Antonian Reunion - Guadalupe River

Friday evening I hosted dinner for five of my Antonian High School classmates. Shown above are Carlos, Chuck, Ray, Zander, me, and Arthur. Conrad arrived after dining with his family, and Steve and Rick joined us later from the airport. The stuffed pork chops were delicious, as were the many (too many?) bottles of Zander Winery Syrah and Pinot Noir that were consumed. Most of the guys didn't leave the house until close to 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning, so I wasn't sure whether any of us would show up for the planned paddle trip on the Guadalupe River. After all, the official 41st reunion would take place Saturday evening.

In addition to the lack of sleep, we were faced with a river running at only 28 cfs. Nevertheless, five of us put in at Sultenfuss crossing (the Bergheim high bridge) a little before 2:00 p.m., with our destination the Edge Falls Road crossing about 3.8 miles downstream.

Note: Left click on any photo to enlarge.

Steve and Zander (the winemaker formerly known as Fred) in my Dagger Legend 15 canoe and Conrad in my Perception Corsica, an old-school whitewater kayak.

Rick in his inflatable kayak - not a pretty sight!

A combination of heavy shadows and a careless ISO setting on my camera resulted in some fairly dismal images for the day. Or was it just the subjects?

The water may have been low, but the scenery was typical Upper Guadalupe River beautiful.

Conrad was occasionally able to keep the kayak going in a straight line.











Zander and Steve approach a rock garden.

The group makes a short stop at Rock Pile Rapid for a snack and to view the local wildlife.

Rock Pile at very low water.



















Our next stop was at Dogleg Rapid. Frozen margaritas and ice cream sandwiches were served before we ran the rapid.

Conrad led the way over the small drop.

No problem for Conrad and the Corsica.

Zander and Steve were up next. They play musical paddles above.

Looks like they're pretty well lined up, but perhaps a few inches too far river right.

Zander hanging over the edge.

Pinned.

Zander muscles the boat back into the channel.

Ready to proceed?

The margaritas take their toll - or maybe it was simply time for a refreshing dip in the cool water.

Men overboard!

Zander's unique bailing technique.

On their way through the rocks.

Rick followed in his inflatable.

A rest stop.

Free at last.

Our short run from Dogleg down to the take-out was uneventful.

For 56 more photos of this river adventure, click here to be guided to my Flickr page, where you may (or may not) want to click on "Slideshow" or "Detail."