Row Row Row your boat, gently down to 😐 Montana 😐

New Beginnings?

Hey there.

Its been a while since I did a thing like this.

But I accidentally forgot to cancel my subscription to this so I think we come back to it.

Now what's the plan? I think we go through some of the bigger last few adventures and compile them. Photo's, stories, and all the little things in between.maybe even perfect a story to tell in the real world.

So it's no secret that I climb, and last year was a very productive time for that. I joined a climbing group, and hosted a ton of climbs, and met a bunch of people. and had a great first real climbing season.

New Experiences

One story stands out in particular though. and that's the deep water solo trip. I have a friend who is great. He's fun to hang out with, also really smart, and a people person if I've ever met one. He looks at you and bestows confidence on you that he carries himself.

And sometimes that's unwarranted.

Late summer of 2023, A group of us get invited out to the middle of the susquehanna for a deep solo climbing trip. now what is deep water solo you may ask? simple, you go out to deep water, you solo climb up a cliff with no safety, then dive into the water. In all honesty, it was a great time and it starts with a simple task, acquiring a kayak. Everyone got a kayak in the end in some shape or way: I now have an inflatable one, someone got a sit on top kayak, others already had one (one person only had a single paddle), and 2 people "rented" one from Walmart and kept their receipt. People hike to a departure point, kayak out about a quarter mile down river to the base of some rocks. We then park our kayaks and have a grand ol' time swimming, jumping, exploring, and chatting.

Then the time comes that I'm most anxious about. Getting back to shore. Now, what I was told was roughly this: "It'l be easy, in the morning we paddle down river to the the rock and chill there, then when we are done we paddle back up river. getting back?Don't worry, it's easy and you got it. Just don't stop paddling is key.". unwarranted confidence begins to play into this.

So was it that easy? You be the judge. 5 pm rolls around and people start leaving. There isn't really any organization since it's assumed the way back is known and easy. At the start there are about 10 people, after a few people leave (the ones that know what they are doing) the rest try and kayak away. Everyone gets spread out pretty quickly until one person capsizes due to the rock current pulling them in. A couple of people head back to help, and we slowly get everyone situated back on the kayak and collect all the "stuff" that fell collected; all while we keep getting pushed down river. One of the people who had already made it to the shore came back to help and dictated to go to the bank and swim upward, then going out center to avoid the white waters. BTW, we've all been swimming and climbing for about 6 hours until this point, needless to say we are at least a little tired. One person needs to be towed because they are too exausted and we barely started our trip back to shore. One is dealing with heat exhaustion as they are slowly going up the side of the river. Then as we slowly go up river and about 20 minutes of this debacle... we see someone else swimming towards us. APPARENTLY, that person had been lost at sea and going in circles for that time. They were clearly a little delirious and a little uncooperative when we strongly suggest hanging onto rocks as jets blast past us and cause waves to crash against us. Eventually we get kind f settled, heat exausted person gets towed at the bank with somewhat of a path with the help of the people who had already gotten to shore earlier. and then we are left there with 5 people left at sea with the sun beating down on us. Me (exhausted to hell), the guy lost at sea (delirious), another friend who's arms can't paddle anymore and needs to be towed, 1 person to do the towing (and only 1 paddle), and probably the least exhausted and strongest person(who's on a Walmart kayak).

So what's the idea here? simple, swim out to the center of the river where the water should be calmer (and to avoid the white waters we've gotten to) swim past the white waters, then quickly swim all the way to the right back to shore into the mid piles.

Mr. deiliriouse and mr Walmart make it back to shore albeit a little off the mark. I paddle and paddle, and paddle and paddle. through exaustion and tears, half way past the white waters and a booey that never gets closer. My arms cave, exaused, defeated, and drained in all things mental and physical. I get pushed down river and meet with with the tower. who's also done. We anchor at the bank (almost pulling off a boulder) and hope the group above finds us. They eventually did and we began our ascent up the steep bank of the river. We had to deflate my kayak, stick that into another kayak, then use 2 people above to pulley up the kayaks alternating trees as I guide the kayaks and avoid them getting stuck. we do this again for a second kayak. then the 3 of us make our way out of the steep, rocky bank onto a set of train tracks we follow to get back to the cars and end the day.

A wild adventure that we get ourselves into. 10/10 would recommend unwarranted confidence.

Oh yeah, A Montana trip is due in a few weeks.

So, 10/10 worth it, except suddenly im getting red spots showing up about a week and a half later. I don't think too much of it, get a steroid shot from my allergist and be on my merry flight the next day to a climbing trip in Montana.

In hindsight, there are many things I would do differently. like maybe get the name of the shot I got. Or maybe go farther down river to a more cleared out bank. Or maybe plan myself and find an exit farther down river that is more official. All good options, all things to think of next time.

So we land in Montana, über to a car rental. and drive 2 hours from Missoula to fuck all central Montana. we get to my... unique housing (with our ex meth addict subleasing Air bnb), and I make my way to urgent care. I am quite red, and quite swollen at this point in my right arm, left leg, and blotched throughout my upper body, right leg and left arm. and I ask if they know how to treat poison oak. I'm past the point of itchy and mainly in pain and a little delirious. and very very red. Now urgent care was fantastic they cared and helped a lot, I may have had to come back the next day to get actually help since I didn't know the kind of shot I was given and they were concerned with drug conflicts.... but drugs I got eventaly. I was prescribed a simple 5 day high dose of steroids. And I was warned. About how I'd feel.. funny.

WOOOoooOOO, Lets GOOooooO!

Energy Maaaan, I had TONS of IT. I'm HYPE. Poison? that's fOrTheWEAK!

We're fine, I'm in Montana with a friend, and we meet up with a 3rd friend who's going his own trip. so once im CUREd, we go back to what we came to do, CLIMB. now day 1 was a bit exciting since we got kicked out by rolling thunders and sky going from bright blue to dark, dreary, and rainy. all while someone is 60 ft in the air learning how to bail on the spot. easy, we book it out of there in a sedan. and by book I mean I had no regard for the underside of the car and was running on ENERGY! I can throw the steroids out whenever.

Day 2 went better. only notable thing was we only almost got crushed by a boulder falling from 60 ft in the air. After this day we also left the first Air bnb for the next one back in missoula. Fairly uneventful at this point.

Day 3 was also chill, the only day I climbed (mainly cause I can't wear shoes... or long pants, or long sleeves) on a sunny beach area on easy terrain. others found a cool hotspot lake. and I met some Ukrainians doing Ukrainian things. like swimming down river and picking chicks up on an air mattress.

Day 4 was zen, went to a buddhist temple, checked out a neat miracle of America, and drove up to glacier state park.

And day 5 was ANGER and Frustration. why? couldn't tell ya. probably drugs and that high dose of steroids. thinking back, there was no reason for such unfiltered RAAAGE. But it was there, I tried to tell myself it was drugs and tried to keep quiet but I'm sure a brooding bowl of emotions is hard to miss. But it was also the last day of the trip and the second to last day of drugs and a whole flight back. I'm not sure there's a moral here other than don't do drugs kids; unless it's medically prescribed. And even then be careful.

And yeah, that's a small story from the summer. I wasn't the only one that got poison oak (3 others did as well) nor did I get the worst of it as crazy as that might seem. I'm sure more happened in this timeframe but memory is a fickle thing. though as exciting as that was, I probably would have been good if that ended there. But we like to put ourselves into complicated situations, but those are stories for another day.