Personas de Mexico! Si nos reunimos en Mexico y que desea mantenerse en contacto, por favor, dejar un comentario o mensaje de correo electrónico mí con su información de contacto. Mi dirección de correo electrónico está williekayak@gmail.com.
People of Canada and the US! If I met you in Mexico and you want to keep in touch, please leave a comment or email me with contact information. My email address is williekayak@gmail.com.
I've just returned from 6 days and 5 nights in Puerta Vallarta. I met amazing people and had a kickass time. I probably averaged 4-5 hours of sleep per night -- there was just a lot to do.
Samba Vallarta is one of the smaller resorts. The staff are terrific.
We got skunked bottom fishing. Well, we caught over a hundred fish too small to keep...does that count as "skunked"? A pleasant boat ride is never a bad thing, though: I got in probably 10 hours of surfing, stroke work, and conditioning in an Ocean Kayaks Frenzy while I was there. Air temp was mid-80s all day, and water temp was high 60s (Fahrenheit).
Photo uploading to Blogger just failed on me, so more to come!
Luke made a trip report of a Canyon Creek (Washington) run from a couple of weeks back, and a version was posted on the Team Riot website. I'm in a few of the pictures. This one, at Big Falls a.k.a. Big Kahuna, is probably the best one:
The North swells were 9 feet at 13 seconds, with a 5-15 mph eastern wind (blowing offshore) and 70 degree temperatures. We arrived at 12:30 to find Liam and Trevor packing up. "Too big," they said. "Can't get out past the break." We were already suited up, and wanted to see for ourselves, so we were rewarded with a beautiful day of shredding some huge breakers.
Just after the tide peaked, there were two sets of breakers, with an in-between zone where the outer breakers would 'unbreak' before collapsing closer to shore. The inner breakers were providing nice, long, if mushy, rides. The outer breakers were where the real excitement was, with 9-10 foot swells that were being stood up by the wind blowing out to sea. Much air was caught and many a wild ride were had. By the time the sun set, the water was out far enough to eliminate the inner breakers, and the remaining break zone was fast and furious indeed.
I tried out the Astro 58 with fins installed, and had some breakthroughs in ride length, cartwheeling in the foam pile, and airtime. I suppose my lack of fear for the big waves comes from having not been really worked in the surf before. I'm in no hurry, though. Hopefully, there will be a few more days of storm swells under sunny skies at the Oregon coast before the rains come into our rivers and our attention is diverted elsewhere...
Paul, Allen, and I rallied from Portland to meet Kenny K. at BZ Corners for an afternoon Truss run. We ran into Rachel, Joe, EJ, Kate, James, etc. and got the word that the Truss was holding up relatively well for the low flow, with most of the water coming from the top instead of the aquifers. It's a trippy drainage, the White Salmon.
No swims, and decent lines were had by all. I hadn't been in the Magnum for a few weeks, so it was nice to get my boof on once again. I managed to keep my head dry the whole run, except for a quick roll at the put-in to cool off. Paul had the cleanest line at Big Brother, as Allen and I both utterly crushed our boofs -- straight into the cave. It was nice to get out on the river with Kenny, as he's coming off a long hiatus, and has just moved to White Salmon, so he's been jonesing.
After breaking camp near the put-in, I headed into town for some breakfast fare. Well-fed and full of hot coffee, I proceeded to BZ Corner to lounge in the sun and wait for boaters to show up. After a nice morning run with Lewis and his roomie Pat (who fired up both Big Brother and BZ for the first time, with good results), I hung out my gear and got back to lazing in the sun.
The PDX crew finally showed up around 3:00, and we got underway.
(More update to come. Here's a couple clips for now. Johnny exhibited his renowned brawniness on Big Brother, and I finally got a decent line on BZ Falls.)
Met Mike Long at Lewis & Clark at 8:00 a.m. Well, 8:25, anyway. Our Little White plans were dashed by the lack of a third -- this situation owing to a misinterpreted text from Luke. I wanted a third paddler for my second time down the legendary Little White, so we opted to traipse down the Lower Wind to kill time before some Portland friends were due at the Green Truss in the afternoon.
