger for the first time- very similar to paddler's punch. Tasty! At the end of the night, we ended up going to Tote's and my little brother threw up a couple of times. I think he threw up on my sister Cae and Olin. My Dad jammed out on the harmonica with the band who was playing. Me and Heather left at around 2:30 ish and everyone else was still out. I threw up when I got to Heather's folks house. Good Times!