Same Deep Water

Middle Kings One-Day

2010-08-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Middle Kings Description from Whitewater Classics, by Tyler Williams:
“Running the Middle Fork of the Kings is the ultimate whitewater adventure in the Sierra Nevadas. A trip down the Middle Kings crosses the breadth of the mountain range, and finishes in the foothills 50 miles downstream. En route, the river drops nearly 8,000 feet in elevation. The journey requires one to two days of hiking to reach the put-in, followed by five to seven days of paddling. There are class V rapids every day of the trip, and a handful of class VI drops. One could hardly create a more perfect setting for cutting-edge wilderness whitewater than the Middle Fork of the Kings.”

The night falls fast, and morning comes quickly. It seems too early for the sunrise, but as we climb the steep six miles toward the top of Bishop Pass, morning light creeps over the ridge to the east. The trail, lit by our headlamps, weaves upward through alpine meadows, passing lakes and stands of Whitebark Pine. Small pockets of snow glow blue in the moonlight. Birds are beginning to sing. It’s getting late.

Ben and I began this 11-mile hike with the goal of completing the Middle Fork of the Kings River in one day. Our boats are light, packed for one instead of the usual 5 to 7 days usually taken to paddle this river. Hollow except for light snacks and the requisite safety rope, my kayak balances comfortably on my shoulder. I switch it from right to left and back again, soreness setting in near the top of the 11,972 foot pass, but the discomfort pushes me forward. The light is coming on fast, pillars of urgent morning sun growing over the horizon.

Sun coming up on the previous trip

After a little more than two hours on the trail, we reach the top, and I look back from where we came. A strange planet appears, and the coarse granite slopes slide down to lakes laid out in perfect calm, reflecting moonlit patches of snow. We rest briefly, then continue racing the sunlight down to the river. We barely beat it. The peaks and walls of Le Conte Canyon glow bright in the early light. I lay out on the pine-needle covered ground, breath and heartbeat still heavy from the hike, and the gravity of the task ahead dawns on me. We’ve got to go!

I consider briefly why I’m here again, putting on my gear, beat from hiking 11 miles, about to paddle 35 more of what many people consider the toughest run in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This day is a mystery, an adventure freed from the relative world. It’s an outside-the-box experience that can’t be replaced by ideas or abstractions, and direct, spontaneous experience of each moment is the beauty of the day.

Soon after entering the river and negotiating the first low-volume rapids, we are portaging. This is our second trip of the week and the details of the descent are fresh. We knew before starting exactly where to portage and re-enter. Now we count on memory and motivation to keep us moving.

Our first camp from the previous trip comes and goes before sun hits the river. I know we’re doing well, but have a long way to go. We hit the first major canyon that required 3 hours previously, and nod to each other that it’s a go. This time we barely slow, staying in the current the whole way. Every move sweeps into the next as we route down some of the biggest rapids on the river. In this pure action, this movement with the river, there is no time, no space, and I realize again why I’m doing this. This day is all the things I love about kayaking packed into one intense and unimaginable experience.

I briefly lose sight of Ben as he drops over one horizon after the next. I enter a big slide and see him rocket out the bottom, already paddling toward the next drop. Then we don’t stop until we reach the end of the canyon. It’s been 15 minutes.

Ben Stookesberry, day two of our previous trip.

We stop to make one of the major portages and sit on our boats for a minute. It feels great to lay in the sun, but I’m so fired up after running all that whitewater I can’t lay still. Then we’re on the move again, feeling better than ever about the day and back on the water in what seems like minutes.

We pass through miles of class III/IV and the towering scenery of Kings Canyon National Park. If any where on this river, now is the time for us to relax and regain strength for the second half of the day. Then for miles the rivers goes from steep class V boulder fields to beautiful meadow and back again. At 2 p.m. we reach a critical point, Tehipite Meadows, which marks the beginning of the “Bottom 9” miles of the Middle Kings. The “Bottom 9” are the most continuous, difficult miles of whitewater on the river, where it tilts on edge and barrels down to the confluence with the South Kings.

Ben near the middle of the Bottom 9

Again relying on memory, we stay in the current as much as possible and portage when necessary. The miles pass quickly, with the sun still high over head, and we reach the confluence at just after 5 p.m.. The day of communicating with little more than nods continues as we push through the final ten miles to the take-out at Garnet Dyke campground. We pull up onto the rocks at exactly 7 p.m., less than 17 hours after starting our hike that morning.

3 in 4

2010-08-16T20:23:00.003-07:00

Put-in at Upper Cherry Creek

Just before sunrise, dawn glowing over the ridge to the east, it is a perfect summer morning. I’m hiking up the Kibbie Ridge trail, 10 miles toward the put-in for Upper Cherry Creek, just outside Yosemite National Park. It’s crisp and cool and I’m trying to keep up with Ben Stookesberry, the brisk air losing out to his unrelenting pace by the time we reach the top of the ridge. I am going fast too though, and feeling good about this as the beginning of our push to paddle three high Sierra rivers in four days.

Upper Cherry Creek is a California Classic, and undoubtedly one of the best stretches of river in the world. This area is relatively well known, and sees quite a bit of traffic. The North Fork of the Kings and the North Fork of the San Joaquin, however, were both descended for the first time one and two years ago, respectively, so remain obscure to all but a few people. All require more than 10 miles of rigorous hiking to access. We knew it was bold to attempt all three in a blitz, but also inspired by the challenge and training it could afford.

Packed relatively light for our two day descent of Upper Cherry Creek, our boats still weigh about 65 pounds, loaded with most things you might take on an overnight backpacking trip. Teetering on one shoulder at a time, they slow our progress on the trail, begrudging us to push slowly up hills and bounce uncomfortably downhill. Morning light has turned into harsh afternoon heat on the shadeless trail descending to the river, and we rinse off streams of sweat once we reach the cool river.

The rapids are calm at first, sliding over slabs of bedrock and through meadows, allowing us to take in the impressive scenery. What an amazing place! The canyon is wide here and nearly treeless; a vast expanse of glacier carved granite. It is like paddling on the moon, grey rock painted with streaks of colorful lichen. Then there are the big rapids and falls, thefun and excitement that draws us here.

Rusty Sage, Cherry Bomb Gorge

One of the first and more intimidating series of rapids is Cherry Bomb Falls, where the river is blocked by rockfall and forced onto the smooth canyon wall. We portage the rockfall and slide back into our kayaks in a surging eddy. There is little time to take a couple precise and powerful strokes before entering the current and careening toward the falls. Then everything happens in an instant; sliding and bouncing off the rockout into space, flying toward the pool, then skipping across it toward the gorge wall.

Brief moments of excitement punctuate the long days of wilderness descents, and are especially appreciated on speed descents, like our next one-day trip on the North Fork of the Kings. After another grueling 10+ mile hike, we arrive at the river where the sun and snowmelt play on the the clean granite and entice us to enter after a brief rest. Soon we are scouting and running the difficult, remote rapids filling the river from top to bottom, challenging us to keep our speed downstream to finish before dark.

Ben Stookesberry, Upper North Fork Kings

Ben after a quick portage, NF Kings

The North Fork Kings left us blistered and sore, but we continue to the North Fork San Joaquin to finish our mini expedition. It is late in the morning by the time our sore bodies allow us out of bed to go toward the trail head, and shortly after starting the hike, Ben’s blistered feet are paining him too much to continue. Decision time for me: turn around and go home, or continue on alone through the wilderness to finish the run. Talking it over with Ben, I decide to go ahead to finish the run and challenge myself on a new scale of exposure.

Ben running a tight falls, NF Kings

Confident yet humbled by the wilderness I’m entering, I hike with ferocity, knowing it is already later than I would like to be starting. I’m covering ground fast, moving up toward the heart of the Ritter Range of the Sierras, and arrive at the river sooner than I had expected. Part of the fun of kayaking is from the real danger the river poses, and nothing lets you enjoy the river and perceive its consequences like paddling solo.

I progress downstream quickly, remembering lines and getting into the flow, one move sweeping right into the next, fully engaging me in the play between skill and the river’s power.

I finish the run, meeting Ben near the bottom, and complete the triple-crown by once again changing gears and hiking three miles up and out to the cars and comfort.

The quick change from the solid world of hiking to the fluid realm of the river highlights the need to continuously adapt and obey a new set of rules. The point of these trips is not to fling ourselves off huge drops, but to learn to treat each moment with care and skill. The key to having a safe and successful trip is learning to deal with each new situation. These four days of hiking and paddling provided great opportunity to stay sharp and prepared for upcoming expeditions.

8/10 Kiwi in a Pocket

2010-08-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Rusty Sage, Upper Cherry Creek, 2010

Photo-a-Day

2010-08-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ben Stookesberry, Middle Kings, 2010. Round one.

"Photo-a-day" is more a description of this trip down the Middle Kings than a goal of publishing a photo every day, though that would be great too.

Balance: A Middle Kings Story

2010-08-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

The idea of doing the Middle Kings about 4 months after its regular season seemed preposterous.

Completely.

Laughable.

I hadn't done anything physically demanding in months. Embarking on the hike alone would be like attacking a fully armored gladiator with a hot fudge sundae.

Looking back down at the first series of lakes.

Usually, life happens too fast for you to do anything about it, but on a snowy hike up Bishop Pass you have plenty of time to think about all that amassed information you haven't bothered thinking about again.

Score on the page 249 quiz in the latest Vogue: trend-savvy and taste-making sense of fashion.

(Ill-focused photo of Rush making his way up Bishop. Steep, snow-filled ravine of doom seen below.)

It's either tears or laughter. I'm not sure how Darin was feeling at this point, but he was on the verge of one of the above due to frustration and exhaustion.

Laughter, I think. Physiological response to knowing how far we still had to go.

Like so many of us, here are Ben and Darin trying to make sense of life from things found in the wilderness.

The sign at the top of Bishop Pass might say "Only by destroying yourself can you find the true strength of your spirit."

It might also say "Elevation 11,972 Feet. Pets, weapons and wheeled vehicles are prohibited."

Darin sat down next to me after he passed the sign and may have said under his breath, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." Sometimes you just have to notice when things are good.

Clearly, he was referencing our discussion on how easy the hike would be since we would be able to drag our boats most of the way.

Or paddle across lakes!

You know, when I went out hiking to this river I didn't think I was really going to have a great time. I knew the river was going to be great, but the hike I was sure I could do without. It's true too, I could have done without it.

But the hike comes free with the river experience, so we had to take it too.

It was not the kind of walk you can just dance along and have a hell of a good time. There are no babes or fire engines to wave at. I mean, you're not going to meet any great people out there in the middle of October. Maybe just some random day hiker who is going to bombard you with questions and exclamations about how you are truly crazy.

Not as crazy, good friend, as the folks in the parking lot who asked how far the trail goes and how long it takes to get there.

"Well, it goes all the way to Canada."

"Oh that's nice," the computer guy replied. "Honey, I think we can make it to Denny's before it closes." Bit of an ill-contrived excuse, don't you think. Using a 24 hour restaurant as a premise to get away from the trail to Canada as fast as possible.

See, we've got to be here on earth to mess around a bit. The computer guy is trying to stay away from that. Maybe he doesn't realize that. That we are dancing animals and we love to move around. Maybe we aren't supposed to dance at all anymore though.

It's the trick of perspective that makes it look like Ben is wading through waist-deep snow. Really, it was only mid-thigh deep.

