# TR: It's Been a Helluva Year



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

5/13 - Hudson River Gorge 
Flew back home for my brother's wedding. Borrowed a boat and rowed some low water where it all began for me.


















5/29 - Middle Main Salmon
9 Days, 16 people, 7 boats. 
3.4' At Boundary Creek, 32k at the Whitebird gauge when we took out.










Tappan

































































....


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)




----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

6/11 took a random Westwater invite from a buzzard. Thanks Dan! 1 day, 6200 CFS. No pics on the water, but was wild to see the fires starting already. 




















Spent the next day on the Moab daily. No water pics there, either. 

7/9 - Ruby Horsethief Westwater. 3 Days, 8 People, 3 boats. 2200 CFS. My motor took a beating on this one. Hit the prop no less than 40 times. Thanks MNichols for the beta. This trip was my wedding gift for two good friends who had just gotten married. Thanks Jesse for putting up with my shit and being a gear boater when you wanted to paddle raft.


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

7/17 Picked up a last minute Deso Cancellation. 2200 CFS, 3 boats, 7 people, 6 days. 

Motored to Jack Creek Day 1


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

8/14 Gates of Lodore. 2000 CFS, 8 Boats, 13 people, 4 days. Smoke started setting in from the Parley's Fire.


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

9/10 Quick n Dirty Cataract from Potash
4500 CFS. 9 Boats and 21 people on our permit, met up with another group of roughly 10 boats and 25 people. Meow.
8hp, 20hp, and 5hp on our crew's transoms.

Day 1 - Motor to Spanish bottom. 8:45a to 9:15p.


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

One more Cat trip from Potash to close out the Season.

10/22 Launch. 5 Days, 5900 CFS. 6 Boats, 10 people, 2 motors, until the last day where we had two motor out early.

@BGillespie hard at work on the black oar









First Night at Corner Pocket - 14RM from confluence.
Water temp 54°F, avg speed 5mph.










Dropped off a few folks at the loop hike. Went through the confluence and Camped at Brown Betty. Pleasure to run into @B4otter and co.



















Rapid 5 with a little chomp










Rapid 10 was a riot










Big Drop 2










Big Drop 3










Something's missing..





















...


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

Camped at upper Ten Cent.



















Hiked Imperial










BG and Co took off, the 8 of us went to Best Western (RM 187.4)

Hell of a place to rip a piss.










Decent place to drink whiskey, too.










InReach gave us a forecast of 60% chance of rain and strong winds. The sky was still clear when we were going to bed. The Winds were on and off. A few of us chanced it and camped out. I strapped the back bow of my bimini to my deck boards and set it up as a lean to. Another was set up under a regular bimini setup. I stayed dry. They didn't.

Around 2:30am the winds started absolutely cranking. I thought our whole package was gonna rip both sand stakes and we were gonna head up river. Lighting was nearby and we got probably 2" of rain by morning.










The sky gave us a quick break to make breakfast and unleashed again for another couple hours. By midday, the rain stopped and the sun poked out. The waterfalls were neat.










Must've been cold up high



















Current was faster between the rapids and the takeout than it was above the rapids. With the 4 boats and the motor nearly at idle, we were doing 5.4mph. Full cobb brought us up to about 6.2. I wasn't able to turn the boats around in time to catch the takeout and didn't have enough power to bring the whole package against the current. I only missed by about 50 feet but we lined the boats back upriver to get to the bottom of the ramp.

That's all for now. Boat is in storage for the winter and I'm scheming what permits to apply for and when for next season.


----------



## Bootboy (Aug 25, 2020)

Fantastic year for you. Wonderful photos and memories. 

I’m really looking forward to a busy river season in 2022, and you’ve set the bar very high my friend. 

I really want to do a late season Cataract run, looks like a good time.

Thanks for the report.


----------



## jberg421 (Jul 19, 2020)

Damn dude what do you do for a living. You Squeezed in a ton of trips


----------



## Ripper (Aug 29, 2012)

Solid season, and I enjoyed the pics!


----------



## okieboater (Oct 19, 2004)

Photos were as good as it gets.

I made a fast run down look at the total package, but will go back and enjoy each photo later.

Many thanks for sharing what you and your Buds did on rivers


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

jberg421 said:


> Damn dude what do you do for a living. You Squeezed in a ton of trips


Maintenance tech for a ski area. ~6 weeks PTO with comp time, which can really only be used between Easter and Halloween. Four day work weeks help, too.
With that said, I don’t get any paid holidays or even any time of bonus pay for working holidays.


----------



## Acheron (Apr 5, 2021)

Wow, a lot of those photos are really impressive and enjoyable. Sounds and looks like a really great summer!


----------



## sonofdad (Jul 21, 2015)

thanks for sharing @tBatt! great pics ... what sort of camera you using for these?


