July 30, 1999 - The rumors were flying... The river was rippin' and it wasn't going to be turned down. 470 cubic feet per second is what Kflow said the river was at when we left Sacramento on Friday for the trail. This was higher than we or anyone we know has ever tried. Timbo and I were starting to get butterflies as we headed up the hill. We were excited, yet nervous at the same time.

When we got to the trailhead, we unhooked the Jeep from the towrig, and headed in alone. We would setup camp and wait for everyone at the first river crossing. Traveling solo, we were able to make great time. We made it to the first river crossing in no time, just before the sun was going down. We surveyed the river, and although it was a lot higher than we have ever done, we determined it to be passable. Timbo threw her into first gear and off we went. As you can see in the picture above, even the first crossing was really deep! We didn't have any problem making it though, and made it to the other side no problem. We setup camp right after the crossing, and gathered up firewood before it got too dark. We expected Scott and some of the Sierra Rock Crawlers group that night. The rest of the gang planned to meet up with us Saturday.

Timbo and I got bored sitting there, so we decided to head back across the river and see if we could meet up with Scott or the SRC guys. When we climbed to the top of the mountain, we called Jeff and let him know at least the first river crossing was passable.

We made it back to "Hamburger Hill" when we met up with the Sierra Rock Crawlers group. We hung out for a few minutes then decided to head back to camp and get our fire going. The SRC gang followed us back to camp. We all crossed the first river crossing without incident.

The SRC guys setup camp, and we partied the night away. Scott rolled into camp late that night, and we watched him make short work of the first river crossing (thanks to 39.5" Boggers, and plenty of lift!)

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