By Jim Darnell
Daily Record Columnist
San Marcos —
It’s a long way from San Marcos to Yellowstone National Park — more than 1,800 miles. It’s especially long when you’re camping for two weeks with two granddaughters — Trinity Darnell (age 11) and Demaris Darnell (age 9).
The SUV became a bit like a lion cage with two young lionesses in the back seat. But their DVD player and a stack of movies really helped.
A couple of days at Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota gave us a good break.
The mountainside sculpture of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt awed us all. The huge unfinished rock sculpture of Native American Crazy Horse was also fascinating. At the campground the girls enjoyed miniature golf, a waterslide and horseback riding.
Our planned activity for the next stage of the trip to Yellowstone Park was white-water rafting on the Shoshone River at Cody, Wyoming, only 52 miles from the Park.
The Shoshone is the main eastern drainage of Yellowstone National Park. The North and South forks of the river begin on the eastern edge of the Park and flow together just above the lake formed by Buffalo Bill Dam.
When this dam was constructed a hundred years ago it was the tallest dam in the world. Cold water flowing through the dam makes for some awesome rafting waters.
My wife Beth and I have rafted rivers all across America and Canada but this was to be the girl’s first white-water adventure. Rafting a beautiful river is a great family activity.
Of course, some rivers are too powerful for children but the Shoshone was perfect. Most of the white-water was only Class II. White-water is rated Class I through Class VI. Class I is a ripple. Class VI is very wild and dangerous — like near death.
The guide company that we went with — Wyoming River Trips — was skilled, friendly and professional. They major on family trips. The company is owned by Ron and Rick Blanchard, both of whom grew up in our home town of Port Arthur. They both graduated a few years from Beth and I from the same high school — Thomas Jefferson High.
They left Port Arthur years ago, joined the rodeo circuit, and worked as pipefitters on The Alaskan pipeline in the 1970’s. Using the money they earned in Alaska, they founded Wyoming River Trips in Cody.
As our bus turned down the hill toward the river Demaris went wild. Just a few hundred yards up river from the company’s private launch is DeMaris Hot Springs. These springs were used by early native cultures and many pioneer mountain men like John Colter, Jeremiah Johnson and Buffalo Bill. The road was named DeMaris Road.
“That’s my name’” she shouted over and over. Everyone on the raft trip now knew her name.
Our long-bearded guide, Joe, pushed us off the shore into the fast, flowing water of the Shoshone. The scenery was awesome. We were immediately into the Red Rock Canyon. Tall, blood-red towering walls hemmed in the river.
“Butch Cassidy Rapid approaching,” shouted Joe the guide. “Better known as Equal Opportunity Soaking Rapid.”
Joe skillfully steered the raft so that the starboard side of the boat went sideways into the big wave, soaking everyone on that side. Then a quick spin of the raft wetted the paddlers on the port side. Screams, laughs and other unintelligible sounds echoed through the canyons.
The other family in the raft with us was from Chicago. They were relatively new to America, emigrating from Slovakia 14 years previous. It was their first whitewater adventure and they were loving it.
“Who was it that wanted to really get soaked?” asked Joe.
Demaris and Trinity immediately volunteered. They moved to the stern with Joe and Demaris laid down on the side of the raft while Trinity knelt down to hold her in the boat.
“Get ready and hang on,” instructed Joe as he swung the stern onto a big wave. Cold water cascaded over both the girls. They came up screaming and laughing.
Wyoming wildlife was abundant along the river. Four mule deer does watched us as we drifted near. Suddenly, two of them stood up on their rear hoofs and began to fight. It was spectacular. I guess they were jealous over their fawns.
Osprey soared above the canyon walls while merganser ducks with their half-grown babies swam along the shoreline.
Owner Ron had told me that he saw a big swirl against the bank a few days previous. It was a huge brown trout swallowing a merganser duckling. That takes a big fish. No wonder out of a hatch of a dozen babies, only three or four reach maturity.
We did not see the family of river otters that are often spotted from the rafts but we did see a big beaver lodge.
About mid-way on the float Beth and I traded sides with the girls so they could paddle.
In several rapids, massive sheets of water leaped over the bow of the raft where all four of us were seated. We all managed to stay really wet. But a bright sun in the Wyoming sky quickly warmed us after each drenching.
The trip ended too soon. Twelve miles of awesome river was quickly behind us.
It was time to move on to Yellowstone but the Shoshone River trip would rank high on our fun list for our vacation.
For a great family rafting adventure check out what Ron and Rick have to offer at www.wyomingrivertrips.com, or call 1-800-586-6661.
Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show, God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the Daily Record.
