I am now another year older. My birthday was just a few days ago, and to celebrate I have had a week of amazing and epic adventures. I started out my actual birthday with a great 5K trail run. I later met up with good friends I don’t get to see very often for a great burger at Dad’s Kitchen in Fair Oaks. Definitely one of the better burgers I have eaten, it had blue cheese and bacon baked into the patty. The fries were delicious as well. I highly recommend checking this place out. I finished the day seeing some of the greatest action heroes of the 80’s making things explode in Expendables 3.

     I somehow managed to get all three days of Labor Day weekend off so I decided to make every day full of  exploits.

    Day 1: R2ing in the Bold Venture through the Gorge on the South Fork of the American River. This was something I had been wanting to do for awhile and I was not disappointed. The light weight of just two people in the raft had us practically dancing on top of all the waves. We spotted a deer along the shore at one point and a horse tried to splash us near Gorilla Rock. At Hospital Bar we stopped to watch another R2 boat go through. Just when it looked like they had it, they flipped. We paddled on and got off the water early enough for me to finish up the day with a short mountain bike ride.

Day 2: I returned to the El Dorado trail to explore the part I hadn’t been on before. I rode from Shingle Springs to Camino. I followed the path along single track, which took me to some paved sections in Placerville, eventually turning back into dirt trail. One of the most amazing parts of this trail is the bridge over Weber Creek. Halfway over the bridge there are dozens of padlocks engraved with the names of couples, locked on the bridge’s fencing.  I rode until I could literally ride no farther. I was blocked by a chain link fence and a wall of blackberry bushes. I turned around and ate up the miles, making the return trip in less than half the time it took me to climb to the eastern terminus. On the way back an unseen drop caused a pedal bite but I had so much dirt on my legs it seemed to clot up the wound. This trail is quickly becoming a favorite and I look forward to getting to know it better.

Day 3: Back to the South Fork. 21.5 miles. The ‘full river’ run. We put in just above the Chili Bar hole and took out at the Salmon Falls parking lot, taking advantage of  Folsom Lake’s low level to raft rapids that usually aren’t there. The day started out with me falling out in Meatgrinder, my third time swimming this rapid. This was the second worst swim I have ever had. I hit my back on a rock, lost my bandana, sunglasses and guide paddle. I stayed calm, even when a hydraulic kept me stuck in the same spot for ten seconds before allowing me to escape. After getting to safety and assessing my wounds we were back on the water. Within five minutes we recovered my paddle. I was overjoyed to have it back, even though it also received wounds similar to mine. We popped wheelies at several rapids and one of my friends finally got to go through the swimmer’s rapid she has been dreaming about going through, hitting every wave. We had an incredibly smooth run through Bouncing Rock, and almost flipped the Bold Venture at Hospital Bar. We held on and hoped for the best and made it through. Another lesson learned from the river when things get rough.

     Until next time my venturesome readers,