So Mike's delightful shuttle bunny (ring and a contract) helped us set a car at the bottom, and we put on around the same time as two other groups, one of which included Jacob Cruser and even some inflatable kayaks. We charged down to Shipherd Falls, with me trying the right entry line and spending a bit of elbow time in The Flume on the way. Sometime during our five laps on the falls, the phone rang, and the word came that our friends might be running the Lower Wind instead of the Green Truss, due to time constraints.
Later, whilst we pondered the meaning of it all over a cold PBR tallboy in the hot spring near the end of the run, the phone was heard to ring once more. Verily, our brethren had congealed into a critical mass of bro-brah-ness, which was converging on our location...eventually.
We killed some time at the store in Carson, where my rash guard got left and run over. Mike owes me big for this, and try to pay his debt by loaning me a playboat that was being brought especially for him from town by our impending crew. It was a ZG or some other archaic foot torture device, so I passed. When Mike spotted the shuttle bunny driving by, we engaged in hot pursuit, cutting her off at the pass at Hot Springs Road and Hwy 14. Jess drives slow, or we'd never have caught her. Thereafter, we made our way up the hill to the takeout, getting a call from Johnny when we were 100 yards away, wondering where we were, as he had just arrived himself.
So it was that our timing was perfect, and we were grateful to be with good friends Luke, Deek, and others, for another round of Lower Wind goodness. This time held no laps of rapids or falls, nor a hot springs stop. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all, and many sick boofs were executed with cold precision, to the extent which that was possible on the only "LW" that we paddled that day.
We went our separate ways, and as dusk neared, I boogied to the vicinity of the Green Truss put-in to find a camp spot, and found a pleasant unimproved site up on a ridge to the west. It was on the border of a timber sale, and several trees had been felled to block the road, so dry wood and tinder were plentiful. I strung up a throw rope to hang gear on, gathered some wood, made a fire and a bed, ate a sandwich, washed it down with Ice Cold Beer, and settled in for a relaxing and peaceful night under the stars. Tomorrow was sure to involve the Truss, finally.
I haven't been keeping up to date on my blogging, and this entry is a partial one, but I thought I'd post something for whichever of my faithful readers have not already given up hope. I have about 35 incomplete and unpublished entries, many just standard runs and one-paragraph trip reports, but some that will be worth waiting for.
If you'd like a sneak peak at forthcoming video clips, check out my videos on Vimeo.
This entry in particular has some carnage to report, which I will do once the video is uploaded.
Luke, Tony, Ryan, and I headed up to the Green Truss for an after-work run. The recent rain had brought the level back up to just barely above 2.5 feet, by our reckoning. It was a good day.
Here is my ill-fated line on BZ Falls. I started too far left, got too far left, and caught my bow on the raspy rock face, which turned me sideways. I knew I was in for a ride when I landed in a side surf. Enjoy:
I was still reeling from my bout with food poisoning, so I took it easy with another mellow run down the Lower Wind. I ran The Flume twice again -- it's getting less fun as the water runs out. I made just one pass at Shipherd's Falls, but I nailed my lines, so I was happy with it.
Dingo Dave swam the whole way, as he embarked on his virgin riverboarding voyage on a run that was probably a bit low for such undertakings. He said he'll bring kneepads and an athletic cup next time. Since he didn't technically have an out-of-boat experience, he drank beer sweet and pure from the can it came in. The same could not be said for all of our crew...
Cory had a swim at High Bridge due to a broken paddle, followed by a swim at The Flume due to a 190cm breakdown paddle. :) Kourtni got rodeoed in the first drop of Shipherd's before punching and earning a booty beer. The hot springs on river left below Shipherd's Falls make a cozy setting for keeping the booty beer tradition alive -- watch as Cory and Kourtni keep their river karma positive:
To Kourtni's credit, she hiked back up and ran the drop cleanly to make good on it:
Arriving at BZ Corner at 8:05 a.m., I found that I was the only safety boater there, so I chatted with Nate, Heather, and Austin for a while until more folks arrived. Our celebrity safety coordinator Sam showed up at 8:35 or so, and we soon had a critical mass of safety boaters, so we made ready to head up. On the way up to the put-in, one of the many unsecured kayaks in the trailer of the shuttle rig blew out and onto the road, bouncing and skidding to a halt. Luckily, it was a rental, demo, or somesuch.
