One of our super talented guides, Chelsea A., wrote this guest blog for us about some of her experiences on the river. If you’re curious about a guide’s perspective, read on!

Wind whips through camp.

The wind has got to be the most difficult element on a river trip.  If it’s cold and rainy, we can bundle up and drink some hot cocoa.  When it’s hot and sunny, we swim and find shade.  When the wind blows, there is no escape.  It can come out of nowhere and it always wins.  I can think of a few pretty great wind storms.  There was the storm that hit us the last night on the river — above the Whitmore Wash helipad.  We had started dinner and the folks had their tents set up.  We always warn about the wind, but it doesn’t always hit.  This time, the warnings were justified.  This storm was hilarious.  People were running around trying to secure their tents, which had basically become human kites.  The kitchen was obliterated.  Every dinner table ended up on the ground; the potatoes boiling on the stove were found strewn about the sand.  Zach was now covered in sand and coated in the brownie batter he had been stirring.  With a little creativity, we were able to recover dinner … though I would guess some of the tent poles probably never recovered.