Jackson Hole Summer Travel & River Trip Blog

 

As a West Coast kid who grew up pearl jam grunge in Seattle with jeans and flannel shirts lining the drawers, I chuckled as I read the New York Times article entitled “Dress for Success, Again,” which profiled these young 20-somethings who are ramping up the office dress code: “Today the well-off 55-year-old is likely to be the worst-dressed man in the room, wearing a saggy T-shirt and jeans. The cash-poor 25-year-old is in a natty sport coat and skinny tie bought at Topman for a song. Young men are embracing the “Mad Men” elements of style in a way that the older men never did, still don’t and just won’t.”

 

The article went on and on describing the younger generation that wants to revitalize fashion and bring back the suit and tie. Poor saps, I thought.  Thank goodness Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where everybody walks around in fleece and gore-tex, doesn’t hold true to the hoity-toity urban style.  Thank goodness we work in a place where the ski-bums can sit right next to the millionaires at the Brew Pub and you would never know who is who.  Anybody in a suit in this town immediately elicits the response, “Well, what’s with him?” 

 

Multiply that by a power of 100 at our Dave Hansen Whitewater office where we’re thrilled when guides show up with clothes that don’t smell like wet dog.  Standard uniform includes chacos, DH hat, board shorts, and a shirt that you bet your lifevest was sniffed that morning before deemed wearable.  About the most GQ we get around here is when our fashionable van driver matches his visor with his t-shirt, which guaranteed, gets an ooooh and ahhhh from the office staff. 

 

This suits my husband and I just fine.  I mean heck, Bud has such an aversion to formality that when he was in furniture sales, he would visit with major buyers wearing his suit and green Tevas on his feet.  No Gucci kicks for this kid. I remember one day when I was a teacher, I was so tired of wearing professional clothes, that when I played volleyball with the staff before school one morning, I pretended I forgot my dress clothes at home.  “Shucks, I’ll have to wear my sweats and tenneys to class today. Hehe”

 

So I read all this New York Times hoopla with smug indifference.  I was haughty, in fact, sighing in superiority as I gazed over at my husband and caught my breath. Not because he’s a 35 year-old hunk who benched 225 yesterday—but because he had on his Target river shorts and white crew socks…. Which suddenly reminded me: Wait, didn’t all those young 20-somethings smirk at his get-ups? Didn’t the office crew chortle when Bud would walk in with yet another mis-matched shirt and short combo? In fact, their regard for Bud’s style of riverguide clothes was so bad that they all pitched in for an end of the season present: new, stylish board shorts. Even a remote outdoor playground has its dress code standards.  The younger generation has spoken.

First trip of the year for me was June 5^th and with the water a refreshing 39 degrees, I had no qualms about wiggling my way into that wetsuit.  Even when I tried to zip it up and gracefully caught the zipper on my belly, I didn’t even curse.  Just sucked it in and gave a thumbs up to my husband Bud.  Seeing as how it was the first trip of the year, I could not stop smiling.   Yep, onto the bus, into my life-jacket, hop in the boat, listen to our head guide Arne’s safety speech, chat with some German folks and a couple of stalwart 10 year-old rafters, and I am still grinning.  Half way through the trip we float into Gauging Straits, a calm section where people like to swim when the water is warmer (note: much warmer).  One adventurous customer (some might say ‘crazy’) decides to jump in the water by doing a back flip off the bow of the boat.  So I clap and whoop and holler just like the other rafters until somebody yells out, “Your turn, Kelly!”  Haha.  But I have a sure-thing ready that will save me from the freshly melted snow that is the Snake River: Everyone knows guides hate to get wet (I know—it’s weird), so I yell out, “If Arne jumps in, I’ll jump in!” Now see this is where I am reminded that Dave Hansen guides are not just any guides.  It took about .5 seconds after I smugly pronounced my dare for Arne to hop up on the tube, give a little bounce and back he flips right into that 40 degree water.  Say what?!   Nothing left to do but slip off the sunglasses, take a deep breath, and flip myself into the river for the first swim of the year.  Even though I might have screamed once or twice to get back in, it was so awesome I am still smiling just thinking about it two weeks later.  Love the river, no matter how cold it is.

First game of the season! Leo Bridges, 1st overall in the ‘43 draft, threw smoke to lead Dave Hansen Whitewater to a 15-1 victory over 4th-Base. Jonathan King chipped in with a home run and a smile and wave to the fans. Good work team! Dave Hansen plays again Friday, June 19th at 7:30 pm. at Mateosky Field versus … of in the shower.  - Will

Working at Dave Hansen Whitewater I’m constantly surprised by my river buds.  Not only can they navigate a boat like nobody’s business, but they’ve got all sorts of hidden tricks up their sleeve.  Arne can speak Mandarin.  Jon is fluent in Spanish.  Jason can cook the best meat you’ll ever eat.  Deuce is a tri-athalon competitor who also speaks Portuguese.  (As I’m writing this I didn’t realize we had such a language savy crew.)  Anyway, add to this the guitar and harmonica playing and there is never a dull moment around these parts.

