No Coolers Blog

Today I found myself doing a 2011 river tally; from May of 2011 to today I have catarafted 33 rivers, most of which were multi-day expeditions. Fourteen rivers were in the USA and the rest were in Mexico. The most exciting part is that many of  the Mexican river expeditions were first descents.

Mexico Rios for 2011: Mulatos, Aros, Yaqui, Baluarte, Mezcala, Atotonilco, Tlapaneco, Santa Catarina, Xochistlahuca, Atoyac, Tehuantepec, Alamans (upper Copalita), Hamacs (lower Copalita), Filos-Bobos, Usumacinta.

USA Rivers for 2011: Box Canyon (Sac), Cantara (upper Sacramento), Upper Applegate, North Fork American, South Fork American, Rogue, North Fork Smith, South Fork Cal Salmon, Cal Salmon, Owyhee, Payette, South Fork Boise, Gates of Ladore, Split Mountain, Upper Mishawaka, Lower Mishawaka (Cache la Poudre), Fractions/Frog (Arkansas), Brown’s Canyon, Parkdale, Colorado through the Grand Canyon

Just finished a 16 day private rafting trip down the Colorado River through the grand canyon. What can I say, the canyon is, well, GRAND! Spectacular scenery, interesting side hikes, and cool activities like forming a floating train of bodies in the Little Colorado River. We took our “big” boats so mine was a 12. 5 foot Sotar and Neil rowed a 14 foot Sotar. These boats were awesome and handled the big water (25,000 cfs) just fine.

The chayote can be eaten raw or cooked. It will keep for at least one week (probably much longer) without refrigeration. It is a mild flavored vegetable that taste something between a cucumber and an apple. I have been experimenting with it these last two weeks and am delighted with what can be done with the versatile chayote!.

Here is a recipe I will be serving while guiding the Mulatos River in Mexico next week – enjoy.

Creamed Chayote (2 servings)

1 fresh chayote
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
ground pepper

Chayote: Peel and chop one chayote, cut into 6 or eight wedges, depending on size of chayote, then cut each wedge into three. Boil chayotes in water for 8 to 10 minutes.   

White Sauce: Melt butter under low heat, once melted remove pan from heat. Add flour to melted butter, stir vigorously until well combined. Add some of the milk and stir well to integrate. Then add the rest of the milk under a medium heat and stir continuously bringing to a gentle boil. Cook at a low heat until the consistency you like your white sauce. Crack in some black pepper. 

To Serve: To the cooked sauce, add the cooked, drained chayotes. Stir so all the chayote is covered with the sauce.

NOTE:  This is the version of the recipe I use at home, but my upcoming cookbook will have the “no coolers” version (no butter or milk to ice/refrigerate).

Neil just wrote another great post, thanks honey! see below:

After running the Cache la Poudre River outside of Fort Collins at high water with some local boaters, we headed for the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. Just in time for (you guessed it) more high water! The flows were finally starting to recede and get near prime boating levels for “The Numbers” when downstream water users demanded more water.Turn up the taps and open the diversion tunnels from the west slope and before you know it, we have near peak flows on the Ark! Oh well, at least we have been able to run “Fractions/Frog Rock” and “Browns Canyon.”

The best part about the Fractions/Frog Rock run (other than the excellent whitewater) is the whitewater play park in downtown Buena Vista. The first feature is a river-wide ledge with eddies on both sides. The best entry is from river right which slides you right out to the sweet spot on river left. We have had SO much fun surfing here at the end of each run. Usually there are some kayakers we can impress! The new Sotar boats handle great and are so much fun to surf. Here is Lacey tearing it up on the man-made feature.

Lacey Surfing the "Uptown" feature in the Buena Vista play park

Cache La Poudre - Photo by Dave Dennis

Many women have told me they admire my ability to run high water, class IV -V rapids. If they only knew how nervous I was beforehand – they might not make those comments. Often, I have butterflies in my stomach. Anytime I am on high water or I run a new class IV or higher rapid, my heart races and I break out in a sweat. This high water year has been a challenge!

Dave and Joie

One way I have resolved the nerves issue is to surround myself with good boaters. This last week they shut down the Poudre River to commercial outfitters because of one death and several injuries. You can bet I was nervous about getting out on the class IV runs. I resolved this issue by surrounding myself with local Poudre river boaters and had the luck of meeting up with Dave Dennis and his wife Joie. Dave is the President of the Larimer County Dive Rescue Team. In other words, when there is trouble on the water Dave is the one contacted.

