No I haven't lead but a couple. I do much better in a support role. But I really enjoy the trips you plan. You a one of only a few members willing to plan a longer paddle with primitive camping on the way. I don't have the knowledge of our rivers to to do this with enough confidence to lead a group. As to picking out landmarks to find a campsite we plan to use, I'm generally depending on someone like you or EAR to know just where they are. Me? I usually keep checking an electronic map for dummies that says I am here and my destination is here.
Keep bringing us this kind of trip. Jim, Dan and I always look forward to them. Missing the site happens just as not planning how to handle does. We all had confidence that you were fine and would probably be sitting in wait for us after spending the night a mile or so downstream. Even so we worried as neither Jim nor I could get any calls out to you.
Lessons I learned from this? When Dan dumped at the one rapids we got too far separated. I didn't bring the radios that were in my car, thinking we were only 4 and all reasonably experienced. A radio could have let you know we had trouble and slowed down to wait for us. If we had kept in sight we would have known you missed the camp. If we had covered the possible issues ahead of time we might have avoided a lot of disappointment and worry for our whole group.
Maybe our next trip we will be better prepared for the unexpected and handle it better. But no matter what, I expect we will all still be surprised when that next "new" situation unfolds.
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Stan 
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