This marked the first time I didn't use a rope to put on the Truss (and my second time ever on the Truss), which was a good experience. Takes more effort per paddler, but is so much more time-efficient. My safety assignment was Big Brother, and I ended up serving as secondary cave roper for the day, behind the big cannon rope-launching machine known as Luke Spencer. Ryan Youngs and Turin were on river left at the top of the falls with me most of the day, along with a videographer for Fox Sports News. Luckily, Garreth had volunteered to be the dope-on-a-rope, so he got to hang out in the shivering mist at the base of the falls all day, and spare us the suffering.
About half the racers went into the cave at the base of the falls, surprisingly, including local favorite Todd Anderson, who showed clear frustration at his less-than-optimal line. Luckily, there were no swimmers out of the cave. In fact, we had only one swimmer all day -- Dr. Greg had the best line of the day on the drop itself, but got worked against the right wall soon after. After a couple of attempts at rolling on either side, he punched. It was then that we realized there was no one in a boat at the bottom of Big Brother, which we rapidly remedied. Fortunately, his gear was gathered at Double Drop, though we really should have had a better plan to begin with, Sam. After the race was done, we packed up and fired up the rest of the run, after helping folks ferry equipment back across the river. It takes balls of steel to kayak a $10,000 video camera across the river without a sprayskirt, I should think.
Luke fired up the center flake and styled it, airing out at an angle and lightly touching down on the downflow on the face of the manky left side of the falls. He pulled his bow up a bit at the last second and greased across the pile, marking the fastest line I saw all day, and plenty of reason for the other racers to be glad he was on safety and not stealing their thunder. For my part, I caught both the flake and the boof stroke, and aired it good into the pile, landing with 10-15 degrees of upward bow angle. It felt really solid, and I think it was an improvement over my first line down this drop last year. The rest of the run was great. Only Johnny Ott had the cajones to fire up BZ Falls on this day, and he had to fight the tractor beam on the left for a bit before it mercifully let him go.
After we took out at BZ, we enjoyed watching the boatercross competition. Gorge Games staff stopped people from walking down the the shore to spectate after some arbitrary number had already gone down, so it was none too crowded. I only wish that dog would not have licked the scab on my leg quite so much. Here's a brief clip of Tao winning one of his heats:
After the boatercross, as the awards ceremony was starting, I got propositioned for a quick run down the middle section (BZ to Husum), and happily accepted, as they needed another safety boater for the crew. The six (?) of us had an uneventful run, with just one brief and painless swim. Luckily, Miss Adams had been saying at last week's Carnage Run that she was fully qualified to drink booty beers, having solidified her combat roll. I was happy to hold her to it:
She did us proud. If you're wondering -- yes, the booty beer is one of my favorite traditions in kayaking.
I ended up camping out up at Trout Lake with a bunch of PDX Kayakers and new friends, shutting down the campfire with Drs. Dey and Boyok. It was a good day.
You can read Luke's Gorge Games reports here and here.
With a freshly-broken boat (courtesy of the North Fork Clackamas) and a California creeking trip coming up, I found myself in the market for a new boat. I'd always looked at the Riot Magnum 72 and wished there was a bigger version, so I jumped at the chance to demo the Magnum 80 on the East Fork Lewis River before my trip. The East Fork is a great place to test a boat, because there is a little bit of everything. Halfway through the run, I knew I'd found a keeper. I've owned a Magnum 80 for about 3 weeks now, and had the opportunity to thoroughly test it on Class V California creeks.
I was raised on a low-rocker planing-hull river-runner (the Bliss-Stick MAC-1), but as I boated more Class IV and V creeks, it became clear that I needed a proper creekboat. I couldn't stand the pure displacement hull boats I tried, but knew I needed some of their features. The Magnum 80 is my dream creeker -- Riot has managed to bring the best of both planing and displacement hull creekboats into one design.
