A natural at negotiating the Salmon and Snake Rivers...

Oh my gosh! I cannot wait to tell Jim about this. He thought riding bikes around town was fun? Wait till he tries rafting. These two-man oar boats that we learned to use are TOO FUN! I get to oar the boat half of the day and my partner rows us the other half. I like to row a lot so maybe later this week I should find a partner who doesn't like to row and I will get to do it all day. Our guides are awesome! This one, his name is Finn, is my favorite. He is hilarious and has spent a lot of time teaching me all of his tricks of fast maneuvering and how to hit the rapids the best. He said I am a natural and that he is going to ride in MY boat tomorrow.
- Keith

Preparing for the Monkey's Face

Today was our first day of rock-climbing at Smith Rock and it was so much fun. Cook crew was the first to rise and made some fantastic blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, perfect to keep us full all morning. After eating we met with the 3 rock-climbing guides, who will be with us for the next three days.  They got us fitted for our special rock climbing shoes and went over the plan for the day. From our meeting point we all walked over to the three cliffs we were going to climb today and set up our base for the day. They taught us how to belay and repel, which we are going to need when we climb the Monkey's Face on the last day.  We are all really excited about it, we saw some people climbing it today and can't wait until it is our turn. Everyone got the chance to climb a lot today and by the end of the day we felt ready to conquer anything. It was a very successful day.