ta daaa! nice work. and then we let him swim free once again.
We saw this guy crossing the river to his cabin on the most ridiculous machine-contraption... nifty!
Sarah was crushing the rowing while Jim did a model shoot.
Time for a swimming break at an eddy! eddy party!
Cave stop! Matt and Curt approaching.....
yeah buddy
hanging in the cave!!
AND we hiked up to "table rock"
AND I planked it!
planking's just cooler than standing... just sayin.
Another swimming and horseshoe-playing break on a beach along the way.
And then we stopped one last time for our final SKETCHY hike to another crazy cool cave!
we made it!! it's a miracle. ted didn't though....
there were petroglyphs on the walls of the cave!!
everyone do your coolest pose!
such a cool pic of the cave and our crew.
AND that's it!! We had a pretty sunset our last night, packed up in the morning and rafted to the finish!!
such and amazing trip, so many laughs and awesome times. I miss the amazing feeling you get once you finally jump into the FREEZING river!! It's a full body cold tub that leaves you feeling raw and stung from the FREEZINGNESS, but so energized and AWAKE and alive!
thanks again to Trevor and Chelsea and the whole crew for an epic long weekend.
As we drifted along, we saw "marco's cave" that he had noticed the year before and decided to go exploring. We tied up the boats and hiked up the hillside to check out the caves.
from inside the big one...
had to pose.
looking back down on the Smith.
:)
THEN we decided to climb up into a small opening where the cave continued into the hillside....
it was scaryyyyyyyy!!!!!!
but worth it!
After crawling for about 15 feet we emerged into an open room that was COMPLETELY in the dark, but the flash from my camera lit it up so that we could pose!! It was kinda creepy when everyone turned their headlamps off, and if you were claustrophobic in the least this would be the last place you would ever wanna be.
Chelsea and Trevor!
a big part of our group up at the caves!
And then we got back to business and hit the river for some more rafting adventures.
THE BEST FOOD GROUP EVER!!!!! The five of us were in charge of food for day 2 and not only did we make delicious nutritious amazing meals, but we looked amazing doing it.
The girls mexican fiesta night!! BEST COSTUMES on the smith river everrrrrr. And Shannon trying to jump into the picture... typical.
That's it for day 2!!!! Now I'm craving Mexican food.
I spent the last few days completely disconnected from EVERYTHING and went on a river trip in Montana. Trevor and Chelsea hosted 25 of us, 10 rafts, and many epic moments. The 5 days flew by way too fast and I have a whole new appreciation for the beauty that is Montana.
This blog can only cover day 1. I love taking pics and the whole trip was documented!! Only like 800 pictures!! Everything was just so breathtaking and our whole setup rafting and camping was tres cool. I was a total rookie coming into this trip, but now I know I love river trips!! Especially with The Jackson Crew!!!!!
Thank you thank you thank you to Trevor and the 24 others for such an epic trip. I really needed a deep breath of fresh Montana air!!
So here is where it starts!!
The first day was mostly about getting setup and launching the boats. It was a shorter day of rafting and our final stop was at this natural spring/shower! I brought my sweet bike short tan to the SMith and decided to show it off! Chelsea and I posed of course.
Across the river we set up camp.
THE LATRINE!!
The toilets were hilarious, just a hole in the ground with a little toilet above, no walls, no nothing.
EVerything was so lush !
It rained for about a minute that day, only a trace of it was left behind.
Another cool looking latrine
pretending to be boulderers..... is that a word??
We had barely even emerged into the canyon that hosted us for the next 3 days of rafting and camping.
It was a mellow, relaxing first day in nature.
The next few days got better and better until we all parted ways this afternoon :(
Five days flies by when you're surrounded by the beauty of Montana, camping, fresh air, river showers, friends, laughter, stories, and eddy parties.
getting outside into the mountains and getting inspired.
We went to Canmore to hike Mt Yamnuska! It was a beauty day, the forest smelled like fresh pine, the sun was warming our backs and a breeze was keeping us cool.
Brianne and I were happy hikers
Especially when we saw the heart shaped lake!
UNFORTUNATELY a huge storm rolled in.... typical.
So instead of hiking up there, we just looked at the peak and ran back down!
And chilled at my favourite place to get tea in Canmore: Communitea...
we got inspired by the cards!!
And then I went back home and tried to fix my NISHIKI city bike.... but it was a huge fail. I have no clue how I broke it, but the other day in the middle of Kensington road as I was illegally crossing the street, the back wheel fell off. super awkward. as usual. ANyone know anything about how to fix this????
It's been and intense and busy week of training. Everything is coming together really well for me and I see more improvements every week! I feel healthy and strong and now I'm really getting excited for new zealand to get back on skis for the first time since February!!!!
One of the hardest workouts we do during the week mentally and physically is intervals at the velodrome. It's hard to push yourself to your limit for 2 full minutes 6 times, and to push through the leg burns and lung hackings!! I'm into it though, and I know that the benefits will help a lot at the end of a high altitude long slalom course!! (ASPEN!!! haha!)
Here's a picture that Malcolm Carmichael took of me this week at the velodrome getting down and AGGRESSIVE!!
And then I decided to race yesterday!
It was really fun and very VERY different from skiing!! It's more about tactics and knowing when to sprint, when to tail people, and when to watch your back for people attacking!!!
I really like it and I am already excited to race again! We had a 10 lap scratch race where everyone basically cruises at a high speed until the last few laps when people start attacking and "boxing you in"....
AND there was an unknown race where you go around and around until a random bell which means one lap left, so it's an unexpected crazy sprint!! So some people just attack early and others wait it out...
ANd we also did a one lap scratch race where you start from a dead stop (I attached the video below...) which was a little nerve-wracking since I'd never tried it before!!!
AND the last race was my favourite race where every lap, the last person gets eliminated until there are three laps left and three people left. It was cool and a little crazy at times!!
I was pumped with how I did and I cant wait to do it more! It's such a chill atmosphere, we all sit on the grass and cheer everyone on while we wait for our races, and it was fun to race at something completely new and out of my comfort zone.
AND here's a short video of one of the races I did, a one lap scratch race. It was the first time I've ever started from a complete stop, but it was cool, i'll definitely practice them in the future!! AND the best part of the video is the commentating!! hahaha. thanks to the girls for coming and cheering me on!!!
ANYWAY!!! Here are more of Malcolm's pics from the gym this week! I added commentaries haha
Another thing to add to the busy week was our line-dancing class!
A bunch of us went and learned how to line dance and two step and other complicated things....
It was really fun but Marco and I are far from pro!!!
pigeon toe, pigeon toe, side side side side front front back back front side back kick twist REPEAT!
We're trying to seem more local for stampede! Maddy's trying to teach line dancing to mitch and travis...
That's mostly everything!! we have a three day weekend and I've already had two huge naps and lots of relaxing time today at the park!