The wide base means it sits high enough to glide over boogie water, pushy hydraulics, and holes. If you manage to get it down into the meat, the predictable resurfacing and stable side-surf will equip you to handle the situation. The bow design punches well for those times when you just have to charge through. The slight V-hull at the stern makes the rear edges less grabby and helps tracking, while the stubbed stern end works with the rocker to make the Magnum 80 release well when boofing. Boof landings are surprisingly soft, considering the performance of the hull. The stern grooves require a fair amount of boat tilt before they engage and carve, which plays well with how stable it is on edge. Once the grooves are engaged, the Magnum 80 can and will whip into eddies like an oversized playboat.
This boat likes to be driven -- the complacent paddler will find themselves blown around a bit, but the aggressive paddler will find the Magnum 80 very rewarding to paddle. The combination of easy turning and solid tracking to a line has to be experienced to be believed. What the Magnum 80 lacks in top speed and holding that speed, it makes up for in raw acceleration -- this boat leaps from the water when you really get after it, and has plenty of low-end speed to make critical ferry moves a piece of cake. This responsiveness comes in really handy during last-second corrections and other dynamic situations, as well.
Outfitting-wise, the new Riot "big boy" seat should be able to accommodate some of the biggest paddlers out there, and the cockpit is large enough for this 6'0" paddler to pull both knees out at once, even when seated quite forward in the boat. The height of the bow up near the cockpit makes for a comfortable seating position without getting in the way of paddle strokes. The high deck also makes the Magnum 80 pretty easy to roll. Riot's outfitting doesn't disappoint, with an adjustable-height backband and easy-to-shim hip pads, which is good -- paddlers on the lower end of the weight range for this boat will find themselves adding quite a bit of foam to the hips. One recommended addition to the outfitting would be some glued-in minicell foam to cushion knees in case of a piton. Expedition and exploratory boaters will appreciate the balance between sturdiness and running weight, as well as the roomy stern compartment.
Riot have definitely outdone themselves with this boat, and I'd recommend anyone in the market for a big creeker give it a try before deciding. It's that good. My name is Willie Illingworth, and I approve this message.
Hit the Farmlands at just below 4ft on the Husum gauge with Tony Bizone, Joe Stumpfel, and Allen Satcher. This was my first time down, but I can see why they say this is the perfect level for the Farmlands.
Sidewinder is the first big drop on this section:
After some generic Class III-IV rapids, paddlers come to Lava Falls:
Joe Stumpfel making Lava Falls pay (he was a hair right of where he wanted to be, forward to 0:48 for the action, I was too lazy to edit):
Tony Bizone killing it on Lava Falls (he was two hairs left of where he wanted to be):
Off Ramp is the last of the major drops on this section:
I boated well this day, with a flip and snap roll near the undercut on Sidewinder being the lowlight. The more I boat the Riot Magnum 80, the more I like it.
Luke Spencer, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Ott, and I had a blast exploring a steep, Class V, micro-creek in the Bend area over the holiday weekend. There are several gorgeous drops that made all the hiking and scouting worth it. For example:
After the run, asking around on BENDkayaker if this was a first descent yielded a response from James Fredericks to the contrary:
It's really cool you guys did the run! Unfortunately, you don't have the first descent. In June of 1995, my friends Kent Koeller, Chip Hogan, and I first ran the stretch from the upper footbridge (about two miles up from the parking lot) on down. All the falls except the big one were run. So, one of you guys ran the 35 footer? I personally waded out and it was waist-chest deep at the bottom!
I went back again that July with Jayson Bowerman and did the run again.
I do believe that the one who ran the 35 footer has the first on that falls. Thanks for the report, and stop in at Alder Creek in Bend-I work there Mon-Thurs.
