Day four – Step it up!

We were blessed with a bluebird sky and warm weather, too hot to put on a wetsuit so we dressed in swimsuits or shorts and threw our gear bag in the truck, pack ourselves in the school bus shuttle. Lots of sunscreen and an hour later we are standing at a spot that 9 years ago was the finish line of a race I did through Glenwood Canyon with some friends. It is also today's river put in. We are put into new groups and each group creates a new name, but some of those are unfit to print so...
Many campers just wear the rash guard shirt, but I always wore the dry top because I knew I wanted to be in the river not just on it. It feels like we just started kayaking and floating down river when they say, "okay pull over time to get out, now you may run this if you want but we recommend scouting it first". Turns out to be the new Glenwood play park where kayakers go to play or "surf" the rapid. It is man made and crosses the entire span of the river. The lot of us pile up onto the large slabs of rock on the side. Groups of guided rafting trips entertain us as they go through the big hole and you hear screams and cheers. Some of us jump and swim through the rapid, that was exciting because you had to navigate your body to miss the rather sharp imposing rocks on either side of the river "tongue" where you should go over the rapid. I swallowed a large gulp of the Colorado and wondered if that would come back to haunt me later.
Lunch was delivered to the play park by one of the many awesome businesses that donate food for First Descents. We continue to watch and enjoy our lunch while some of the camp counselors/guides surf the waves. They make rolling look so easy. That will be me soon, oh yeah!
Today there were slightly bigger rapids and more up my alley with speed. Another great river day.

Campfire tonight felt like the final night because it was on the emotional side as was almost every campfire. One of the campers was leaving early, bye "Vice". We all took our turns sharing more stories. I told everyone I wished I could take them home with me because I felt they were my instant family of support and I didn't want to give that up. Thank goodness for Facebook :)