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Monday, September 10, 2007 "More than another press" Vol.4, Issue 4 |
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:Check out LINKS for the latest updates on regulated river access.Check out our newest quiz feature "River Otter's Mailbag" in OPINION & SATIRE Learn what others are saying and thinking in the latest endorsements of River Otter.See: NEWS for updates, photos, and the rest of the story.See: FEATURES for details that bare all, like the RMS's review.See: BOOK for details, and to order books directly from Anotter Press, click on Contact Us.The Annual
AORE Conference 2006 -- a great experience
AORE 2006 offered a wide range of high caliber
pre-conference training sessions and over 100 core conference
presentations. Educational sessions
includee technical water and mountain Maria had prepared for about 20 students in her session, and 90 showed up! What terrific information sharing session with outdoor recreation educators from all over the country and even Japan. For a summary of her session and those of other presenters, the Research and Publication Committee will soon publish the Proceedings of AORE 2006. Just go to the AORE website: http://www.aore.org River Otter Techniques Featured at SLRMC's Wellness Hour
To close out
the summer recreation wellness talks at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center
in Boise, Maria
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River Otter celebrates 3rd birthday! Web store becomes obsolete and closes on New Year's Day 2007Boise, ID – River Otter celebrated its three-year-old birthday in November, 2006. It is now available on hundreds of website stores, bookstores, and outdoor stores across the country. The credit card ordering system on this site is no longer necessary with all these fabulous supporters! However, if you can't find a local copy, you can still contact our office by phone, fax, or mail to purchase books using checks or cash. Just go to the "Contact Us!" pink raft on the left of your screen or click now: Contact Us.2007 Permits: Check "Links” for helpBoise, ID – Boaters from West to East Coasts will received their river trip permit news by March first. But don’t wait! Check the "Links" pink raft to your left to get all the info you need for submitting your application for a permit.For the lucky ones, the word is “successful!” However, for the majority of paddlers, permit results lead to anguished calls to friends. All too often the sad reply is “yep, I got skunked too.” You and your friends exchange condolences and expressions of “Bummer.”Don't be sad. Just go to “Links” in this website, then CALL your favorite river for a cancellation. It’s worth a try--and another and another…because people do cancel and you can be a winner, especially if you’re flexible on dates. Often the key is being ready to go with less than leisurely planning time.So, let The River Otter Handbook help you and your friends out be prepared to launch when you want and without stressing. The checklists and planning tips have assisted thousands of river trip participants. If you don’t have your copy, order now. Launch in style when the cancellations come your way.And, for you lucky permitholders: Congrats, and we’ll see you on the river!Summer Adventures Series By Maria EschenNostalgia for summer river adventures is based on the reality of many good times shared with family and friends—the result of good trip planning. The following series includes glimpses of some paddling fun in Costa Rica, along the Middle Fork-Main Salmon in Idaho, and at the new Reno Whitewater Park. When the frost covers the pumpkins, it’s memories like these that warm hearts and stir up plans for next year’s river trips. Part One: Great Adventures Lie in Costa Rica
This is my advice: have a Costa Rica Rios birthday party and
celebrate life! Don't hesitate. Go NOW! On my sixtieth
(yes, 6-0!!) Brett Shelton and the CRR staff pulled out all the stops.
Delicious Tico meals, homey accommodations, awesome, knowledgeable guides
and kind staff can make your next birthday the time of your life
(like Maria below, red helmet). We paddled the Pejibaye and Pacuare rivers using their up-to-date equipment and discovered the joys of kayaking and rafting in warm water with gorgeous jungle all around. They also took us "shredding" on little catarafts, canyoneering through the rain forest canopy on ziplines and rappelling down waterfalls. We hiked up volcanos (and some biked down) and explored Caribbean seacoast refuges, snorkling, beachwalking, and wildlife viewing galore. We also toured a serpentarium and saw the deadly and amazing creatures we hoped not to see in the jungle. Wandering ancient Guyabo ruins and abandoned roads of carved rock reminded us that people have loved and lived in Costa Rica for a very long time. For our two-week stay, special treats included birdwatching, studying (and tasting!) botanical delights at the CATIE botanical gardens, motor-boating mangrove swamps with crocodiles, howler monkeys, turtles, roseate spoonbills, and Jesus Christ lizards (they walk on water!). Over and over, we saw how interrelated and
interdependent tropical nature is, one species on another in a huge
elastic web of life—a lesson for homo sapiens. My husband
Barry and I have never felt more in love with each other and the wonders
of this precious planet. Part Two: Middle Fork Otters Go for Gourmet Cuisine August 2005 was hot and dry in Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. At Pool Camp on the Middle Fork of the Salmon a rattlesnake alert spurred our privy team to move the toilet three times. Even then, folks heard more singing and stomping than usual along the ol’ privy trail. Paddlers on a 14-day self-contained trip down the Middle Fork-Main Salmon are wise to be wary of rattlers. It’s a long way to help. On layover day Barry, Mike, and I hiked into Cache Creek. Rattler-sensitized and skittish, we carefully picked our way on the rocky trail and explored caves and old rock pile foundations with senses tingling. But, we saw only rabbits, grouse, lizards, big-horned sheep and miles of crystal clear water. A few days later, somewhere near Otter Bar, Mike Norell hailed me over
to join his red Pyranha near the shore. We two were "paddling sweep", and
the rest of group was ahead, so I hesitated. Yet this was the Mike of
"Mike’s Hole" on the Payette, so I eddied out. "Would you look at that!" he said. "Three otters are eating a rattlesnake!" On the rocky bank what looked like a river otter mom and her two kits
totally focused on ripping apart a five-foot rattlesnake. We edged closer,
nearer than I’ve ever been to any wild otter--right up to hear snarling,
bone crunching, and the clicking sharp teeth: sounds I’d never associated
with playful river otters. Mom stayed with the feast while the young
squirmed under her and wrapped themselves in their dinner, grabbing
mouthfuls and plunging back and forth in the river--the grand gourmets of
the Middle Fork!
I grabbed a few snapshots of Mike and the otters with a disposable, zoom-less camera I’d bought at the Flying B. The photos are proof that river otters are tougher than a lot of us when it comes to rattlers! Part Three: Playing’s Great at New Whitewater Park in Reno! The Reno Whitewater Park is the place to park and play. My son Christian and I explored the three upper drops at low water in early September and had a ball. I can only imagine what the Truckee is like in the spring! These beautifully engineered whitewater features gave my new Liquidlogic Trigger a workout. Christian surfed and spun his Pyranha, then added bogeyboarding and bodysurfing to his show for his proud grandparents on his grandma’s 85th birthday weekend. Wingfield Park is a fabulous addition to downtown Reno where people of all ages and inclinations can enjoy the beauty and fun of a river running through a city. Kudos to designer Gary Lacy and the kayaking community in Reno! Drops 1, 2, 3 below:
photos by Barry Eschen |
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discussed techniques of camp cooking, with a focus on Dutch ovens on
August 30. And yes, Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cake was in both Dutches!
Bridge over Rio Pacuare
Pura vida! That’s what they say in Costa
Rica. Yes—Pure Life! Visit their great website to see for yourself!