Waist/chest-deep is enough to boof into, so I nabbed a first known descent of this chunky 35-footish waterfall (officially named Fall Creek Falls):
Chuck and I in silhouette
As the first person stupid enough to run this waterfall, I dub it Confusion Falls. Reason being, when I was standing atop the falls and preparing to fire it up, Luke (a.k.a. Mr. Magoo) thought I made the sign for "I'm calling it off" when I had actually made the sign for "inner calm". Luke called off the troops, and when I gave a long "I'm firing it up now" blast on my whistle, I took Chuck's "I'm over here, Willie" whistle blast as a "you're good to go". Lesson learned: don't oversign. I almost named it Placebo Falls, since the safety was purely imaginary.
me and my line on Confusion Falls
It's good that I greased my line, as none of my crew were there to provide safety or document my run. I landed in the foam pile a couple feet from the maul, 30 degrees from sideways, and 30 degrees off the horizontal. Immediately upon contact, I lifted my bow to make sure my scoop was shallow. I may have just grazed the bottom. I surfaced without flipping, noticed one of my paddle blades missing (landing in a low brace seemed prudent for this drop), and looked up to see a rather astonished-looking European tourist staring at me with his mouth hanging open. Looking to the other side of the pool, I saw a disbelieving Chuck Taylor sitting in his boat, waiting for me to hike down. I feel lucky that nothing bad happened when I took the quick way down, considering the major miscommunication.
As a bonus, I got to work on my C-1 skills on the Class II runout. It was interesting and fun, but I'll stick to two blades for now, I think.
I'm sure I'm going to be hearing "pictures or it didn't happen" about this one! I'm tempted to go back and fire it up again to get some photos for posterity. This run has enough quality that we'd like to go back and do some wood removal, so I'll probably get the chance. I doubt I'll take that chance, though. In hindsight, it only happened the first time due to a perfect storm of a great water year, a solid crew, and my own lack of experienced judgment. I'm aiming to be a little wiser in my second year of boating. :)
We scouted three waterfalls on the McCloud River, east of Mt. Shasta City. Only the lower falls were runnable, and it caused quite a spectacle for all the looky-loos and swimmers at this spot.
Wednesday morning was a flurry of errands and excitement as we did last-minute errands and shopping before getting on the road. One of the last-minute shopping items was a new Riot Magnum 80 for me to paddle on this trip. Sweet! As I type this, it hasn't come off the roof rack, and still needs to be outfitted, but I am stoked to get it out. With luck, we'll get some Class III+ to IV+ in today, so I can test my road-outfitting ability and get more used to the boat before we fire up the gnarr.
We made it out of town before noon yesterday, and after a stopover in Medford for shopping and errands, we made Redding as night fell. Wandering up the Pit River drainage, past the population-30 town of Montgomery Creek, we found a nice campsite partway down into the canyon of Hatchet Creek. We stoked a tiny and crackle-free fire (no sap in the sticks we used) and enjoyed a couple of nice cold Sierra Nevada Summerfests under a full moon and clear skies. Air temperature was 50 degrees overnight, and we broke camp shortly after dawn to explore the area and find some breakfast soon thereafter.
After hiking around Hatchet Creek to try to find a fabled (and once-photographed) triple drop, our hunger got the best of us, and we rallied back to Redding on Hwy 299 (enduring a couple of 10 minute full-stops for construction) and broke south on I-5 for a breakfast joint. After figuring out we passed the Black Bear Diner in Redding, we kept rolling, aiming for Chico. Here I sit, at the breakfast place in Chico, well-fed and ready to find the paddle shop and get back on the road for more southernly climes. Weather here is 95 degrees and clear.
With a freshly-broken MAC-1 and a Cali creeking trip coming up, I find myself in the market for a new boat. I grabbed Next Adventure's demo of the Riot Magnum 80 and headed out to Oly's after work for a demo run from above Sunset Falls to his place.
I like this boat! It punches holes extremely well, and resurfaces predictably. While it doesn't hold speed well, it tracks to a line while also turning easily. I feel like the slight V-hull at the stern makes the rear-end more stable and the boat easier to boof. This will be my boat for the Cali Gnarr Creeking Roadtrip 2008. Big thanks to Luke and Deek at Next Adventure for working with me to get into it on such short notice.