Finally at 'The Brink' overlooking Le Conte Canyon. The great thing about amassing a bunch of beautiful images and memories is that they never end up owning you. You know, it's like I wanted this perfect view of Le Conte Canyon at dusk. So now I'm satisfied for a while that no matter what goes wrong, I have the "Le Conte at dusk" issue settled. Then it was the perfect first view of the river. Then just the right rapid. Then the perfect meadow. The camp. The bedrock. The miles of whitewater.

Maybe they do own me.

Tehipite is on the map, but it's an experience not on any map.

I think a lot of addictions hide truth from the user. The river won't wait to show you truth. There's no label for it though. What it shows can't be crammed into a single word. A story.

There's something in the experience that's undefined. A mystery. A sphinx. A real adventure.

2010-05-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

All Year

2009-11-05T20:47:00.010-08:00

More than one post in a month?! Seriously. It's kind of true. This is HERE too.

Maybe you just hear about the spring/summer California whitewater. Maybe you think California turns paddlers into soft , fair-weather namby-pambies. Maybe we all live in the sweaty asphalt oceans of suburban sprawl outside Sacramento or San Francisco or (save me sweet jesus)Fresno*. We all have to drive hours and hours away from our vast condos in Downtown to reach the pristine, unadulterated watersheds of the Sierra Mountains. We don't really appreciate them, anyway, and drag our boats if we have no choice but to hike the wheelchair accessible trails. Mostly though, we just have our surfer girlfriends drive us to the put-in bridge then wait, bikini-laden, beers in hand, at the take-out.

Example # 1: Big Kimshew Creek. Spring classic, predictable mid-80's days and great sun-bathing for the girls at take-out.

: Photo: Dave Fusilli

Example #2: Royal Gorge of the North Fork American. Early summer multi-day, but make sure the lady doesn't blast her blingin Escalade sound system on the way out of the put-in.

: Photo: (unknown; let me know who you are)

: Photo: (unknown; let me know who you are)

Example #3: Yuba Gap of the South Fork Yuba. Maybe I need to use the thesaurus. Classic. All stereotypes hold true.

: Photo: Taylor Cavin

Here, Taylor Cavin, currently of Coloma, goes with the flow, bro.

Here, Taylor Cavin rolls a fat one after the boof.

Taylor Cavin was once heard saying, "Holy F-ing Shit! That was the coolest rapid I've ever run!"

(Not actually in reference to background rapid, but to first rapid on 'The Gap')

Sometimes we Oregonians who consider ourselves for honorable Californian-ship have to go to places like eastern Nevada to work so we can keep kayaking in California. Or India. Or Brazil.

It's mountaineering! It's skiing! It's the Middle Kings in October!

Tehipite is a place where dreams come true. A nap definitely becomes reality.

(Ben Stookesberry, Darin McQuoid, and Rush Sturges bask in the October sunshine)

You know, I guess Californians really are soft. As an Oregonian I can say that about all those lazy, sun-baked, (insert derogatory term for Californian).

But really, some of those guys(and girls) are pretty tough and are some of the best kayakers in the world. I've seen one or two of them tear up a dance floor too though, so don't count 'em out when D.A.N.C.E. comes on the radio.

They're from all over. Siskiyou, Mendocino, Humboldt, Shasta, and Butte counties are represented by a ton of good paddlers and rivers and towns you've never heard of or seen on a map. Summertime is the right time, but the other seasons are a fine time too.

* I am terribly sorry if you are from Fresno.

Not Kayaking/The Night Sky

2009-09-07T14:08:00.021-07:00

It's been a while since I have been kayaking, and just thinking about it doesn't produce nearly the same aesthetic appeal or pleasurable stimulation that a true-blue day on the river guarantees. It does remind me though, of all those good days and how I can't wait to get back into the swing of things come winter. (fingers crossed)

I'm not out because of a slipped disk or torn meniscus, thank god.

But let me take that back real quick. I'm not sure if that would be worse than working out in bfe, Nevada. Seriously. Darkest night sky in the lower 48.

Great star gazing though.

At least I have the stars.

Getting excited about the upcoming possibility of doing some actual kayaking next week on the South Feather(very far away from bfe), I got to looking at some pictures from the summer of care free kayaking in the wonderful world of California.

Some fantastic photos:

Darin McQuoid on an early juicer.

Nate Garcito lines up the second day gorge.

Darin sez: "You don't like it? Let me convince you it's soooooooo good."

McQuoid and his gloomy fantasy.

McQuoid again, trying to capture us with his mystery. He's really in there.

Garcito makes it happen.

McQuoid on another classic: NF San Joaquin.

Hardly workin? Me too.

I did a little hiking yesterday. It was actually pretty nice.

Out of the smokey valley and into the clear mountain air.

View from the top. Up in smoke, er, clouds.

Camping was okay too, even with the Labor day crowds.

Behind The Times

2009-07-06T12:01:00.009-07:00

Cali Descending

2009-06-07T18:07:00.020-07:00

To avoid continuing this blog's reputation as the update-less "Same Old S**t", here are a few photos of some kayaking.

It's hard to call the first mile or two of Royal Gorge wilderness, with the "No Trespassing" signs on trees in the water and spread liberally every few hundred feet. Trees clearly below the high water line were plastered with the signs, making most any scout a touchy, though entirely legal affair. Pressure from land owners has lessened in the past couple years(one even waved and smiled at us on the way in), but it still seems like they don't want anybody else in there.

Of course we can respect that. Just scout, portage, and keep the 'booyas' and chest bumping to a minimum, or at least quiet.

Devin Knight minimizing his impact.

Darin McQuoid follows suit, but can't resist a nearly catastrophic 'holla' downstream.

One catastrophe averted, another close at hand.

Darin hit the pool, separated from his helmet due to buckle breakage, and fought to get out of the river left cave/eddy. It must have been pretty disconcerting to resurface without a helmet, on the opposite side of the river from where we were expecting and in a giant dark cave. He battled in there and stayed as composed as anyone in that situation could be, waiting for a rope, its reassuring tightening, and eventual emancipating upward pull.

Hypothermic, shaken, and shaking, I'm sure Darin came into the light with new perspective on risk and reward. Sometimes the highest rewards are not only because of a fun or interesting line, but because of the menacing consequences that await a missed line or unlucky surge in the current. The river occasionally, but physics really, makes us all its bitches.

Darin seemed to have the same line as me off the falls, but must have caught an underwater surge to the other side of the river, ending in a cold, exposed hour instead of a boof out into the sunlight. You just never know.

I love a lot of things about the river and wilderness, but it does show tough love sometimes.

Morning is when I like the wilderness most, empty and echoing, like a half-world, light filtering in through the trees. The fire from the night before smoldering with the nights dew.

That morning at Heath was a little ominous, light breaking out minute by minute, bright splashes on the mountainside and treetops, barely rising enough to reach into the gorge. Pink clouds streaking the sky downstream.

I woke early, knowing I was going into the rest of Heath gorge alone. Pine needles and oak leaves blew along the bedrock in front of me on my way to the ravine access. Birds were going like mad in the trees along the rim as I climbed down to the river.

Paddling down the gorge, really just being there, gave me an almost historical feeling, like I was looking back at myself, as if that morning had already happened. My heart was beating like crazy and my stomach felt queasy with excitement.

I know that gorge has been paddled many times, probably many times solo as well, but it still makes for an exciting and involved short paddle out to sunlight.

The gorge was filled with darkness. I sat at the top for a few minutes, imagining the passing life and the place left to itself, aware of the particular earthy smell, mossy rocks and trees, the horizon line and soaring gorge walls.

I portaged the crux left-to-right move in the gorge, surprised at how easy it was, then dropped down through one of the most dramatic places I can imagine.

Below the crux, in the first sun of the day.

We finished out the day on Royal and made it somewhere down in Generation Gap, if that's the one that comes first.

Another reminder of the random power of water came for me at Rattlesnake falls. I landed center-right and was surfed under the falls, upright, way over to the left side and spit out into the eddy. Luckily, it's an easy one to decamp.

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Next up, the elusive Yuba Gap.
I don't even know where to begin about Yuba Gap. I just want to go back. It's like Fantasy Falls, but one day, smaller river, no big portages and tons of good rapids.

Okay, actually it's hardly like Fantasy, but go there and experience this rugged gem some time in the next five years if there are ever predictable releases again.

Taylor Cavin, above and below.

Darin finishing an early portage.

Emerald waters, easy access, and amazing whitewater slide Yuba Gap right up to my 'Best Day Run' distinction.

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Belo No Mo'

2009-04-23T19:08:00.048-07:00

I'll repeat what plenty of people have been saying for a while now: props to Tyler Bradt.
I doubt I need to repeat the details of his amazing accomplishment, so I'll just leave it at that and thank him for quieting all the skepticism about Pedro Oliva's 'record-breaking' descent of Salto Belo in Brazil.
All question and concern over whether Pedro's performance on Belo carries the world record can be lowered, but hopefully not forgotten. Both were incredible kayaking feats and neither should be brushed off as a 'stunt' or poor representation of kayaking to the wider world. At least neither kayaker spouted off about wanting to "see all you guys in Heaven," thank god. Though Pedro did follow Jaime Pierre's lawn dart approach for landing his big freefall, his motivations were far from the Heavenly realm.
Both are, I'm sure, proud of what they have done and want their actions to represent them and kayaking in a progressive light. If anything, their actions are inspiring to many and big steps in the movement of a new understanding of whitewater and confidence towards big drops.

We're just catching up to skiing and other 'xtreme' sports, right? Hopefully nobody will soon follow with an accidental descent of a new world record waterfall, like skiing's Fred Syverson did off a 107 meter cliff.
However delayed, after Bradt's day at Palouse took the wind from my blogging sails, I will try to clear up a few things about Oliva's day at Belo.
Among the questions of whether or not he stayed in his boat at the bottom, there might be a few other questions, like what did he think about the possible consequences or what about other waterfall experience he had.
Oh, you don't really care about that? Just want to know what happened at the bottom? All the excitement about this has passed?
Well, he stayed in his boat. That's all I could tell happened. He walked out a minute later, slightly shaken, but mostly on top of things and wanting me to go to the top to run the thing too.
Right, Pedro. Not to say that his line was uninspiring...

So, back to Cali, where spring is in full swing and the sun and snow are adding up to some nice days on the river.

Watch out for bro's in bunny suits.

When you do eventually make it to the river, boof and be happy.
Dave Fusilli and Jared Seiler demonstrate.

Jeremy Laucks enjoying his first days in California.

I took this picture of Jared running triple drop. It's bad cause I was scared and watching him and not the camera.

Dave Fusilli took this picture and was not scared.

Somewhere down there was the most absurdly violent piton I have ever experienced and the real reason I was scared. It looked a lot like this:

Jeremy Laucks Photo

Can I please just plug Jackson Kayak here? I think I would be in much worse shape were it not for the Uni-shock bulkhead system in my boat. Uni-shock bulkhead=fancy name for the ankle-saving rope, cleat, and foam system that sits in the front of each JK creek boat. So soft it hardly bruised my ego.

Next day or so, Fusilli checks out what we portage on the South Branch to get to the nice whitewater downstream.

It doesn't go, to all you prospective huckers.

The South Branch keeps it real below the Seven Falls, with plenty of good boofs and rapids all the way to the takeout.
Fusilli cools down on the first of many after the long portage.

Jared Seiler.

Jake on the second tier. The nice thing about white boats is that you can't see them in pictures.

Jared dropping over the third tier.

