Bears Ears proves herself

Bears Ears goes to a new owner tomorrow, but the sale was contingent on me getting to take her out for a couple runs. I just finished the second trip and I kind of fell in love with her. *sigh* I mean... I mean... She's such a pretty thing to start with, but she handles really well and carries a heavy load with ease. Which is really nice because that's what I designed her to do. And so nice to work out of. I may have to build a sister ship.

Just to see if I could, I accepted the challenge of carrying all 120 bottles of wine in my right side hatch. A few bottles tucked in under the boatman's footwell. Then the hatch is filled and the shelves piled high.

Then a layer of cardboard and the remaining bottles nested in on their sides.

It threw the balance off for a while but after a few evenings of aggressive wine drinking she leveled out. And yes, we drank it all.

Here is a sad shot of Vasey's Paradise--a normally gushing waterfall along the shore. This year it is down to a mere dribble--far lower than I have ever seen it. We need water. We need snowpack.

I think the twins will win the gold at the Olympic 2-woman crocodile paddling race.

I ran into my barber at Stone Creek Falls in the middle of the night. Tequila, flashlight, and kitchen shears make for a fine hair salon.

I think we interrupted the girls' lunch party.

Such a beautiful place.

Passenger Michael Reidy was able to get some marvelous shots of Bears Ears and myself in Lava Falls. Woohoo!

Boats and boating

Well, the snotworks ChillyBin 276s are all finished and heading downriver on various AzRA trips. The long and short of it, I'm afraid, is that there is a bit too much labor involved to make them a competitive product. But they sure are nice to use.

Janek's leatherwork gets better every time we do a set of oars.

I finally jumped in the car and fled the boatshop. I took Bears Ears up to Lee's Ferry for a little solo run upstream, mostly to test out the transom height for motoring. I guessed right. It works fine.

Moonrise over Badger Creek Rapid during a break from our Wilderness First Responder training.

Then it was up to the San Juan River to explore the stretch from Four Corners down toward the better known reach. It was an odd assortment of craft.

I brought little Bernie.

The trading post is closed.

The views are peculiar in the moonscape of the Morrison Formation.

The Navajos were burning fires all over the place. Lyle thought they might be getting ready to brand.

We found where tires go to die.

There was rock art. Old.

And new.

And I think I found the Rosetta Stone, which deciphers what all rock art really means:

Sunset near Aneth.

This guy didn't want to get branded.

Back in the shop friend Kelly signed up to do a one-gal class, building a McKenzie dory.

By night two we had it formed and the gunwales and chines steamed and bent. That evening Connie brought Running Bare in for new rubber chines. It's a Rapid Robert style boat we built a couple years back. Connie says she had it out on Lake Powell a while back in bad wind and big water. All her friends in big boats were taking on water, but Running Bare took it beautifully and stayed totally dry.

Connie headed out the next morning all re-chined, and we jumped back into Kelly's boat.

Night three: bottom on.

And we take a music break. The Good Time Travelers showed up to do a house concert. Holy crap, those guys are amazing. They'll be back in September for Pickin in the Pines--be sure to check them out.

After hours sometimes gets the best of us.

We took a say off from Kelly's boat to put gunwales on the two new AzRA aluminum dories. It sure spiffs up the hull. I am looking forward to seeing them on the water.

Day five on Kelly's boat. Gunwales on, floorboards made, seats built, hatches getting framed up.

Starting to feel a bit crinkly.

Day six: hatches finished. What a sexy little boat. I think it's going to be named for the old Shoshone name for the Green River: Seedskedee.

My daffodils have been going off in full riot the last week or two. I can't tell y'all how happy they make me.