Smith River, Montana - 2009!

We have just returned from our second annual float down the Smith River in Montana. I must admit that I was a little concerned that it would not be as fun this year as it was last year. You know how it is when you try something new for the first time and it is fantastic and then you try to repeat it but the next time around if falls flat...well, this was not like that. The Smith River was just as fantastic the second year as the first and a great time was had by all!

While the core of the group was the same--Tom and Devin, Ray and Jake, Doug, and Ozzie, we had some new faces this year and a slightly bigger group than last year. In the front row, starting with the guy sitting on the red raft, its: Ray, Jake, Ryan Palmer, Devin Palmer, Me. In the back, it's: Doug Bermingham, Ian, Tom Palmer, Mike Samuelson, Robert Samuelson, Danny.

We stopped at a different campsite each night and they were very basic sites--a firepit, clearings for tents, and then off in the distance, a latrine. The latrines tended to be away from the group and out-of-sight from the site but very exposed and just a toilet over a pit. They were pretty gross but the nice thing was that they were often in very picturesque locations. The photo above is the path to the latrine which is just around the corner to the right.
Here is the eagle that kept an eagle-eye on us while we ate one evening. We saw a couple eagles throughout the five days.
Ian, kayaking in our rented, inflatable kayak. They worked pretty well but since it was open and designed more like a canoe, you couldn't get any leverage from your feet or knees so you had to rely on upper body strength for everything. Plus it was a self-bailer so poor Mr. Barker was sitting in about an inch of water the entire time.

I used the smaller Dragonfly inflatable kayak which was designed much more like a standard kayak and nice and dry inside (until I nearly capsized it when I wasn't paying proper attention).

There are a lot worse ways one could spend 5 days...here I am lounging on the raft, re-reading my Sookie Stakehouse book, and soaking up the 80 degree, sunny weather.