Jake stroking into the nasty looking bottom hole.

Jared making good time through the splashy lead-in.

And boofing against all odds.

Fusilli too.

Nicole Mansfield airing it out.

It's a lot less intimidating when you can pretty much walk down the drop. Not to say that this isn't high quality, there's just nothing better than summertime in Cali. That's all.

The unclean one. The rapid, not Jared.

Thanks LiquidLogic, for making photography fun again. Jake near the end of the run.

The South Branch is one of my favorite runs in the world and one of the most beautiful places I have been. Right up there in the top five in both lists.
Good enough to go back again at lower water and enjoy another day in the sun.

Darin making the most of our last trip on the SB with a nice run of "99 Problems".

Shon Bollock follows in good form.

Ryan Knight too!

Devin Knight stoked on another sunny day paddling in California. It doesn't get much better.

Brazil: At The End Of The Day

2009-04-13T11:18:00.012-07:00

Well let's just get right down to it. I've been trying to avoid this subject as much possible. I've been asked, prodded, interrogated, about what really happened March 4th on the Rio Sacre behind Salto Belo.

So what really happened, right?

First, let me tactfully distract you with a few photos from the rest of the trip while I conjure up some grossly exaggerated story about that day.

I know I usually just look at pictures anyway, so look at these. I won't even bother you by writing anything about them.

Well here we are at Salto Belo and looks like I'll have to put off the report until next time.

Turn Around

2009-04-04T22:21:00.021-07:00

To recap:

We woke up late, enjoyed Carnaval, went to bed early, repeated, jumped off a tall waterfall, made friends, watched Rafa run Anaconda, drove, dropped Jesse and Rafa at the bus station, drove, continued driving, and eventually went kayaking.

To continue:

With our single CD continuing on repeat anytime the car was on, there are a few lines that are sticking with me, which is surprising, considering how often and how much important information slips through my fragile memory.

Another piece of gold from our single mix CD: "More than a hustla, I'm the definition of it, master chef, Lord of the kitchen cupboard, more than a street legend, homey it's Hova."

Hova: short for Jehovah, Jay-Z, or any other non-deity you can imagine rhyming these lines with the lyrical swagger that possibly only self-proclaiming saviors possess.

So you're here to save the world? What do you say to something like that?

Maybe you don't subscribe to something holy like that mentioned above and find more in exploration and the cyclical nature of things, to be as vague as possible.

I like what T.S. Eliot had to say:

“We shall not cease from exploration/and the end of all our exploring/ will be to arrive where we started/and know the place for the first time.”

So there we were, driving across the plains of central Brazil, feeling a bit less like explorers of the wild than soy fanatics on tour when we stopped at a small towns prefetura to ask for directions. They turned us towards a few waterfalls and even provided locals to call to help us find our way.

Soy lovers rejoice, but bring a local to lead you through the maze. This could have been the fourth time at this spot, but may as well have been the first as far as we could tell.

Everyone deserves a gimme every once in a while, right?

Ben, two steps from the driver's seat, measures the falls.

I don't use 'perfect' to describe Ben's line down this falls casually. As good as it gets.

I don't use 'missed' lightly either.

Sometimes sun, warm water, and a light breeze can make you do silly things.

Ben, excited after the prefect line and to hear the cheers from downstream.

The impoverished, impishly cute children are just out of frame.

The beautiful Cachoeira Abobada.

Finding the falls way too tall to paddle, but wanting to milk as much as possible after a short hike I tried swimming all the way out to it. About halfway there I heard yelling and looked at the beach to see the local guides frantically waving me back.

Safe back on the beach after being warned of the 6 meter sucari, or anaconda, in the pool.

Hm, I think we've been here before...

Hotel Charley 4 Tour

2009-03-28T13:43:00.006-07:00

It's so good! Come check it out at one of the premieres!

Includes unseen first descents in California, the most complete descent of the Indus River through the Rondu Gorge, and the search for the biggest runnable waterfalls on the planet in Central Brazil. Just the new world record waterfall descent(127 ft) should be enough to make you want to come see!

APRIL 2009
WORLD PREMIERE: Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Hood River, OR: The Shed & The River City Saloon
Thursday, April 23, 2009 - Boise, ID: Alpenglowidaho

Saturday, April 25, 2009 - Billings MT: Montana Brewing: Hooligans Restaurant

MAY 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009 - Bellingham, WA: Bellingham Whitewater
Saturday, May 02, 2009 - Portland, OR: Alder Creek

Wednesday, May 06, 2009 - Mt, Shasta, CA: Shasta Base Camp

Friday, May 08, 2009 - Reno, NV: Reno River Festival

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - Salt Lake City, UT: Wasatch Mountain Touring

Thursday, May 14, 2009 - Gunnison, CO: Gunnison Paddle Club

Friday, May 15, 2009 - Telluride, CO: Jagged Edge

Saturday, May 16, 2009 - Durango, CO: Four Corners Riversports

Monday, May 18, 2009 - Edwards/Vail, CO: Alpine Quest Sports

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - Winter Park, CO: Rocky Mountain Adventures

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - Denver, CO: Confluence Kayaks

Thursday, May 21, 2009 - Ft Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Adventures

Saturday, May 23, 2009 - Buena Vista, CO: Paddlefest CKS / Mountain Film

Friday, May 29, 2009 - Jackson Hole, WY: Aaron Pruzan.

Brazil: Part 2, and Some of 3

2009-03-22T14:47:00.016-07:00

On wearing pants in the jungle:

Day 4 after the bite, when things were actually getting better.

The cause of that grotesque swelling. For scale, see below.

Consider: this spider is probably bigger than your hand, unless your name is Yao Ming.

There are a few things you can do while recovering from the bite of an 'aranha marrom', like swallow unlabeled 'antibioticos' and antihistamines while lounging by the pool.

Other activities to speed the recovery process:

1. Jump waterfalls with too little water for kayaking.

2. Make new friends at Carnaval, while not drinking, dancing, or wearing a helmet.

3. Actually go kayaking.

4. Get drunkenly escorted to propose to a women neither party knows.

"Notha beer? Cigarette? Wanna see a magic?"

We left the beer soaked, samba-trampled streets of Pirenopolis in search of greater kayaking opportunities and the furious rainstorms we knew were in the south.

Most noteworthy of happenings on our southern sojourn was Rafa Ortiz's successful descent of the known-to-blow-skirts Anaconda Falls. He rode the dragon's back right down the guts, got swallowed almost immediately by the falls, disappearing about 15 feet down, and emerged from the mist and massive boil a few seconds later.

Anaconda, sans kayaker. One of my favorite new things is looking away just before a kayaker goes over a big waterfall. You should try it.

Brazil: Part One

2009-03-11T20:35:00.049-07:00

Brazil is big. Covering roughly half of South America, it takes fifth place in the world geographical area race. Still, I was surprised when more than a quarter of my flight from the US was actually over cloudy Brazil. Numerous states are bigger than say, Bolivia, and however unlikely, Amazonas would barely notice if tiny Oregon slipped through its jungly borders.

Here, Paraguai feels unnervingly threatened by an encroaching mammoth Brazil, not to mention the possibility of big time agriculture crossing its borders.

Typical scenery, atypical road conditions: driving a relatively smooth road through a relatively large soy plantation. Most driving consisted of the tireless boredom of driving pothole filled roadways interspersed with expletive filled encounters with car width but not quite car depth potholes. As often occurs when estimating travel time from map calculations, using centimeters to surmise drive-time, we were regularly surprised to only drive a few centimeters in more than a few hours.

Occasionally, there would be something nice like a sunset, bird, or random dirt road leading into a maze of soy fields that would distract us for a while. Anything really, seemed pretty nice compared to the endless pothole drag strip in a deep green soy sea. Mostly though, we had to stick to memorizing all the words to the repeating songs of our single CD for entertainment. I don't think I will ever forget Jay-z's words "Don´t follow me youngin, follow my moves, I'm not a role model, a bad influence got the world drinkin gold bottles."

Basically what all this goes to show is that Brazil is a great place to get lost in vast, cultured green fields, learn the words to what is sure to be your new favorite song, and be overwhelmed by the immensity of a place.

What none of that shows is how great a place Brazil is to go kayaking, get knee-deep in jungle mud, and contemplate the edge of ancestral Amazonas. Just know that if you are coming here for any reason, it is huge, and though I can't depreciate our mix-CD, you should bring a library of more than 33 songs.

There are, of course, other great things about travel in Brazil, and some of that follows.

Stepping off the plane in Brasilia I felt one of the things I was looking forward to most: hot, humid air. Coming from my first Oregon/Nevada winter in a few years, it was an appreciated reminder of the Southern Hemisphere's sweet summer, and more, that I don't actually have to leave it.

Ben Stookesberry enjoys a warm nap after a long night.

We got to it right away, leaving the airport with Jesse Coombs, Rafa Ortiz, and Brazilian Pedro Oliva after their first 3 days paddling.

We got into planning and driving that first night, with logistics expert Coombs assuming the daunting roles of both manning the wheel and map.

First morning: first test of our Fiat and first realization that we will be returning this vehicle at about half of what it was worth just seconds before this photo was taken.

Rafa getting a first look at what legitimized the night spent on the road. I'm not sure of the river name, but the Dos Couros Cachoeiras were what we came to paddle.

Looking downstream from the same spot, we were thinking it would be nice not to portage.

Rafa looking downstream at a more immediate problem to negotiate, the Heath Springs style falls of Dos Couros.

Not a penny to spare, Mr. Ben Stookesberry deftly negotiates the falls.

Rafa contemplates the next falls.

Descends them with aplomb.

Then documents while Jesse gives in to the ever present urge to plug straight in to the deep currents bypassing a menacing hole.

Downstream was more of a jungle-bushwack, rappel, snake/spider kind of mission around two huge falls in a very vertical and tall canyon.

It turned out that turning around and going back upstream was a similar endeavor, lacking a rappel, but substituted with a heavy population of spiders.

This was where things eventually got interesting for me, hiking in the dark, through insect and arachnid filled vegetation, I learned a valuable lesson in Brazilian night-hiking: wear pants.

Winter of Content

2009-01-06T17:58:00.010-08:00

Three reasons the Columbia gorge has the best paddling in Oregon:

It's close to Washington
The rivers flow from high on the plateau, dropping steeply, often dramatically, into the Columbia through temperate rain forest.
It has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the Northwest.

Many well known waterfalls lie only minutes off I-84, making them easily accessible while others sit in deep, claustrophobic gorges accessible only by kayak. These are the gorges of dreams and nightmares, depending on your tolerance for being locked in to a sheer walled canyon, likely full of big waterfalls.

Three reasons Bridal Veil Falls is one of the best waterfalls in the gorge:

-It is minutes off I-84, actually visible from the freeway.

-It is neither nightmarish nor in an inaccessible gorge. It is actually incredibly beautiful and has a 100 meter trail to the base.

-It has two dreamy tiers of kayaking goodness, except the upper tier is a little less dreamy than the bottom.

Bridal Veil Falls.

Cody Howard giving scale to the falls.

Cool shot of Cody by Ron Hope of Portland.

Things just fall into place sometimes, plans rolling along and even gaining momentum toward the ultimate goal. A goal of mine for quite some time has been to take a peek at Butte Creek falls near Scotts Mills, OR. Turns out, it actually is as big as everybody had been saying.

Height estimations are notoriously dubious, especially when the falls are in the 'quite tall' category. I don't know if this stands up to the 85 foot claims, but it's definitely not the 65' I was expecting to see.

