River miles 96-110; Shinumo Creek
The guides blew a conch shortly after sunrise to wake us up for coffee and hot chocolate.
They blew it again when breakfast was ready; they cooked a hot breakfast every day but the last. After breakfast, we packed up our tent and separated our stuff into a smaller day dry bag and a larger
dry bag packed away for the day. We put our wet clothes into a plastic bag in the day bag, and
spread them out on rocks to dry at lunch.
After breakfast, we packed up and loaded the boats.
Paul and Kimberly went in the paddle raft, and Evan rode in Lynne's oar boat. We rafted a medium
rapid, then stopped to scout Crystal, a big one. The guides said it would be boring if we did it
right. After Crystal, we paddled through a bunch more rapids called the gems: Agate, Sapphire,
Turquoise, Ruby, and Serpentine.
After lunch, we pulled over at Shinumo Creek. We walked up through warm clear water to a pool
with a water slide under a waterfall. We stopped to camp at mile 110 and raced to set up camp as it sprinkled, but the heavy rain of the previous evening never materialized
The next morning, Evan rode in Lynne’s boat while Kimberly and Paul paddled with Jen.
The water looked like chocolate milk from all the sediment washed in from tributaries by the monsoon.
At mile 98.5, we got out to scout Crystal Rapid. The guides said if we did it right, it would be boring (and it was).
We paddled through a series of fun rapids named after gems: Agate, Sapphire, Turquoise, and Ruby.
At lunch, Gary described the rocks surrounding us.
At lunch, we dried our wet clothes on rocks in the sun.
We pulled our boats into the mouth of Shinumo Creek, and got out to explore.
Evan went behind the waterfall and down a rock slide through it.
Evan slid down the creek over smooth rocks.
looking back to the river from Shinumo Creek
We set up camp around mile 110. This time we set up both tents and rain flies right away, but it didn’t rain.
looking upriver from camp, with laundry drying in the bushes to the right
We used our tarp as a patio area for lounging outside our tent.