Best Layover Day Ever!

Monday, December 9th, 2013
This morning was clear and a little below freezing. Zack seemed to be over his illness. Last night there had been talk around the campfire about building a hot tub in the sand. Annie told everyone that I've been known to decline sitting in hot tubs in the past since I've claimed that if I wanted to sit in filth I could just sit in my own septic tank at home. I was skeptical that they'd get the water hot enough anyway.

However, quite a few of the group set to work and dug a pit in the sand, lined it with a tarp and started heating rocks on the fire and boiling water with the propane heaters.

Zack's (or Zink's) Bar opened about 9:30 or 10 am, serving Bloody Caesars in our insulated mugs to keep us all lubricated, but unfortunately we ran out of ingredients after 2 each. Beer would have to keep us going. For some reason, Matt decided that his coconut bra was suitable apparel for hot tubbing.

We discovered that we have lots of propane left so we can use as much as we need. The builders worked hard to fill the tub with hot water.

 At first, the plan was to soap and rinse in the river before getting in the tub, since no-one has showered in almost 3 weeks. However, the river water is so cold, I think that plan eventually died. Zack, in the picture, did quite a dance hopping out of the cold water.

Eventually, the builders hit the tub and seemed pretty satisfied with the result. It took constant heating of water and rocks to keep it warm.

 Annie thought a sweat lodge was a good idea so that got built with a tarp over 4 paddles in the sand. Lots of steam was created by placing hot rocks in the middle of the enclosure and pouring water on them. The ladies tried it first. The gentlemen outside had a lot of raised eyebrows listening to all the moaning in there. We tried not to speculate on what was going on.

We made a rule that everyone had to have a sandwich for lunch before Zack's bar served them a whiskey sour. That kept everyone going but I don't think it sobered anyone up.

Eventually, I had to try the sweat lodge, which worked really well. After a quick dip in the cold river, I jumped in the hot tub. I had to admit that I had been wrong - it was a complete success and felt great, even though the water was really silty and foul looking. 

 At some point, the Idaho group arrived. They had camped upriver somewhere and were on their way downriver when they happened upon our party. They joined us for a couple of hours in the sweatlodge and sauna.

The sun disappeared behind the cliffs at about 2:30 pm so I decided to hike (stumble) up the side canyon until I found the ancient agave roasting pit that I'd read was there. It was really only a big ring of stones but it again felt humbling to walk where, centuries ago, the natives had eked out a living for so long.

 The view from above the roasting pit down toward our camp in the distance.

Back at camp, Andy was keeping an eye on things. We'd found an old ripped basketball somewhere on the river that made a good hat. Happy man.
Finally, our crew somehow got supper together, although the memories are vague. But everyone got fed and I think for most of us it was a fairly early night.
Best layover day ever!