Photos: Aaron Courter

This photo: Scott Waidelich

Check out Gorge Hits and Huckin Huge for a little video and more photos.

Pakistan: A Single Step

2008-12-29T12:37:00.022-08:00

That's all it took to begin our improbable, unimaginable, and ultimately life-changing trip to the Indus River in northeastern Pakistan.

It was interesting, to say the least, to land in Islamabad after several major incarnations of what we in the USA solely see and hear from the media about Pakistan: terror. Islamabad was in the midst of recovering from the bombing of the Marriott Hotel and next door gov't building, cross border drone attacks from the USA, and a controversial presidential election. We stopped where the blast crater was just getting topped off in front of the Marriott Hotel and sped by the nearby Red Mosque, which has also seen much violent excitement in the past year. It was a daunting introduction to the threat of Muslim extremism in Pakistan.

The Team:

Roland Stevenson: trip mastermind; cultural guide; price haggling master, inshallah al hamdulillah.

Ben Stookesberry: ultra-motivated trip leader; shit-runner; boat scouting guru.

Darin McQuoid: master photographer; California homeboy; undeterred to boat scout class V after two days of chundering at our hotel in Skardu.

Phil Boyer: optimistic decision maker; solid on the water and an assuring presence on the river; did not get wet, the water got Phil Boyered

Rafa Ortiz: team diversity, left early to get back for finals(but otherwise would have cut our portage total, probably significantly), easily lost in a crowd of Pakistanis.

Me: drank more "Haleeb, The Thickest Milk" than previously thought possible in Pakistan

(Need to give Roland extra credit here, for making this trip entirely possible and hooking it up with Mr. Zakaria for a place to stay in Islamabad and innumerable translation and general cultural awareness moments. Shukria al hamdulillah)

Roland looking smug with his finger on the trigger of our police escort's AK-47.

Roland looking cold, and for a cup of chai.

We left Islamabad and spent two long days driving the Karakoram Highway to Skardu high in the heart of the greatest mountain range on earth, the Karakoram mountains, home to more than sixty 7000 meter peaks, K2, and some of the world's largest non-polar glaciers. We passed through places where natural devastation and extreme poverty stood to highlight the intense natural beauty and local hospitality of the region. We drank tea with villagers to whom illiteracy, herding, and farming have been reality for centuries. While on the river we passed villages accessible only by steep, exposed trails and old bridges high above the water. We were made nervous to float under the incessant road construction blasting in ever developing rural Pakistan. It was just another obstacle towards the safe and full descent of the Indus River through the Rondu Gorge.

The river was hard. Maybe the hardest any of us had ever done. At times it was tranquil, but scouts and fierce strokes were often and relaxing was a far off dream. The intense mountain scenery and enormous scale of the landscape framed relaxation into a foreign and even unneeded luxury. The challenges the people of the Indus valley face every day proved that our expedition was merely a drop in the full flow of the mighty Indus.

A sheepherder guiding his herd along the road toward the Pasturelands region of Haramosh.

Darin McQuoid making do with a missed line.

We tried to keep moving at a rate that would get us to the confluence of the Gilgit and Indus Rivers in as short a time as possible, but we had to juggle more than just the challenges of the river, landscape, and logistics. Aside from the legal/permit issues we had to deal with before even putting on the water, the military escort afforded by the District Commissioner of Skardu, we were suddenly and fully absorbed into the education efforts of the Dawn School in the village of Hanuchal.

Roland and I spent an afternoon teaching English to a class of gravely respectful students in one of the four stone classrooms next to the main classroom, pictured below.

In a part of the world considered to harbor terrorism and radical Muslim militants, the front lines of the war on terrorism are spreading to classrooms just like this one. Greg Mortenson is bringing it there with his less-than-massive initiative of education and literacy as the firepower against terrorism. His CAI is building schools and promoting education, especially for girls, in very remote and sometimes volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortenson greeting a young girl on his way to greet every student at an event in Jafarabad in Northern Pakistan.

Pakistan

2008-11-27T20:54:00.006-08:00

It all started as a dream....kind of. I got a call from Ben on a freezing Lake Tahoe night while drifting to sleep in the back of my Land Cruiser after a hard day of construction labor. We had been talking about a trip to India, but the first thing he said to me on that late night call was "What do you think about Pakistan?"
So here we are back in Delhi after an amazing trip to the Karakorum Mountains and the Indus River, already wanting to go back to Pakistan and start over again. It was far and away the most amazing place I have been and think we all share similar feelings. Incredible people, culture, geology, and of course the Indus River through the Rondu Gorge made this experience second to none.
Ben and I are now planning for more adventure in India, but I'll leave a few photos taken by Roland Stevenson, our guide who made this trip possible and to whom we are indebted for this amazing journey.
Darin McQuoid and Phil Boyer also took many amazing photos that I'm sure will be popping up soon. I'll preface these photos by saying that they are an incomplete showing of the whole trip, but should give some idea of the people, landscape, and river.

Arriving in Islamabad

From paki

There's a great story with every one of those photos, but I'll have to get to those later.

NF San Joaquin: Photo Update

2008-08-23T15:37:00.001-07:00

Never slowed down by a disappointing day, we began scheming another mission soon after the Poopenah. The North Fork San Joaquin was the target as we waited for the level in Upper Cherry to drop slightly and for crew to form.
The North Fork was a mission indeed, with a 4 mile hike in, 4 miles of unknown north fork, 6 miles of high water middle fork, then 5 miles to hike out from Cassidy crossing over the middle fork just above the Crucible.

Gearing up at the trailhead.

Scouting one of the more significant drops.

Dropping in to the tricky one.

Resurfacing in the middle about to go down a sweet granite hallway.

Gabrielli, sketchy portage to sketchy seal launch.

Scout that gorge boys.

With whitewater similar in nature to the middle fork, but lacking the massive committing gorges, we made good time down most of the north fork's boulder strewn rapids to a camp soon before the confluence with the middle fork.

We did have a couple very committing gorges to work down and one with two unscoutable but clean looking drops at the end. I committed to the gorge and ran down to a surging eddy just above the second drop to try to get a look. Seeing a clean outflow, I dropped over the lip and down into another small eddy above the final drop where I could get out and give beta and see the last drop. All good to go, we continued down through the next gorge and into the middle fork.
Most of the middle fork was mellow with the exception of two short gorges and a few rapids where we could definitely feel the high water. Seeing Cassidy crossing brought mixed feelings of the comfort and accomplishment of finishing the river, but also the dread of the nearly 4000 foot climb ahead of us.

Day 3: GC of the T

2008-08-14T08:56:00.005-07:00

More photos from Darin McQuoid. Also, Ben has a nice little site with more photos and video.

And here are some words with these photos.

Day 2: GC of the T

2008-08-14T08:43:00.005-07:00

"Dam Hetch Hetchy!"

2008-07-28T13:30:00.018-07:00

The Tuolumne River at the end of the Grand Canyon runs into a structure that has nearly defined a generation of environmentalists. The O'Shaughnessy Dam holds the Tuolumne back in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and completely floods the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Formerly as magnificent as Yosemite Valley to the south, all of Hetch Hetchy Valley now lies under water, and even with many activists lobbying for its restoration, will likely forever remain drowned.

The feasibility of dam removal has been topic of discussion since before construction even began, but now more than ever is there a movement towards restoration.

Check out this timeline from the beginning of the process to today.

"Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." - John Muir

These were taken in the early 1900's before the O'Shaughnessy Dam was constructed.

You can see much of the valley and Wapama Falls cascading in on the left.

Wapama Falls is the smaller looking one on the northern wall. It cascades for more than 1100 feet before meeting the reservoir and is probably still the most powerful falls in Yosemite.

Hm, can you guess where the high water line is?

Proponents of the dam replied to environmentalists like John Muir that the valley would be even more beautiful with a lake. Muir was right, and now the valley, drowned by its own waters, looks sick and damaged. Consistent with other environmental devastation, you'd never see this and think "you know, it's actually more beautiful this way."

Poopenaut Valley

Anyway, below Hetch Hetchy is the Poopenaut Valley, which also happens to be strikingly impressive. After a few hours of sleep and some cold jambalaya following our Grand Canyon mission, Ben woke Darin and I excitedly reporting perfect flows for the 'sneak of the century' down through the Poopenaut.

Poopenaut Valley.

We rose quickly and hiked down below O'Shaugnessy Dam on a service road that eventually crossed the river.

"It looks low, but that could be my 6 a.m. motivation speaking."

We worked down through some mank and a few portages before reaching a couple more miles of mank and portaging. There were a few good rapids, but not really enough to make all the funny business worth it. With a name like Poopenaut, it's hard not to draw parallels between the name and quality of the whitewater.

Ben filming me getting my poop-schmeer on.

Ben using the same technique on the schmeer rapid.

'Like it came out sideways' was our throw and go portage where my attempt at the infamous corkscrew throw failed, leading to an uncomfortable sinking/swimming/paddling experience to below the vertical walls.

Still in good spirits after running a couple good rapids and having relatively easy portages in a very walled in gorge, we continued downstream and were quickly turned off again by a mile or three of low flow mucky-muck.

Just when things were feeling really hopeless, around lunchtime, we got to this great mini gorge with an almost-redeeming-but-not-quite ten foot boof into a swirling little toilet bowl with a tight exit.

Preston Falls was the 'marginal' 'thirty footer' on which we had limited beta. I think the 'exploratory' 'kayakers' we heard that from had limited experience actually seeing the Tuolumne River below Hetch Hetchy.

Life on the edge: running the highly marginal Preston Falls. It is rumored that soon after our descent, small children with only water-wings for craft successfully navigated the falls.

If we would have known that this was the last slide before the final couple miles of mank and meadows, I think we would have taken more time to enjoy and appreciate how much better rapids like it are better than flat pools and manky boulder gardens.

The final verdict on the Poopenaut section of the Tuolumne River was that the name was indeed fitting and that our flows were too low, but that we probably wouldn't even go back with more water.

Thanks again to Darin for the photos.

Day By Day: GC of the T

2008-07-26T18:26:00.001-07:00

Day 1: photo log from Darin McQuoid, in case you haven't already seen them...

Grand Sneak: Updated

2008-07-24T12:41:00.001-07:00

Busy loading boats at the confluence of the NF Kings and Dinkey Creek we met up with Darin McQuoid and Stookesberry as they were scheming a plan to pull a sneak on the Grand Canyon. Hardly convinced that it was going to be good, but still eager to see what was in there and put all the myths to rest, I was torn between all the great paddling options. West Cherry and North Kings or the GC? It was a tough call, but with shuttle arranged and a plan in place, I decided to join the boys on the GC.

Not convinced, Evan and the Southern boys went the other way and hit up West Cherry and the put-in slide. All five in the group ran it with probably one of the biggest huckfest showings ever. Shows what a fired up crew can do.

Dealing with the logistics of the Grand Canyon is tricky to say the least. Not sure of the legality of what we were trying to do and with both a very high profile put-in and take-out, we made every attempt to be covert on all fronts and avoid any unnecessary contact. Throughout the trip we did our best to stay off the popular hiking trail, though it did provide the easiest and fastest portaging, of which there was very much. In the end we decided that portaging fast on the trail and getting back on the water was the best way to avoid contact. We only saw a couple hikers and they didn't seem to think anything of what we were doing, other than wondering how we had survived all the massive falls.

California falls.