On the way to Oly's I ran into the folks with the mongo conversion van and a bunch of Pyranha boats. I said high again, and continued up the road. As Brenda was shuttling Oly and I up to the put-in in her sweet Model A Ford, we ran into them again -- they were headed to Oly's to camp for the night. We doubled back, Oly gave them a quick tour and a bottle of wine, and we were back underway. After the run, I got to hang and chat with these two lovely North Cackalackans (pretty sure that's how you spell it). It was Leland Davis and Andria Baldovin, of River Gypsies. Leland wrote the flyfishing and paddling guidebooks for North Carolina, and Andria is behind the Yoga for Paddlers DVD, among others. Dang, they are nice people! Hoping to meet up with them again for some boating when they swing back through Washington after their British Columbia leg. It's very inspirational to see people making whitewater work well enough for them that they can be on the road for 6 months out of the year. Someday...
Ryan Y. and I took Paul M. down Canyon Creek for his personal first descent. He ended up sideways and/or upside-down in a couple of the drops, but for a first run, I've got to say he styled it.
I demoed Luke's Bliss-Stick Scud, and found it to be great fun. It doesn't punch, track, or hold speed well, but it steers and boofs like a crazy mamma-jamma and I can bow stall it in flat water. It's the best 66-gallon playboat (er, creekboat?) I've ever paddled. ;) I'd like to own one someday for tight creeks and various dicking around.
We ran into some folks in a mongo conversion van with 7 boats on it, but didn't interact beyond a few polite helloes, at least on this day. (Ooh, the foreshadowing!) The weather was in the mid-70s and the level was about 6 inches below the unit -- perfect for a first time descent! I'm hoping this run will have enough water left in it when I get back from the upcoming Cali Gnarr Creeking Roadtrip 2008. More to come on that.
Luke S., Ryan Y., Allen S., and Paul M. fired up the North Fork Clackamas at low flows. Much of the run was bony and woody torture, but Stairway to Heaven was nice indeed. Here is a shoddy low-res video of Ryan firing it up. (I forgot to up the default video resolution when I got my insurance replacement handset.)
Another classic Carnage Run from Fish Creek to Bob's Hole on the upper Clackamas River. The levels were too high for any of the standard play features to be in, so Tim and I took our time playing the whirlpools at Big Eddy for a while. Maybe someday, whirlpool play will be the next big thing, but I doubt it. Sure is fun, though. Someone brought leftover kegs from the previous weekend's WKCC safety clinic, so we chilled in style at the takeout for a while afterward.
Luke, Paul, Ryan Y., and I (were there others?) fired up 13 miles of Molalla goodness. I was loving the 0-degree-offset AT2 as I rocksplatted and sternsquirted down this long-feeling run in the RAD 195. I'd have more details, but I'm writing this a week and a half after the fact.
This year's inaugural Carnage Run saw about 20 boaters gathering for an after-work run from Fish Creek to Bob's Hole on the upper Clackamas River. Minor carnage and many a good time were had. The carpool from Next Adventure just made it all the sweeter.
It was a trip to not be one of the noobiest boaters on the run...a stark contrast from last year.
Ernie's warranty repair seems much stouter than the original, and has held up to some pretty brutalizing punishment (including Upper Trout Creek) so far, without showing any signs of lost integrity. A photo:
Falls Creek is a tributary of the Wind River in Washington. What a hike, what a massive waterfall, what wood removal work, and what a sick slide! More to come...
Ran Upper Trout Creek with Luke, Tim, Dan, and Jacob from North Carolina. The water was about 4 inches below the cup, and the weather was mild and cloudy, with just a few sprinkles as we put on, making way for sunshine through the last third of the run. Mike L. forgot his sprayskirt and was not up to being a shuttle bunny, so he took off with promises to join us the next day for some expedition-style boating on another area creek.
This run is nuts! Check out Ryan Morgan's descriptive blog post from his run last spring. The run starts out flat and placid, then gradually cranks up the gradient through Class II, III, and IV rapids before entering a mile-long section that drops around 300 feet, all boulder garden. This is the steepest water I've run, by a factor of at least two, and little did I know when I put on that I would be running Class V mank that many people rate harder than Gettin' Busy on the Little White Salmon.
