Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

KLAMATH RIVER - The Long Strange Trip

The Klamath River is the longest no dammed, navigable whitewater river in California stretching over 200 miles from I-5 to the Pacific Ocean.

The Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada is arguably the longest running, biggest festival of Art, Music, and Culture in the Western Hemisphere.

Cal Salmon raftingLet's put them together shall we?

Since 1979, in our second year of operation, W.E.T. River Trips started to run various sections of the Northern California's  Klamath River with a focus on the Happy Camp to Presidio Bar run that we usual would configure as a 3 or 4-day trip.

About 15 years ago, we started to extend our trips upstream to Saeid Valley to incorporate more class 3 rapids and to experience the more remote portions of the river with trips up to 6 days in duration...as we did so, we started to think of some other additions....hence, the concept of "Long Strange Trip" (yes, the LST was born out of long van rides, warm nights on river beaches, and the creativity of river guides).

Yes, the reference to the Grateful Dead song is clear; however, the concept of the trip is more than a jam-band bit of noodling. Long Strange Trip (LST) incorporates self reliance (no rafts... Inflatable and sit-on-top kayaks only with a gear boat for supplies), Art (every day would have options for self expression through body movement, photography, sculpture, and 'crafts'), Music (the trip's guides would all be musicians of a variety of disciplines and clients would be encouraged to bring instruments and to use instruments provided by guides) daily and nightly. The LST would also explore the surrounding riparian eco-system and the surrounding geology and geography with a continual thread of Human History presented by guides and guests.

The Long Strange Trip (LST) Recap
DURATION 6-days; July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6th
TRANSPORT using kayaks, sit-on-top kayaks, gear raft w/ all your gear
DRY BAG 30lbs/person for personal gear
ART everyday; body movement, photography, sculpture, crafts
MUSIC every night; bring your instruments, guides will also!
GEOLOGY of California & Pacific Northwest
GEOGRAPHY local, regional
HUMAN HISTORY native american lore, gold rush history, and us!
MENU vegetarian and/or vegan, California produce advocating farm to fork
THEMES group selection, committment
NO TRACE camping, impact on land

The LST would be a slower paced and free-form schedule with a simple beginning and an end filled in-between with natural magic and the energy and contributions of the environment and our guests. Meals or food will be simple, nutritious, filling and mostly vegetarian and/or vegan constructed of high quality California-produced ingredients. Besides the musical entertainment, dance, art, movement, games, interaction, and learning... every day will be themed though group selection and commitment.

As with Burning Man, the rules will be few: safety gear will be worn on-river, and no-trace camping and floating will be strictly adhered to. And as with Burning Man, participants will be encouraged to contribute to the trip in ways that shows a giving, sharing spirit to contribute to the LST community.

The trip will be small (limited to 12 participants) and will be staffed by carefully selected guides that will bring all the 'magic' and expertise the LST requires.

The inaugural LST will be presented to operate July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6th ....so, not only would we celebrate the LST, we would also celebrate Independence Day by floating and traveling through the State Of Jefferson (our Nation's only Ad-Hoc 51st State established in 1941).

links:
http://www.raftwet.com/Klamath.html
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104445714950587017401/albums/5499035911904821009
more rivers in northern california:
http://c-w-r.com/rivers/lower-klamath.html
http://raftwet.com/california-salmon.html
http://c-w-r.com/rivers/upper-sac.html

Ahhhh... the influences of hippies, Burning Man, Grateful Dead, Farm to Food and loving life!
This post was written by Big Poppah Jah! and posted by me.
~ el
WET River Trips
RAFTWET.com 

Friday, December 23, 2011

FOOD! on WET River Trips

I admit it. I am the food writer for FOOD! and camp recipes. How I got involved in that was kinda funny as I am not a great writer...

but I love food (oh, my waist-line).

I went rafting with WET a few years ago and really loved what they did to their albacore salad and how they made their pesto pasta. On the side of the river in a beautiful canyon, those young men and women provided a freshly-made menu that was both superb and filling.

The albacore had uniformly cut carrots, celery, and onions. The rafting crew added in the capers along with mayonnaise and a secret ingredient that made it the hit of the lunch! I had mine on whole wheat and added lettuce and tomato. Very tasty! And, then I grabbed a soft tortilla and rolled-up an albacore salad burrito. Geesh, I'm a pig! I still wanted more! (Apologies to all the porkers out there...).

When we floated back into camp that evening, the guides told us that hors d'ouevres and dinner would follow shortly. Come on, now, I expected some burgers and hot dogs for camping and instead received the most incredible food!

I had a grilled, juicy steak cooked to perfection, a side dish of fire-roasted red peppers and asparagus pesto pasta, a wedge of romaine lettuce w/ bits of tomato, capers and blue cheese and toasted, grilled French bread. OMG! I was so stuffed with food and drink that I could barely keep my eyes open around that campfire.

WET River Trips Food video:

Sleep enveloped me in whitewater rafting dreams and food! What a glorious two day trip on the river! Now, if I can only get the camp recipes...














FOOD Resources for camping
  • WET Menus : http://camprecipes.blogspot.com
  • Whitewater Rafting Menus : http://raftwet.com/menu.html
  • FOOD! : https://www.facebook.com/FOOD.wet
  • Camp Recipes : http://camprecipes.com/recipes


All photos, videos and this rafting blog belong to WET River Trips and their social media.
Kudos for Big Poppah's Picasa photos for this blog.