Ben scouting a rapid with typical scenery.

Scouting the Muir Gorge. The sieve rapid was looking dubious as ever, so we went for the dome portage in the heat. It was great.

The rumors of the amount of portaging are indeed true, as we found ourselves spending much of our time on the banks walking massive cataracts or slightly less massive rapids.

It is in there if you really want to get it though.

What seemed high turned out to be almost the perfect water level for a quick and fun trip. A little less water and the in-between would slow down and not be fun, but the bigger drops would probably become slightly more manageable.

After the Grand Canyon we continued on down through the Poopenah section of river to complete the sneak. We had a backup plan of exiting Yosemite if Poopenah didn't have the right water level, but a break of dawn level check by Ben got us on the water soon after 6 in the morning and far from the eyes of any possible ranger sighting.

As it turns out, Poopenah is a fitting name for this section of river. It looked like an amazing gorge from the road and we had heard tales of big drops in the committing canyon so we were surprised to find many boulder choked slot drops formed by massive slabs of granite that had separated from high on the canyon walls. There were some redeeming rapids and incredible scenery, but much of the day was spent groveling about chunky rapids and slow moving water.

Late Update: South Fork T

2008-07-15T10:38:00.006-07:00

Searching for something to do after Dinkey Creek and before the GC of the T when we were left with a couple days to figure out shuttle and rest before the portage of the grand canyon, Ben, Darin and I opted for the South Fork of the Tuolumne. Just outside of Groveland, the south fork joins the middle fork, drops over a chunky little slide, then plummets off a huge slide that we had heard was portagable by jumping. The slide may have been good to go but was just so big and menacing nobody really thought about it. A little more water and it's for sure good, but terrifying.
On our ropeless first attempt, we saw there was clearly no way to jump the big slide so we turned straight back upstream and climbed right back out of the canyon. Not an easy task, but the five of us made it without incident.

Ben dropping in on the first try.

Not turning around again. Me dropping in on the second try. The rope was barely long enough for us to get onto enough of a flat to walk. You can barely see me in the upper right corner.
Scouting the big slide that turned us around.

Roping the boats back up the first rapid we ran. I hope I never get turned around like this again.

Finally in the goods. This is the final part of a fun triple drop.

Ben on the slide above the next portage.

Ben dropping off the last rappel.

Finishing up one of the rappels in the bright Cali sun.

Ultra Classic!

2008-06-30T15:38:00.009-07:00

Driving over the pass.

First camp on UCC.

Smoky sunset from camp.

The classic Upper Cherry Creek still reigns as one of the most popular runs in California and definitely the most trafficked high Sierra run. Offering spectacular scenery and equally impressive whitewater, UCC lives up to all the hype and media attention it has seen in the past and inevitably will far into the future. I'll spare all the beautiful pictures of UCC I'm sure you've seen many times before and instead showcase a few older photos of a run not as illustrious, but more fun, if you ask me.

Okay, actually a few UCC photos before anything else.

Jeff, a little center.

Jeff, uh oh.

It can happen anywhere to anybody. Always a humbling experience to see something like this happen, especially to a good paddler. All was well in the end, just a few shaken nerves and wide eyes.

Chris Gabrielli firin it up.

And soaking it in.

Packing up to go to the put-in of Fantasy Falls.

The beautiful reservoir paddle out. I can't imagine how epic this run would be without this reservoir. Or, for that matter how epic many of the high sierra runs would be without their respective reservoirs.

Running one of the early ones.

Lizzy probing the one that got us all.

Trying to avoid the pocket beatdown. And Failing.

Grants hand and I show the results of a good days paddling.

And reap the rewards with an amazing camp.

With incredible views.

And superb whitewater in the early morning.

And in the early morning of the last day, Evan fires off the runs namesake, Fantasy Falls.

Run two to start the morning off right.

There was something mighty frightn'in in that canyon.

And with that scared look in our eyes, we probably walked through manzanita tall and thick and granite open and hot to avoid what was within that gorge. We had a happy ending and moved on to more pressing missions from there.

The Bewilderbeast: Dinkey Creek

2008-06-24T12:13:00.005-07:00

Well we've been busy little bees since the Fantasy Falls trip. Soon after taking off Fantasy and heading back to Grass Valley to run a few errands and check water levels we were back on the road south to Dinkey Creek.

The drive proved to be a little more taxing than we were expecting, so upon arriving to the take-out we promptly slept with high expectations for the following day. The drive to the put-in turned out to be longer, more complex and confusing than any of us were expecting, but we managed to make it to the hike in point in decent time after a good few wrong turns and 8 point turnarounds on the maze of FS roads. We hiked in the heat, but were soon rewarded with the granite goodness Dinkey offers to all comers.

Boofing into one of the many, many awesome bedrock drops.

Getting into the maw of the double pothole rapid.

Someone in the group behind us dropping a nice 20.

Evan fired up for the second run on the Nikki Kelly slide.

Paul Stamilio on another of California's many perfect 20 footers.

Fantasy Falls

2008-06-14T08:08:00.009-07:00

After the South Merced it was back on the road and a day of hectic planning and re-planning as we checked levels and waited for phone calls from missing group members. We managed to get everything and everyone together on one plan and made our way to the North Fork of the Mokelumne River for Fantasy Falls. We were a little late to meet with Reno legend of the slopes Grant Korgan at the put-in, but he was there waiting for us in good faith that we would stick to the plan. With a crack of noon arrival and entry into the river an hour or so after that, we made our way down to the same camp we used last year after a sweet watermelon seed slide in the middle of the first major gorge.

Early arrival and plenty of sun on the granite led us to a lazy afternoon with plenty of rest for the next days gorges and portages.

Good morning on the Big Boy Pants rapid. The river turns around that house rock in the middle and slides way down on a buttery smooth piece of granite.

Day 2 we rallied way down below the third gorge and huge cataract portages and camped on another granite slab with an amazing view of the massive un-run rapid.

We had a very leisurely morning sipping coffee, eating cereal, and sitting in the sun.

We started the morning with the Green Monster big boof off a wave over the top of a giant boulder. After that it was time to get ready for the big three on the last day. A good section of boulder gardens led us to the first of the goods.

Grant on the dreamy Fantasy Falls.

Next up was the infamous Island slide. We looked at it for a good long time and finally Evan fired it up and styled through the whole thing.

Me about the take it in the hole at the bottom of The Thing. I almost made it through but trying to roll pulled me back into the hole to a savage cartwheel or two then pulled the cord and went for the deep line out the bottom.

Evan went next and miraculously made it through no questions asked with a nice roll off the top of the boil. Solid day of paddling for the young beast.

We paddled out nice and early against a strong headwind but made it to the end in good time and celebrated in the sun before heading straight to Dinkey Creek for some smooth waterfall action.

More Merced

2008-06-06T11:32:00.006-07:00

A few more fun South Merced photos from Chris Gabrielli.

Prime camping after a primo day of whitewater. It was HOT by 9 in the morning. Cali at its best.

Coming in hot!

Evan comin out hot. Out of the rapid, of course.

Jono and I blue angel style down the super slide. He's just behind me if you look hard for his paddle.

There we are. Good stuff.

So we've been doing far too much driving, and are now heading south again for the Dinkler and more time at the Kaweah. Good things come to those who wait though and Dinkey should be perfect and should set us up perfectly for a great run on Fantasy Falls. Another group just got off Fantasy with good flows but very cold temps, so we are hoping that the coming week will see rising temperatures and sunny skies.

Tension has been high, so getting a bunch of days on the river is exactly what we need. Sun, water, and tasty smooth granite will do us well.

Unfortunately Jono has work obligations and will be leaving to Poland this weekend then maybe coming back here for BC. Or Norway. Or New Zealand, or Nepal. Rough life he has.

Chris is taking a few days off to go back north for some tlc and rest, but he's already fired up to get back here and on with the pilgrimage. At least I'm expecting him to be after a week of luxury and missing Dinkey and Fantasy. I'm not sure either, but I guess there's no good time to leave California until it's dry so you have to pick and choose if you have to.

Stay tuned for tales of the wild beasts on Dinkey.

South Fork Merced

2008-06-04T16:54:00.010-07:00

Briefly flowing through Yosemite National Park then skirting its way around the park boundary, the South Merced retains much the same feeling of taking a guided nature walk through the park. After driving for far too long and sleeping far too little, we arrived, tired and hungry, at the put-in mid afternoon and leisurely made our way to the river.

After a good bit of fun boulder strewn rapids we came to some good bedrock and found what the South Merced is most well known for, the Super Slide.

Lizzy probes again.

Chris G follows suit with a great line.

CG going hole bustin.

The one recommended portage, and I manage to do it all on the wrong side after pushing too far down to the last eddy. I was unhappy with the route and recommend the right side alternative.

The South Merced has many rapids and much good scenery. Evan enjoys both.

After a little surf, there was a slide on which I wanted to be farther right.

And there was a rapid where CG wanted to be farther left.

Lizzy dropping through another great rapid.

Evan enjoying another slide...

and his massive guns.

All photos Jono Ramsay. Look here for the same photos and different words.

Royal Photos

2008-06-01T10:39:00.013-07:00

All photos by Jono Ramsay.

Probing the first of the Heath.

Evan same.

Evan hole bombin.

Lizzy dropping in to the gorge above Rattlesnake.

Chris G boofing below the bridge.

The Rattler.

Evan scoping the line.

And dropping.

Lizzy getting down into the perfect 20 gorge.

Chris G about to go deep.

It was a bit cold and everything was a little damp, but we got a raging fire going and dried right out.

The Scenic Giant Gap

2008-05-28T11:38:00.015-07:00

After a final low water Kimshew run we came south to the American and Yuba drainages to keep up with the spring melt and make our way to the first of the High Sierra summer runs. After a few days of late afternoon high water runs on the upper South American and the South Yuba, we all liked the idea of heading south to the Kaweah river and Dinkey creek.

It rained. It was cold. We looked at big trees.

Photo: Jono Ramsay

We had an epic day on the East Fork Kaweah with maybe the most carnage I have ever seen in one day. The days tally included a good few surprising swims and definitely some scary ones. All but a few pieces of foam and ego were recovered by days end and we were all smiles once we got to the cars and some warm clothes.

We checked levels that evening and thought driving all the way back up north to the American would be a great idea. It feels a lot farther driving back north after kayaking one day.

Evan and Justin Patt ran Chucks slide on the Middle Fork Kaweah.

Evan killin it.

Photo: Jono Ramsay

Back up to the American and to low water Royal Gorge. I think we just wanted to get it too bad and couldn't wait for flows to come up a little more to make everything more runnable. Still super fun and we can't wait to get in there again.

The site of epic carnage in the morning before we arrived.

In the morning of our planned departure for Royal Gorge we drove nearly all the way to the put-in, got scared away by the cold and rain and imminent decrease in flow and turned around. By mid afternoon just when motivation was reaching record low levels, the four of us who turned around heard that the rest of our group had continued to the put-in to find sun and decently warm temps and had put on.

Time to hustle. Within ten minutes we were back on the road rallying back to the sunny bridge over the river.

It was low, but we made it down to Heath Springs in good time to find the rest of our group roaming around looking despondent and cold. After some war cries and warm hello's, we heard the grim news of a lower Heath run gone wrong and a boat stuck in the cave below the final drop of Heath Springs gorge. Thankful the only thing lost was the boat and gear it held, we camped and prepared for a long second day and possible boat recovery.

