Big South Fork, rookie style

I wasn't sure what level to sign up as for Winter Clinic. I'm most of the way between Intermediate I and Intermediate II, but with the cold weather and the potential for no warm rocks to crawl onto, I decided to step down to Intermediate I for the clinic. It was a good decision and a bad decision. Good because it was useful. Bad because there were things I wanted to work on that we didn't. I guess the end result a realization that this and future clinics are not going to be as earth shattering for me as the clinics I took as a wide-eyed beginner. Now I need to work on the little things: technique subtleties, body mechanics, and most importantly learning to chill.

I can tell people I've been on the Big South Fork now. We put in at Jake's Hole and hammered on technique during the day. Then we picked apart the rapid below it (including doing some fishing with the rescue ropes), ran it one ducky after another, and packed up to head back to camp. Yes, one rapid. That's it.

Gosh that reads like a complaint, but really it isn't. I'm not going to take as many of the clinics anymore, but that's just growing up. Next time I sign up for winter clinic, it'll be with a group that runs more of the BSF. I wasn't emotionally ready for that at this clinic, but I know what I need to do if I want to get there.