For this trip, I had nothing to do with the planning and organizing portion. Mark, a fellow co-worker and long time Navy buddy from Spokane handled the details. My role was to raid the cookie jar and carry the crappers. Two other fellows from that area that were new to me, Ross and Dave, rounded out the group. Mark was knowledgable about the river but had not been on it. Ross and Dave had a map, or at least Ross did, that showed where the river was. The fleet was to be Ross's tandem Gruman, Mark's kevlar solo canoe, and my small cataraft. There was plenty of water in the river and the additional current that the higher level brought was appreciated. Downside to that was having the low water sandbars disappear.

Tex's Riverways was the outfitter. They always seem a little grumpy, probably from having to deal with so many tourists. The only other outfitter that is jetboat permited by the NPS is Tag-A-Long. All we required were the shuttle and toilet rental and they were satisifactory. For $130, I thought the shuttle service was fine, although the $45 to haul the cataraft seemed a little much