Come morning, the boat moved a little further down the wall but still in a terrible place we all deemed unrecoverable.

The boatless party decided to hike out from Heath, but instead of hiking straight back up river, he thought it would be a good idea to hike straight up the mountain and make the hike way harder than it should have been. Yes, all this after deciding to run all of Heath by himself and with a small group. Very poor and self oriented decision making led to this, and I hope everyone involved learned a lot from the situation, especially the solo superstar.

Evan and I still wanted to run upper Heath falls but deemed the lower Heath too low and sketchy to warrant a safe run.

Upper Heath falls.

Evan pointing to the wall.

Lizzy in the awesome white granite gorge above Rattlesnake falls.
Jono ready to boof a nice little slider.

Me and Jono below the bridge.

Evan and I gave Rattlesnake falls and the nasty ledge sticking out about half way down a good look and decided to fire it up. There's a lot to think about when considering running a big drop with the kind of exposure these multi-day runs present. It's definitely more of a commitment than a park and huck and even the smallest mishap could end in an amazing amount of trouble and grief not only for the paddler, but for the whole group.

Evan and I talked about the risks of the drop and decided we both liked it and could hit the line and stay safely distant from the ledge in the falls.

The Rattler!

Evan tuckin up.

We both came out smiling and fired up! I punched myself in the nose a little with my elbow and got a little cut, but it stopped bleeding in less than a minute. Small price to pay for such a fun drop.

Downstream, we portaged.

And ran more amazing whitewater. Evan with the consistent tuck.

Every trip has a broken boat. Corey's boat exploded. We ate lunch. We paddled a long way down Generation and Giant Gaps to the take-out.

All Photos Chris Gabrielli

Come On Vacation, Leave On Probation

2008-05-14T21:01:00.008-07:00

So after our Kimshew experience, we thought it appropriate to take a bit of a slower day and hit up Ben & Jerry's on the West Branch of the Feather. We were still licking our wounds and sore muscles from the day before as we pulled in to the take-out expecting to wait a while for Darin and Devin to show up.

We pulled in to find a few locals also enjoying the sun.

Little did they know we were about to go kayak class 4/5 as they gifted us with some high quality brews. It was impossible to say no to the glistening cans dripping ice as we sat in the shadeless parking lot.

Mike says: what you gonna take a picture of me?

Well we ended up waiting a while as Darin drove from Chico and our new buddies invited us to a barbecue that night just up the road. Promises were made of huge pieces of meat, pretty girls, and an abundance of high quality golden drink. Cultural experience second to none to say the least.

Just some of the locals. Right.

Well back to kayaking. The next day we rallied back to the South Branch hoping to do the two day section after camping on the island above the portage of Seven Falls.

The first day went well again, with the brothers Knight running the second and third decents of the chunky 40 footer above the real portage.

The lead-in to the chunky 40.

The river getting its revenge.

We got down to camp in good time and watched the group behind us bomb off the final 50 in good style. The days destructometer totalled two paddles and one chin out of twelve people on the river. Our group had eight, with six planning to continue for the second day down to Milsap Bar. After the rigors of the day though, the group dropped to four.

Maybe it was seeing the portage route that scared people off?

We have to portage where?

Drying gear on the island below two amazing waterfalls and at the lip of a 150 foot falls.

Boat repair after day one.

One of the most amazing places I have ever been. This was just across from where we camped and about 20 feet farther downstream.

Devin boofing out on a sweet falls shortly after putting on.

We began our portage in the morning and only feet from the river one of the group lost footing and slid towards the river. Arresting himself and his boat with one arm proved to be too much for his shoulder and a good hit to the knee took its toll on motivation.

Then there were three.

We continued the portage and made good time taking the previously unused left side route. Once on the river, Jono, Devin, and I worked our way downstream taking our time to scout things that Devin didn't remember. Devin and I ran a rapid that had never been run before and both of us got stuffed into a bit of an undercut, finding out first hand why it hadn't been run.

Me getting down the triple drop. Shortly before a short ride in the bottom hole.

Stroking till the bottom.

Takin 'er deep off the Headhunter.

Getting ready for another day on the Kimshew.

The Kimshizzle

2008-05-12T17:52:00.003-07:00

If you see this, we are near.

Ben making the move.

Me not making the move and going into the eddy of doom.

Luckily Devin was standing guard at the eddy with a rope just in case someone missed the line.

Humbled by the complexity and power of the slide, I sat on the rock wall above the eddy and contemplated what had gone wrong and why I hadn't made the all important left driving move away from the eddy and into the outflow. This was my biggest missed line on something so consequential and I definitely feel lucky to have emerged at the bottom with little more than lightly bruised elbows.

Everybody says, "Good line Ben."

"Oooooooooohhhhhhh," with grimacing faces for my line.

(you should view the Picasa album after clicking this photo)

With only lightly bruised elbows after the slide gone wrong, we continued down Kimshew until the West Branch, took out, then got ready for the South Branch overnight.

All went well on the upper South Branch, but the group still dwindled from eight to three for the second day. Devin, Jono, and I rallied and were rewarded with what Devin said was the highest run to date, a new portage route around seven falls, and a perfect sunny day.

Still around the Feather and off to something fun tomorrow.

It Goes On...

2008-05-12T15:55:00.023-07:00

Photos by Jono Ramsay unless otherwise noted.

After the Salmon we rallied straight to the Feather drainage where the goods are as densely packed as the poison oak and the snow has been melting and providing great flows. First stop was the South Branch of the Middle Fork of the Feather.

Put-in scene.

Yard sale at the put-in. Cheaper than you might think.

Photo: CG

On good beta from Darin McQuoid, Chris, Jono, and I drove the excellent FS roads and camped at the hike-out point for the one day section. After an entertaining night around a great fire and a leisurely morning at the put in, we geared up and put on to what was to be one of the best one day runs any of us have ever done.

From the bridge, the river starts slowly with mellow boulder gardens and slowly picks up the pace with a few more complex drops before the first bedrock section.

The first falls after a great warm up.

Photo: CG

After a mandatory rapid and another short, mellow, and incredibly scenic section the river picks up the pace and every corner holds the sight of what could very well be the edge of the world.

Dropping into the mandatory.

Hitting the boof at the bottom, avoiding the spicy hole.

Photos: CG

I don't even know how to begin to explain the steep section of falls, slides, and rapids that make up the steep part of this run. It truly is an amazing place and one that defies description. Imagine standing at the lip of a twenty foot waterfall, looking downstream, seeing another twenty footer, then a horizon line and tree tops. Imagine this for a mile and all but one drop is runnable. Paradise indeed.

Dropping into the steeps.

Chris G trying not to boof.

And again.

Just around the corner...

Coming in hot.
Photo: CG

Right into this

It goes on

And on.

This one was a little more consequential than most of the other drops on the run, as it flows rather quickly into a usually portaged falls.

Stacked is what we like to call it.

Photo: CG

Dropping the final slide above the mandatory portage around a 150' falls. This is likely the most consequential, oft run drop on the South Branch, with the pool leading directly over the lip of the 150' falls.

Photo:CG

Looking down the portage falls at the nice slide and the lip of the perfect 50 downstream.

Photo: CG

The perfect 50.

Chris G choosing the right place to go for it.

The day after the South Branch we rallied over to Big Kimshew creek and had another great day, though my boat might tell a different story.

Post Kimshew.

So It Begins

2008-05-06T13:41:00.009-07:00

So the summer odyssey has begun...
We just got down to California and made our first stop at the Salmon River where the 70 degree temps didn't seem to do much to release lots of water but kept us all in shorts and sandals. The great weather and lots of people made for a very fun weekend and got us all stoked on the paddling to come.

Camping at the Salmon.

Getting down into the South Fork.

Chris G launching

Watching the carnage at Cascade on race day. There must have been about a hundred people at the river and only a handful of racers. It was definitely a low key event more for the fun of having so many boaters together for the weekend.

Chris G side boofing. I can't get the photo straight?

Brian McQueen bustin through the train.

Off to the...

2008-04-23T10:49:00.014-07:00

Great things have taken place over the last two weekends; the Canyon Creek Race and the Little White Salmon Race. Kiwi friend, Jono, and I spent a few days lapping the Little White and Green Truss the week before the Canyon Creek Race to attempt getting into decent racing shape. Maybe didn't succeed. Paddled a lot and had heaps of good times on the river though.

Enjoying the best of the LW.

West to the Canyon Creek Race and more people than I ever thought would show up to a kayaking event in the northwest. People lined the shore at the finish and watched the race action.

In the sun. It was great.

After the whole week of rain and snow and cold this was the perfect sunny day to be out on the river.

After this race we spent a few days back in Corvallis working getting ready for summer then went right back up to the Little White to get ready for the race. The weekend came with snow and cold and 18 people fired up to race down one of the best rivers in the states.

Gettin the down low.

Photo: Keel Brightman

The basis of this race was like that of any other; get down the course as fast as you can, hopefully fast than most other people. Stage this basic race premise on a steep river, sprinkle in a few class V rapids over about 2 miles, and expect it to be done in about 15 minutes. More like 18 for the likes of me, far from the front runners. Locals represented in good fashion with Tao and Todd taking first and second.

Jono looking tired and finishing the down river.

Photo: Bo Wallace

Day two was to be a slalom. And indeed, it was.

Jono sneaking by gate four at the lip of boulder sluice, one of the most fun rapids on the river, made even more fun by a few gates.

Photo: Keel Brightman

Again, Todd Anderson represented, posting great slalom times and taking the overall title.

LOTS of people fired off spirit after the first day of racing and with little carnage, finishing off the day the best way possible.

Photo: Keel Brightman

Spring/PNW

2008-04-10T10:57:00.012-07:00

Just spent the last week up in Hood River paddling the Little White Salmon a bit and the regular old White Salmon a couple times. Yes it's very good and the water is sticking around the low but very, very fun and non-threatening levels. Hopefully it will hold until the race next weekend!
Canyon Creek Race this weekend so we're heading that way for a little low-water sprint race action.
Photos by Jono Ramsey

Chris Gabrielli: Right, that looks like a great boof. I'd like to hit that.

EJ Etherington: Well, ya know, throw a little stroke in.

Wow, I'd like to do that too.
CG: the boof is good

We had crew, and that's not even everybody.

Richard Young: Well I was thinking about this job in Idaho, but after this, maybe I'll look in Hood River.

RY: Yes, I'll look in HR. First LW run is so good.

Party time

Rick Cooley: Well I hope my line at Spirit goes this well.

Jeff Hazboun: Well I was thinking about and black holes, but something just came up. Ah, right. Wishbone.

RY: Well this seals it, Hood River it is.

Setting the angle

This is quite the view looking back up at Spirit waiting for someone to run.

RC: not quite as planned. uh-oh.

Nick Zegre: I like caving, but not especially behind big waterfalls.

Return to Oregon

2008-03-14T09:33:00.012-07:00

Well it's been too long since an update so now that I am back in the early spring Oregon rains I have some time to relax and get things in order after a long trip and prepare for the next leg. I was very excited to get back to the homeland and see so many people and places I have been missing for the last few months.
So here I am now in Corvallis about to watch one of my best friends defend for his masters degree, after which there will be much celebration followed by a few weeks paddling in Washington then on to a California summer.

As for the last couple months, I spent one traveling through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru on my way to a free trip with Small World Adventures in Ecuador. I won the summer free trip give-away last October and cashed in on it in early February. I had already been planning on leaving from Ecuador, so it worked out perfectly and I got to paddle briefly before I came home.