So…one of the tricks I use to overcome nerves is to surround myself with local experts and other experienced boaters. Thanks Fort Collins Colorado boaters for hanging out, showing us the ropes, and making sure we had safety support.

I am always looking for ways to make camp recipes as healthy as possible. I have just discovered a way to improve some recipes and wanted to pass the information onto you.

A few of the recipes in my cookbook “Camp Cooking WITHOUT Coolers” contain shortening. Shortening works very well in the “no coolers” camp kitchen because it does not require a cooler and is shelf-stable, but I have been on the look-out for a healthier alternative.  I believe I just found it. I came across a conversion chart that is handy for easy measurement conversion to replace the shortening with olive oil.

Shortening to Olive Oil Conversion Chart

How has the 2011 high water boating season been for you? Do you need any advice about packing light (without coolers) or using my recipes? I would love to hear from you – post below.

These very handy small packages of salad dressings can be found at WinCo Foods. Each packet is enough dressing for 2 salads. These packets are shelf-stable.

Just finished the cover! You will be able to download the ebook soon.

For those of you following our river journey at www.golightoutdoors.com/blog

We’re now heading for the Owyhee River in southeast Oregon. Looking to run the lower canyon, but would be interested in the middle canyon (Three Forks to Rome) if we can get some more boaters. Launch around June 9 for a 4-5 day trip. Contact us if you think you can join us!

After that we will probably head towards Boise and boat some of the Payette runs from maybe June 13/14 to June 18 or so before heading into Utah for a scheduled trip on the Green River (Lodore) through Dinosaur National Monument. We will head for Colorado after that with plans for the Poudre and Arkansas and ??? We will be in Colorado by July 1st and probably spend a couple of weeks boating before heading for another planned trip in Grand Canyon. This would be a great time to catch up with us for some great boating!

The “English” cucumber lasts for a very long time without refrigeration. These cucumbers taste better than the traditional cucumber. No need to peel these thin skinned vegetables. Easily find them in the grocery store by looking for the cellophane/plastic wrapped cucumbers. Make sure it has the ”English” cucumber label. Also, before buying check them carefully for bruises or bad spots. The last “English” cucumber I purchased lasted for two weeks without refrigeration.

Read all about the start of our river journey at www.golightoutdoors.com/blog. We boated the Upper Sacramento river (Cantara), then did a very special anniversary run on the Rogue, and next was the spectacular North Fork Smith.

Photo taken by Rocky Contos www.SierraRios.org

We are almost ready to take off on another river journey. We will let the river levels determine our path. Here is our general itinerary: May in Oregon/Northern California, June in Idaho, July in Colorado/Arizona, and August in Mexico. I hope you will grab your boat and meet us somewhere along this journey. Kayakers and rafters, if you are looking for an adventure check out the trips being offered through the non-profit organization started by the kayaking explorer Rocky Contos at www.SierraRios.org.

I will be testing new recipes as we travel and will still have the ability to mail out the cookbook “Camp Cooking WITHOUT Coolers II”. I will also be taking care of the final details for publication of the new no coolers and no cooking ebook.

Watch this short video to learn a little about how to make spring rolls. The filling is a mix of fresh vegetables. The peanut sauce is a healthy combination of peanut butter, lime and spices. The rolls can be vegetarian or chicken. Look for the full recipe in my upcoming ebook.

On the left is the flavorful Eastern Hummus Wrap. The triangular shaped sandwiches are middle eastern flatbread folded in half and then cut in half.  The rolls are made with flour tortillas. The white julienne cut vegetable is jicama with fresh squeezed lemon juice and spices sprinkled on top. In the foreground is the hummus being served with vegetables. You can find the recipes in the soon to be released ebook on this site.

Welcome to the brand new nocoolers blog. Follow along with this blog to learn my secrets for planning, packing, and preparing delicious food on multi-day outings without a cooler or ice using nonperishable items and fresh produce. Better yet buy the book while it is still on sale. Can’t afford it or do not think you would use it much? Check back frequently for tips, tricks, and new recipes. I’ll also post my ebooks here when they become available.    

Ladore Canyon on the Green River