Bring a lot of bacon. Meat in general will be plentiful when traveling with boys and bacon pairs well with all of it. Ham, salami, bison, a variety of things in sausage form. The boys will also bring things that they have killed. Like elk. I have to admit, it was more meat than I'd seen in years as I don't really even venture into that section of the grocery store. But apparently carcass holds up better in the cooler than fruits and veggies.
Admission: I have to say that the elk burgers that these men cooked up our first night on the river were surprisingly delicious. But, I was cold. And possibly a bit drunk. So perhaps my judgement was a bit off. I can say that the meat heavy dishes got a little old somewhere around day 4. By day six all I wanted was a giant salad made with greens that hadn't been floating in cooler juice for a week.
What goes well with meat? Beer. Bring lots and lots of beer. 10 beers per person per day was the calculation we were given when standing in the parking lot after grocery shopping. (Um, what?!) We made another trip to the liquor store and we still ran out.
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Also, bring whiskey. And please make it good whiskey. In retrospect, there could have been more whiskey. This girlie-girl likes the whiskey. If for no other reason than the fact that it cuts down on the trips to pee in the woods. In addition, multiple test results show whiskey does not give me the burly hangovers that other liquor can. So yay for whiskey.
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Sneak some gatorade in the cooler. Make room. You're going to need it. Especially if you were there to see the discovery of funky goo under the cover of one of the drinking water jugs at the put-in. And you were there to subsequently hear someone say "Ah, its fine. We'll just use that one for coffee." When you feel like all drinking water is suspect you will be very happy to open something with a seal.
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Be prepared to take some slack for anything you bring that's pink. Don't let it stop you. I think the boys secretly like that you look like a girl in the wilderness (provided you're not acting like a little pink princess) and pink things will help you pull this off even if you haven't showered in a number of days. But I'm just sayin'....be prepared to take some verbal abuse.
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Don't over pack. No one cares if you wear the same clothes everyday, all day, for seven days. Even you won't care after about day two. You're just going to end up lugging all that crap around. Like shampoo. (yes, I did this. i even knew it was a mistake as I was doing it but in the short turnaround time between MTBing and river rafting I just transferred the shower bag and didn't bother to sort through it. lesson learned.) FYI, no showers on remote wild rivers. You can wash your hair in the river with special soap but that river is C-OLD and you are not going to want to put your head in it no matter how tough you think you are 'sconnie girl.
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Do pack a headlamp and a book, so when the boys party a little too hard on the river and your whole camp is passed out by 8pm you won't be sitting alone, in the dark, on a remote river with nothing to do but stare at the stars and listen to the current. I mean, that's great and all....but for like, 15 minutes.
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Most importantly, chill out, go with the flow, and try to pretend you're not trapped on a remote river. (i totally struggled with this...at first it was all fun and games but around day four i started to get overwhelmed by thoughts of everything I should be doing back in the "real world", possibly because this is where the plan changed from 5 days to 7, but probably too because I don't know how to shut my brain off.) It helps if you can get some girl time. And I'm not talking about finding the remotest tree to pee behind. I mean take off on a hike. Go explore. Get away from all the testosterone for a bit. It will keep you sane. Just watch out for mountain lions. For real.
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