Eating lunch on the Jondachi

Boofing on the Jondachi.

Scenery from the river

Jason Schroeder, Hood River representative, on the first drop of the Jondachi.

The Small World van parked outside the lodge.

Everything at SWA was exceptional, from the food and lodging to the guiding and river experience. I was surprised and very happy with the quality of the paddling and especially the on-river guiding.

I came back to Oregon for a couple days then left for Arizona and a trip on the Grand Canyon. I had been expecting cold, wet weather and a generally uncomfortable trip, but was again surprised and very happy with our many days of sun and unseasonably warm weather.

Random kayaking shot by Jonathan Blum

Gol Gol and Other Newz

2008-01-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

After a bit of waiting around in Pucon for some activity to fall in our laps, we devised the plan to rent a truck and take a few days to get out of town and paddle some classics. First was the Gol Gol on the day we left Pucon. We arrived in good time but found the river, unfortunately, a little higher than we were expecting. For reasons unknown, none of us were really that fired up to get it done on the juicy stuff. It's a new and interesting feeling, the one of not being fired up to run the goods and take advantage of the situation of being at such an amazing river. Still fun, of course, and definitely an eye-opener.
Well I guess the eye-opening began on the day we went back to the Middle Palguin thinking of running it from the top. I was super fired up to get back in my boat and really get it done after an unfortunately long hiatus. I think that combo right there got me: super fired up + hiatus = bad news bears.

Example 1:

photo: jared seiler
Above led to an exended surf and eventually a swim.

Yeah I was pissed, but more disappointed than anything. And what better way to make yourself feel better than run a big watefall? Thank god there was one just downstream.

A less than spectacular line off this falls did wonders for my confidence too.

So there we were at the Gol Gol...

Evan on his way to China and to exploding ear syndrome.
photos: ian garcia

We went to the Florin too and I watched Ian boof the big falls like I did last year. I laughed a little then jumped into the pool. We looked at Nilahue and the hatchet wound was still gaping so we came back to Pucon. Happy new year then back to reality of low water and low water motivation.
So we are here in the summer heat and I am getting ready to leave for Ecuador on a bussing mission. Waves in Pichilemu and rain in Peru have me excited to start cruising north. Until next time...

Little Consolation

2007-12-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to start with all that has happenned since the last post. In short, we got shut down on a huge mission north, got shut down(kind of) on a mission south, saw some great scenery, and ran a couple big waterfalls along the way. It was all about the scenery.

View from roadside camp on the way to the Escondido.

Volcano along the Manso.

The Manso with a little more than we were willing to take.
Bariloche at dusk before a night of partying
Before getting into Bariloche we stopped for a special roadside attraction.

Ian scouting the beast from above before we dropped in.
Running one of the drops in the gorge.
photo: LJ Groth
Evan scouting from the intimidating lip.
LJ coming into the lip with a considerable amount of speed.

Ian about to fly.
Me on the lip just before freefall.
photo: LJ Groth
Evan same.
photo: LJ Groth
Stoked crew below the falls.
photo: LJ Groth
Then back to Pucon for some more Middle Palguin on Christmas day.

photo: Demshitzphoto: LJ Groth
photo: LJ Groth

2007-12-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

Low water Turbio
photos by Em Patrick

Villarica

2007-12-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Finding ourselves with little to do for a few days and not being able to get to the river under our own power, Todd and I found quite a bit of entertainment in climbing the local tourist attraction, Volcan Villarica. Rising 2847 meters, 9340 feet for those still using English units, the volcano dominates Pucon's southern skyline and serves as the backdrop for many activities in and around Pucon.We woke up early and made our way to the mountain with snowboards in tow. In terms of the Chilean schedule, we actually started this adventure late at night during prime party hours. We watched the sun rise over the mountain and saw many other volcanos in the area illuminated by the morning light.

Views of the many volcanos.

Our trusty guide checkin the view from the top.

The sometimes fiery crater.

Todd on the way down taking some nice turns.

NOMADS Teaser

2007-11-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Teaser for the NOMADS show that will be airing on January 18 on the Rush HD channel.

Video by Phil

Thanks to Brian Lippy and Phil Baribeau for making it happen and having a great two weeks paddling in Pucon.

LJ getting a shot for the show. That's not a light 8,000 dollars he was carrying in his boat.

Me boofing down the Puesco with lots of water.

So now the TV crew is gone and I´m working at a hostel in town and might get a job at a bar too. Things are going to be quiet for a little while, but there are a lot of people coming down to paddle around Christmas, so keep an eye out for some huge action after the peeps arrive. Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Been a few since an update, eh?
In short: Rodrigo and I paddled a few more days of high water classics, found some wood in unfortunate places, and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive.

Carhuello drop without wood.

photo: Rodrigo

Rodrigo busting through some pushy water.

Synchronized paddling.

Crew arrives:
LJ, Todd, and Tao are fired up to get the goods and we go paddle minutes after they get into Pucon.

Todd droppin low water Tres Saltos.

Oops. Boofing is definitely one of my favortite things to do, but this one was a little scary.

I'm okay though and we kept on paddling every day with high water and motivated crew.

Rodrigo skipping down the slide.

LJ dropping into the second gorge on the Nevados.

photos by Ema Passi

I thought my boof was big. Todd proves that you can boof bigger.

photo: Chris Korbulic

Luckily he flattenned out about 40 feet up and plugged deep breaking his paddle in the huge boil.

photo: Chris Korbulic

LJ in a lonely place.

photo: Chris Korbulic

...then deep in the crease.

photo: Chris Korbulic

LJ stoked to be at the bottom.

photo: Chris Korbulic

2007-10-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Good news: lots of water.
Bad news: not in the Desague.

Got into Chile yesterday after a good couple days of travel and a fun night in Portland, OR. Thanks again to Chris Gabrielli for helping me with everything.

I found Rodrigo in the morning and we were off to the river very soon after. He was just as excited as I was to get on the Rio Desague so we went there first but found it, to our surprise, bone dry. We tried the Nevados and found it bankful and juicing like we had never seen, then opted to go for the classic park-and-hucks on the way back to town. Not a bad first day.

Scouting the local duck-and-huck falls on the Coilaco.

The late boof in all its glory.

This may be one of the most photographed falls in Chile, but for good reason. It might also be one of the most fun to kayak.

It´s Not Over Yet

2007-10-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Our last days in St. John´s Newfoundland were surprisingly productive. We found, cleaned, and returned everything we had borrowed. Almost sold our car then found another solution for it. And we paddled both days we were in town. One of our local contacts from the begining, Chris Buchanon, was in town with a couple days off work and was excited to get out on the water and show us a couple local gems.

Bay Bulls Brook was 20 minutes from downtown and offered some bedrock slides and a few fun rapids.

Chris Buchanon does it right on a fun double drop.

The run finished in the ocean, Bay Bulls I suspect, and we did shuttle slowly in the warmth and occasional sunlight.

Chris also had big plans for the next day and told us about a great looking waterfall with a decent trail most of the way. We were very excited for a good waterfall on the last day of our trip, and easy access sounded better than ever. However, I think our excitement got in the way of our focus on reality and the fact that any time we thought we were going to have an easy hike it turned out to be a serious tuckamore·bog·cursing slog through the woods. It did help that we were also told that it would be an ¨easy hike¨on a ¨fairly maintained trail¨that would take about fifty minutes. Now don´t get me wrong, I´ve sandbagged before to get people to do something, but this might take the crown.

After a couple hours through the tuckamore and deep bog we arrived at the river and found the falls. Dave Macdonald scouting.

Chris Buchanon dropping in on the Little Harbour River falls.

This falls was just what we needed to end our trip on a good note. We paddled out elated that we got on the water the last two days possible and headed back into St. John´s for a night out on George Street.

20/20

2007-10-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

To say that this trip to Newfoundland was a complete success would be a bit misleading. With the Newfoundland expedition curse in full effect and an abnormally low rainfall for the month of October, we were presented with surprisingly few paddling opportunities. This factor coupled with very cold weather and few days on the water could have made this a painful trip.

Fortunately, we had a great crew and enough days paddling to keep spirits and motivation high.

Paddling with some truly great names in the sport was an awesome experience and something I would like to repeat. Seeing their skills coupled with great humility was something I respect and appreciate very much and is something I work towards. And based on the scabs on my knuckles, I have lots of catching up to do.

When planning a trip like this, there are so many factors that go into making the best decisions to get the most out of the time and money spent. To say that hindsight is 20/20 would reiterate a point often made when things don't go as planned, but it is a fully appropriate cliche. It's easy to say now that this might not have been the warmest and wettest fall destination, but based on local beta and rain charts, we picked a great time to visit. And according to most of the people(non-paddlers) we talked to, we were here at the perfect time.

"Oh yeah, August was horrible eh. Rain nearly every day and only a few days of sun," they told us. "It's just clearing up and should be great weather for the rest of October!" Not knowing that rain was what we were after, they gave us their blessings of safety and wished us well, genuinely hoping we enjoy our trip.

Sitting here on the night before we leave and after a great and unexpected day of paddling, I can say that I did genuinely enjoy this trip. It wasn't the epic big-drop fest I had envisioned, but it was a great experience and laid the groundwork for more paddlers to come and explore the nearly endless system of ponds and brooks covering the island.

Where else do you get to see a moose this close anyway?

Above, out of focus moose was encountered while scouting this steep section of river.

...which was minutes away from one of our favorite campsites of the whole trip.

When the whole crew of EJ, Dane, Nick, Joel, Ben, Jesse, Darin, and I were together, we got the best paddling of my time spent here. A couple low water days followed by a random driving find called Doctors Brook, then an overnighter were plenty to keep us happy.

A few of the new arrivals below a drop on Black Brook.

Low water on Black Brook.

We decided that something with a bit more water would be a lot more fun, so we started looking for a falls on the Humber we had heard about. After some logistical problems we found it and were very happy with the results.

Scouting Humber Falls.

Myself running the falls. The first line ended with a swift flip onto the rocks just below the base of the falls and some bloodied knuckles.

Fortunately, the redemption run turned out great with a nice boof that sent me skipping out past the boil.

Ben lining up and ready to boof at the bottom.

We weren't, however, impressed with the difficult access to low water creeks elsewhere on the island. We did come for the difficult access part, but the lack of water made things a little harder to motivate.

EJ and Jesse trying to get us a ride across a big pond to check out a promising section of creek.

Some times the point-and-shoot decides to get all creative on its own. Scouting a good one on the Cloud River.

Ben scouting the big one in the Cloud River gorge.

Ferry to Labrador.

Scouting in Labrador.

The end of the road.

Summary of Labrador in October: too cold, too windy, too dry. With daytime highs of 1 degree Celsius, I'm actually kind of relieved we didn't paddle.

We spent the last couple days back in St. John's preparing to leave and surprisingly paddling both days we have been here. A local paddler, Chris Buchanon, was excited to bring us out and show us some fun water.

Chris on a run about 20 minutes out of town.

Did I ever mention car trouble?

Grapes of Wrath

2007-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Quite a bit has happened since we first arrived and ran our first couple rivers. The rest of the crew showed up, we paddled 6 days in a row with one overnight, then drove around a lot looking for water. Gotta love the northeast, eh?
Right. Maybe when there is water to be found, but how things are looking now we might be seeing some hard times. Maybe we'll just go back to St. John's to party before we leave?