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

sonofdad said:


> thanks for sharing @tBatt! great pics ... what sort of camera you using for these?


Pretty dated at this point but the body is a canon 60D and the glass is either a canon 70-200 f/4 or a Tokina 11-20 f/2.8


----------



## craven_morhead (Feb 20, 2007)

Yaaay. Great photos, great stoke.


----------



## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Super cool TR thread, posts and pics.

Agree, definitely great photos.



tBatt said:


> Tokina 11-20 f/2.8


I think my Tokina is 16-24 f/2.8. Hard to focus at infinity, have had to put tape marks on the barrel and manually focus.
I appreciate your wider Milky Way view...I may have to try that 11-20. It's a good lens for the price.

My 70-200 f/2.8 is a Tamron..I really like the lens, but am afraid to take it on a river trip. Would need a much larger case!! They're awesome for action shots


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

MT4Runner said:


> Super cool TR thread, posts and pics.
> 
> Agree, definitely great photos.
> 
> ...


I had the 11-16 and "upgraded" to the 11-20. the focus is at infinity at the L bracket on the 11-20, the focus is as infinity at the hard stop on the 11-16. If I was to smash my wide lens _again_, I'd go back to the 11-16. I use a Pelican 1400 case and it fits the body and two lenses perfectly. I used to have a Tamron 17-70, but that met it's maker on a ski tour and hasn't been replaced. I modded the pelican case to have a piece of allthread wrapped in heat shrink through the fins in the back so I have a 1' strap from the deck boards through the case handle, and one from the deck boards to the allthread. Sits just behind my oar towers for easy access.

Don't mind the mess, or the drunk passed out on the drop hatch


----------



## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

tBatt said:


> I had I modded the pelican case to have a piece of allthread wrapped in heat shrink through the fins in the back so I have a 1' strap from the deck boards through the case handle, and one from the deck boards to the allthread. Sits just behind my oar towers for easy access.


yeah, I drilled a 1/4" hole and have a 1/4" SS bolt with nylock through the fins, and also use 1" straps to strap it next to my seat. Haven't found a perfect way to strap it solidly to the deck of my dory..but do strap from the fin/hinge area to the inwale and would at least not lose it overboard.

I have a Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 "daily" lens on my camera. It's better than a kit lens, but still takes a lot of light (daylight) so not as great as a prime or f/2.8 lens. It's great for candids but not as great for action shots like the 70-200's.


----------



## coult45 (May 14, 2020)

The real theme here Ted is light up Bocce. Sounds like a helluva season!


----------



## tBatt (May 18, 2020)

coult45 said:


> The real theme here Ted is light up Bocce. Sounds like a helluva season!


But who decided to sell the ones that ONLY blink? 
We still need to get on a trip together, considering you're arguably the reason I live on this side of the Mississippi. Get Mo in on the deal, too.


----------



## BGillespie (Jul 15, 2018)

In case you didn't pick up on it, if you want someone on a trip that's highly organized, detail oriented, self-sufficient, and takes bomb photos, pm ol Theodore Francis. 
_hint hint--he hasn't been on the Grand yet folks--and that's a travesty*_


----------



## donutboy (Sep 13, 2015)

tBatt said:


> I bought my boat in June of 2020. Luckily got a deal on a '97 Avon Pro with rubber, frame, oars, cooler, drybox, drop hatch and trailer before the pandemic boaters really, uh, inflated the market.
> 
> This January I started getting motor curious and with the help of many of you buzzards, I got an '03 Honda 5hp. BGillespie built me a transom, I took it out on Utah Lake for a test run, and April 1 started my boating season with a 1 day Westwater.
> 
> ...


----------



## donutboy (Sep 13, 2015)

Nice to see some of those old AW Avon's out there on the water. I'm glad some got away from Fayetteville before Ricky Bobby's crew could ruin them. Still hopeful that he'll sell me an old white and purple scout......


----------



## Mts (9 mo ago)

This post makes me happy... !! Life is good out there!!


----------



## jonseim (May 27, 2006)

Where'd you get the light up bocce, any recs based on a year of playing, cheap and easy or buy once cry once. What did you get?


----------



## coult45 (May 14, 2020)

jonseim said:


> Where'd you get the light up bocce, any recs based on a year of playing, cheap and easy or buy once cry once. What did you get?











Amazon.com: Playaboule 4 Color Competion 107mm Balls Multi Func Glow in The Dark LED Day Night Lighted Bocce Ball Sets : Sports & Outdoors


Amazon.com: Playaboule 4 Color Competion 107mm Balls Multi Func Glow in The Dark LED Day Night Lighted Bocce Ball Sets : Sports & Outdoors



www.amazon.com





We had 3 sets of these on a Grand trip and they were awesome. Haven't tried other brands, but have been very happy with this set.


----------

