{"id":33483,"date":"2024-08-11T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=33483"},"modified":"2024-08-12T10:23:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T17:23:18","slug":"the-captain-of-planning-and-worry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2024\/08\/11\/the-captain-of-planning-and-worry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Captain of Planning and Worry"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late July of 2023, I found myself anxiously walking through a forest of charred trees and arrowroot a quarter mile downstream of the put-in on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. I\u2019d gone in search of a better view, fretting about the rapids I\u2019d be dealing with in the first three minutes of a seven-day trip.<\/p>\n

My jittery nerves aren\u2019t new. Years ago, while plotting one of our first big floats, my good friend Duward suggested I take on the title \u201cCaptain of Planning and Worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this particular trip, my worries went deep. Duward, who was responsible for bringing me in, knew most of the members and had been racking up big water credentials with many of them in places that made me sheepish to consider. I was a second-degree invitee, and while I\u2019d run Class IV rapids, I\u2019d be floating this with a group whose expertise was measured in decades, not years. I was a newbie, on this river at least, and a stranger amongst them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The odds of securing a Middle Fork permit aren\u2019t good, but worse than never getting to go would be accepting an invitation only to end up being the weak link. I spent the night before launch lying in the back of my pickup, mentally rearranging gear and visualizing my morning routine. For the life of me, however, I couldn\u2019t shake the words of another member of the group who I\u2019d only just met.<\/p>\n

After meeting him, Mark pointedly asked me about my rafting experience. I gave him my whitewater resume: Desolation on the Green, Hell\u2019s Canyon, Lower Rogue, two sections of the Lower Salmon, and the Clark Fork\u2019s Alberton Gorge.<\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s response did not cool my anxiety. \u201cSo, this is going to be your first really big water, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I ended up really liking Mark, and had he made that statement five days later, I probably would have laughed it off. But I was the new kid and wasn\u2019t going to do or say anything that might jinx me. Besides, he was scrutinizing my Verdito<\/em>.<\/p>\n