Four toes and a phlange...

This is this guy, Daniel (from Pikes Peak Whitewater Club)'s foot, if you notice, his little toe does not even touch the ground, unless he strains to put it there. Weird, huh?

This past week Stacy and I had the opportunity to paddle with the wonderful people from Pike's Peak Whitewater Club. We paddled the Arkansas from Pinnacle Rock through the Royal Gorge to get a total of about 19 miles. Having the chance to paddle with this group of people was a real honor for us.

After my diagnosis with colon cancer, this group of people (who I had not even met yet), headed up by Mike Brown put forth a huge effort to raise money to help me with all the medical bills I had aquired. By doing so, they gave me the encouragement and support I needed to continue going through the treatments. I will forever be a huge fan of PPWC, and will always feel a special connection to them.


Stacy and I had never paddled this section of river before, and we had such a great time with the crew there. We did some surfing and just had so much fun cruising through the rapids.



The Royal Gorge was a really cool place to see. The rapids were fun class IV between tall rock walls. We saw some Big Horned Sheep and a deer next to the river. We also crossed under the Royal Gorge Bridge (possibly one of the highest spanning bridges in the world... or at least that is what we were told) and also a ramp a few hundred feet off the water that someone said Evil Kinevil tried to jump across the river on (that may just be the legend, as told by Daniel).

We had so much fun paddling with everyone from PPWC, and really hope to paddle with them again sometime. Thanks so much to those guys for paddling with us and also for all the support given to me through the hard times last year.