Last night was exceptionally fun.  I went to a random night of poetry here in Jackson, Wyoming and two of our guides… T-Bone and YT (also known as Bryson to our guests) recited some poems from memory about rivers.  Personal favorite was a quote from A River Runs Through It.

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.”

I got to thinking about my own experience on the river.  Call it an additiction, a need, a way to feel connected to something more than myself, but I am haunted by waters.  There is nothing like a current, or a big wave, or seeing the pelicans skim the water on a scenic trip that calms my mind of all its anxious little thoughts.

So here’s to another summer of being haunted by waters.  I’m excited to meet all of you people out there who feel the same way.   Raft On

-Em

So some of our blog followers might be from the Idaho area and have already watched the KIDK evening news.  For those of you who aren’t from the area or don’t have cable (maybe because you live in a tent down by the river) here’s what’s up.  Jason Laughlin, one of our guides here at DHWW, used his awesome guide skills and rescued a drowning man on the North Fork of the Snake River in Idaho.  Check out the news special on this link.  http://www.kidk.com/news/local/46760777.html

Rock on Jason.  Way to keep that life jacket on hand!

OK…is it fair that Dave Hansen Whitewater’s first big group of the year on the whitewater section could also be our best group of the year?  Not only was the average age of this group 68 years old.  Not only did this group of adventurous seniors want to go on a whitewater trip rather than a scenic float trip.  But they wanted to go on a whitewater trip that left town at 8am…when the temperature in the morning was 32 degrees and the high for the day was going to be 42 degrees!   We were half expecting a call at 7:15 from the group leader after they stepped out of their hotel that they had decided to switch to a scenic trip. 

 

But no, this group was ready to go on a whitewater trip down the Snake River.  We picked them up at their hotel at 7:15 and took them to our office to get outfitted with wetsuits and booties.  Our guides had donated all of their extra fleece to this group and they were ready to go to the river. 

Though there were flurries of snow throughout the trip, this group had a great time laughing and paddling through the waves.  One of the adventurous rafters, Patty (age 72) even declared after getting soaked by a big wave at lunch counter and laughing it up with her other mates, “I think this is the most I have ever laughed in my life.”  Our guide Matt Lynn, said it was one of the most memorable trips that he has ever been on.  It definitely make us feel lucky to be apart of a company that allows us to interact with spirited people like this. 

 

That’s right folks, Dave Hansen Whitewater is open for business! We ran our first scenic rafting trip of the season on Saturday, April 18th. Two customers and two guides, Cristina and Matt boarded a boat under the Wilson Bridge on this beautiful sunny day and floated all the way to the South Park bridge. Not only was it a beautiful sunny warm Saturday, but there was plenty of wildlife to be seen.  We saw eagles, osprey, a red tailed hawk, a falcon, and many American white pelicans.  And the wildlife was not sitting around either, the osprey were diving for fish, the pelicans were herding fish to eat, and we even saw an eagle and a red tailed hawk fighting over hunting territory! We even had our first junior guide for the season! Twelve year old sean got to try his luck on the oars, andhe learned a thing or two about the wildlife we saw.  Whether you live in Jackson or are just visiting, a leisurely float down the Snake River is a great way to spend a day!

Whether you consider yourself an expert ornithologist and bird watcher, or you think all birds are either sea-ducks or land-birds you will be sure to see birds that will dazzle you when you float the Snake River in Jackson Hole with Dave Hansen Whitewater. Of course we have spectacular large birds of prey including bald eagles, osprey, and different species of hawk and falcon. Your experienced guides will point out nesting sites, tell you interesting facts about these birds, and sometimes you can even catch a glimpse of an eagle hunting for fish. And then of course you will have the aquatic birds (known to some as “sea-ducks”) such as American white pelicans, trumpeter swans, great blue herons, merganser ducks, and black necked stilts. See nesting sites in the banks for bank swallows and belted kingfishers, and watch the swallows swoop and dive for the insects that they eat. Mountain Blue birds hope from sage bush to sage bush.  Hear a Northern Flicker drum a cottonwood tree along the bank.  See an American Dipper dive under water pick up a stone fly nymph and deliver it to its nest in one seamless motion.  These are just a few of the types of birds that you could see!

Down On Glen or D.O.G. is a locals favorite and makes visitors wish that they were locals. Their convenient locations right in town and at the gas station in Wilson make it the best decision for a quick meal to or from the mountain to ski, ride, hike or bike. Without a doubt they are most famous for their breakfast burrito. Probably one of the cheapest things in Jackson besides a pack of gum, at $5 this delicious steal will fill you up until dinner and leave you looking forward to breakfast in the morning.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to protect approximately 2 million acres in nine states making them off limits to oil and gas drilling. Included will be 387 miles of our Snake River in Jackson Hole and its tributaries. This success was truly a collaboration of people from all walks of life. Politicians, conservation groups, and outdoor sportsmen alike came out to support the legislation to protect this amazing wilderness for future generations to enjoy as we have. The bill, which has already passed in the Senate,  will now head off to President Obama, who is expected to sign it. Call me crazy, but I would rather float  pass the Tetons or bust through the Big Kahuna without an oil rig in the background……wouldn’t you?