Little Dane on a little slide on Black Brook.
Low water, eh? Nick boofing the bottom of a little sluice drop on Black Brook.

Yers truly sidesteppin a mean looking pocket on the Humber River.

Actually the hole had its way with me a little, sent me into the rocks, and scraped up my thumbs pretty good. I had to get redemption and took run number two after watching Dane, EJ, and Nick have clean lines.

We are in Labrador now and still having a hard time with water so are thinking of heading south back to the island and some possible rain.

It's true, eh

2007-09-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

After some difficulty flying with boats. Long waits in airports, and little sleep, Darin and I were greeted warmly by Dave Ennis and Carolyn Cook, two local paddlers, in the St. John’s Airport. Carolyn offered us a warm house and staging area as we prepared and made plans for our drive west.
Waiting in Toronto.

Our classic car all loaded down.

That evening we gave a quick presentation to a local paddling club then promptly fell asleep. The next morning we made quick work of finding and buying a car, packing it full of our gear and food and began our drive west to find some water.

Finding water became less of an issue once we got here and escaping it became one of great importance. We made camp in the rain, ate in the rain, slept in the rain, and in the morning, hiked in the rain. Of course, we hiked about 6k with 50 pounds of kayak and gear on our shoulders, so we stayed warm.

We had been hoping for a bridge.

The river looked good on our map and had road to road access so we thought it would be a good warm-up for the rest of the trip. We were both a little nervous at the put-in as neither had paddled anything significant for a over a month and Darin was just healing up from a broken collar bone. The run provided little warm-up as we were quickly faced with a scout of a gorge and a couple intimidating horizon lines. It all looked good and we ran down through a simple triple drop leading to the lip of a slightly larger double drop. The double slid down 8 feet with about 80 percent of the water dropping onto an upturned shelf, then dropped of a great 15 footer in to a nice little pool.
After a little more boogie and a couple fun small slides in an ever-growing gorge we ran into a blind corner with something that looked worth scouting. What we found around the corner was intimidating to say the least.

I spent the better part of an hour trying to get a good look at the drop but with no way to the lip and densely vegetated and crumbly cliff walls I could never get a good view. The middle looked good, but the bottom and top were kept mysterious by the dense veg. What I could see was that the drop was about 40-50 feet into a huge room, exiting with another falls in the 15 foot range. With only this info, we decided it was in our best interest to portage up and around the gorge. BC comes to mind when describing the length of the portage, the steep, crumbly walls and dense, sharp growth. We made it to the bottom and checked the pool of the falls and decided that we will take a quick day to get back to this gorge with a bit more water.

Terra Nova

2007-08-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

The plans are coming together as they often do: a random email, a phone call, now plans and a subject to research and be excited about. This plan though, is a little different than most hastily made weekend adventures. This is promising to be a month long epic paddling adventure.

We have been shooting emails back and forth for the last month or so about possible paddling trips this fall. All kinds of ideas have been thrown around, most sounding promising until a little research is done, then as more is found about water conditions, climate, and in some places political or social unrest, the options narrow. Many conditions in a paddling destination need to line up just right in order to have a successful trip. The most important is undoubtedly the water situation.
Easy as it sounds to make sure the water conditions will be right where you want them, it's not as simple as checking an online gauge of the river you want to hit. Unfortunately, it happens to be quite a bit more complicated than that, but there are
a few things that prove indispensable when checking water in foreign lands. A local contact is the number one asset, unless of course there are online gauges and you know how much water you want.

So here we are, a month and a half away from our departure, trying like hell to find out as much as we can about the geology, geography, and of course, hydrology of the area. Lucky that we have a few of the number one assets, local contacts. The internet is a wonderful thing, as is meeting people while traveling and remembering where you put their email address six months later. While in Chile last year, I met a few paddlers who described their country as a great paddling destination. I thought little of it, but now as I plan to go there, I am very glad I stayed in contact with them. Darin M. also has contacts, so we are in good shape.

A short bit of research inspired by a blurry photo and a vague description has led us to find more blurry photos accompanying more vague descriptions.
Here is a little fruit of the research Darin and I have been doing:

Wow.

I have more photos of this river but can't upload them for some reason.

Some big falls maybe worth looking at...

Hopefully we'll see these with more water.

Might be good with more water too...

I'll keep this updated as the adventure nears and I get more info.
This is just the beginning of my trip too!

And a little more fun stuff...

With the summer water conditions and no really desirable paddling options, Chris Gabrielli and I wanted to do some swimming. We were joined by his sister Julie and a few other east coasters on a short jaunt down to a great swimming hole on the Little White.
We were met by a few optimistic paddlers who were, not surprisingly, having kind of a rough low water day.

Here's Chris executing a perfect gainer.

There I am chillin on some slippery logs. It's up for debate whether its cooler to get that view from your boat or from your feet.

So I need to practice my gainer a little...

Checking In

2007-07-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Work, work, work, and no play for me this summer. For some reason the Forest Service thought it was a good idea to hire me again, so I have been fortunate to be conducting research out in the forests of Oregon and Washington. Unfortunately, my paddling has been quite limited, as have reasons to post SDW updates.
I am also in the midst of planning for a serious paddling trip this fall. Some plans are coming together quite nicely, while other ideas have come and gone. Mostly gone though.
I'll soon write more about planning this fall/winter and will hopefully have solid plans at that point.

I know it's old news, but if you're interested...
Click HERE to watch another short of the Salmon River. Includes additional footage from Ryan Scott. It needs a little touching up, but we all need a little entertainment, so here it is again.

AP Reporting...

2007-06-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

Click Here to see the AP video report of our day on the Salmon River Canyon. I have not been able to watch it yet so make sure to let me know what you think!!
Also check HERE to read the article. There is also a better link to the video on this page.

Salmon Video

2007-06-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

A little vid of the Salmon River Canyon, run on May 27th.
Just a small part of a long and amazing day of paddling.

Also, check HERE for some more photos from EJ Etherington.

Fantasy

2007-05-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

The opportunity to paddle the North Fork Mokelumne came as a surprise after missing another high Sierra run and paddling a couple classics on the North Yuba and South Silver in the South American. Known to be the favorite run of many California paddlers, Fantasy Falls piqued my interest and had me fired up immediately after driving to the put-in and seeing that flows were perfect.
We proceeded to get ourselves into a shuttle debacle lasting roughly 7 hours and possibly(definitely) adding a few dents to the bottom of the Corolla we were driving. Note that a sedan is not recommended for the short shuttle.
We put on later in the morning after a leisurely packing session and began our three-day, 24 mile journey to the bottom. We bounced down through the first day of mank and a few good rapids, arriving at our camp just above the entrance to the second gorge at around five. Sun, fire, fresh water, and a setting of huge granite domes and two big rapids below us made for an amazing camp.

Good morning! Into the second gorge.

The second gorge was the highlight of the day, possibly the trip. Big clean slides and rapids were the norm for the day.

One of the big, clean slides.

We ended the day with a portage around a gorge we mistakenly thought to be a recommended portage, a bit of flatwater, then a horizon line leading into another deep, steep walled gorge. We made camp above this and under an incredibly large pine tree. Surrounded by granite domes and the white sound emanating from the gorge below, we made fire, dinner, then slept well expecting the next day to be long and difficult.

Not to let us down, the river continued at a fast pace and kept us on our toes until the reservoir. After multiple portages around marginal at best gorges/rapids, and a full day of good, hard rapids we were excited to see the reservoir. The prospect of fresh cotton and non-freeze-dried food motivated us to complete the paddle-out in good fashion and make it to the car under the moon.

This run was made up of three long days full of more rapids than I can remember surrounded by unbelievable scenery and made even better by the great weather and fun crew on the water. Thanks to Darin McQuoid and Kevin Smith for motivating to get on this.

The runs namesake, Fantasy Falls.

The final slide, quite full of water at 7 in the evening.

Photos Darin McQuoid.

Salmon River

2007-05-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw No Big Names II: Amped, I have wanted to paddle the Salmon River Canyon. As you may know, that video has been out a good little while, so this thing has been near the top of my list for quite some time. After an aborted high water birthday mission last year, I was super fired up to get it this year.
The day finally came after weeks of waiting for levels to drop and for a crew to form. Crew on this day was large and included: Ryan Scott, Jay Gifford, Keel Brightman, Jeff Hazboun, Chris Gabrielli, EJ Etherington, and myself. Huge thanks to Ryan Scott for leading the charge and knowing the lines and trail.
We also had a trail crew including Lana Young and an AP crew shooting video and photos for an upcoming story. Keep an eye out for this one! It's going to be huge! On to other huge things...
The day starts great with a hike down hill for about two miles then a steep scramble down to the water, where you are immediately greeted by the first falls of the day, Split Falls. After this there are a few more falls, then the main event, Frustration Falls.

Myself running Split Falls.
Photo: Keel Brightman

Sticky ledge below Vanishing Falls.
Photo: Keel Brightman

Frustration is a three tiered falls, dropping about 65 feet, the first two being around 10-15, and the third nearly 40. All this is in an absolutely amazing canyon, in which you feel completely insignificant and tiny. Really one of the coolest places I have ever been.
After Frustration and the paddle out through the veil of the left channel of the falls, there is a sweet 20 footer, then Final Falls, the big falls that is often jumped or rappelled off. I was feeling pretty fired up after Frustration and looking at it while people were jumping and rappelling.
I ended up firing it off and having a decent line, over-rotating a bit and tossing my paddle to keep it from meeting my nose. I attempted one hand roll then was helped up by the bow of Gabrielli's boat. Thanks brotha!!!

Parting with my paddle.

Photo Copyright Lana Young

Make sure to check Ryan Scott's blog for photos and more story.
Also, I'll put some video up soon, so stay tuned.

Spring Lovin

2007-05-24T01:07:00.000-07:00

To expand on the previous post....
As mentioned below, a boat or two was left on the shore of Bridge Creek a few weeks ago. This left the owners with a number of unappealing options: hike back in to either paddle the boats out, or hike all the way out again. Or they could choose to abandon the boats and let nature take care of business on those things. Not wanting to wait a million years to see any changes in the plastic, I decided to hike in and paddle one out, an orange Jefe to be exact. Lucky for me, another poor soul wanted to get on Bridge, so I invited him along, not really mentioning that I would be hiking the first mile and a half leaving him to paddle the manky section alone. He did great and we successfully recovered the boat, blazing down Bridge and Wooley with plenty of time to spare. Now for that broken boat still in there, hm?

After paddling a few more mellow days at the Salmon I turned south and made my way to Chico to meet up with Darin McQuoid . We had been hoping for Royal Gorge, but it had dropped out to a boat-breaking low level, so we decided to move south into the Yuba drainage. We quickly paddled Love's Falls, made some phone calls, then drove further south into the South Fork American drainage, where South Silver appeared to be running.
To be honest, I don't think either of us were super excited to be headed towards South Silver as consolation for not getting on Royal. It had always been on my list, but over time it slowly dropped as my impression of it fell into the 'too much hype' category...
However, we were both very impressed with the quality of the run and had a wonderful time as we slowly moved downstream and lapped Skyscraper.

Serious eye-candy...amazing photos by Darin McQuoid

Kevin Smith boofing at the top of Autobahn

Myself finishing off Autobahn

Again on a slide.

Towards a big hole.

Boofing one of the Teacups.

Boofing into Skyscraper

Boofing out of Skyscraper

Movin down Off-ramp.

Portaging on the Fantasy Falls run of the North Fork of the Mokelumne River......