The drops were breezy and fun through the Class IV and IV+ sections for the most part, but I'll admit my eyes bugged out a bit as we got into the 300 feet-per-mile stuff. It's as if the world tilts forward gradually for the first part of the run and then something breaks inside the tilt mechanism and the creekbed keels forward violently. I flipped briefly early on in the long rapid that marks the crux section near the end, which had me winded and scattered the rest of the way down. Luckily, my line was good, even as I careened down the rapid backwards for several yards. I felt fortunate to not join the Upper Trout swim team just yet, and managed to avoid the many nasty pin spots and sieves as we tore down this sucker without stopping.
Well, we did stop once, when Luke found a new (to us) sieve and properly tested the bore of the thing by sending his Hercules through. The Herc flushed smoothly, broach-pinned on the next drop, and formed a big and deep lateral crease in front of the seat. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner to see Luke standing on a rock in the middle of the mank with no boat in site. After we got the boat to shore, a couple of punches and kicks to the inside of the boat had it good as new, with no evidence of the debauchery it went through. That Prijon HTP plastic is some pretty magical stuff, to be sure. Luke narrowly escaped a bootie beer penalty by stepping out of his boat and onto dry rock -- technically, not a swim.
Dan and Jacob took off after the run to fire up the Upper Wind River, which was at a great flow that day. Luke and I called it in favor of heading back to Portland -- he had obligations, and I had a bit of a hangover that had me quite tapped by the end of the run. Running Upper Trout Creek was an amazing experience and a sizable step up for me. (Don't believe the print and web guides that say this run is easier than the Green Truss section of the White Salmon -- it's not!) I'm almost starting to think I'll be ready for the Silver, Feather, and whatever else this summer's No-Cal trip will throw at me!
A mob of folks were on Opal Creek, and I ended up paddling with Trev, Jason W., Nobu, Anthony B., and Kourtni. There were five swims shared by three people, and once again I avoided the cold bath. It's an amazing run, hands-down the most beautiful stretch of river I've run. Uncut old-growth forests and crystal-clear water make this a classic. The fun whitewater helps. More to come, including pictures...
While it's not the most thrilling section of river, here I am running the sneak route on Big Ugly:
Paul M., Kourtni, and I headed up to the East Fork Lewis for the good ol' waterfall run. Steven joined us, and we ran into Adam 12, Jeremy, and Kevin on our way down. Swims and good times were had, but I stuck to just the good times. ;)
Luke and I headed up on the morning and duoed Canyon Creek lickety-split and were met at the takeout by Johnny O. and some newly-met Seattle boaters (Chris B. and Nick S.) for another lap. I almost got munched in Hammering Spot the second time down, but managed a hole escape before the real beatings began. Level was about 3 inches under the unit. I used the ol' Frankenboot (patched MAC-1).
Johnny had to bail and Chris and Nick wanted to see more area streams, so we popped over to Oly's and Steven joined us for a nice EastFork run. We put in a few miles above Sunset Falls and I got to run that section for the second time...it's pretty nice. I was in Steven's 5-year-old Jackson Fun, which is a very undersized boat for me. We had a clean run, except for Luke properly pulling an abdominal muscle that he'd torqued escaping from Prelude to Thrasher on our second Canyon Creek run. A minor, but painful and disabling injury that forced him off the river for the day.
Nummy fish tacos (halibut and ling cod sent from Alaska by Mike!) with Brenda and Steven had us almost nodding off on the way home. A great day.
Had a great time on the Bull Run River after work with Paul Meier. Justin from NA forgot his skirt, so he was our shuttle bunny for the day. Level was dropping from 1750 to 1700 cfs during our runs. It's an entertaining, if short, Class III run. We charged down it three times in little over an hour, thanks to the convenient shuttle/bunny. I was in the RAD.
It's always fun to check out new rivers, especially when you have good recent beta and everything is boat-scoutable. The Bull Run is pretty, too. If the section above were not closed to boating (it's Portland's water source), it would surely get run -- kayakers who've hiked it report that it looks great.
The Northwest River Forecast Center's map looks like a condiment fight gone wrong. Nobody wins when you get ketchup and mustard all over your map...except whitewater enthusiasts.
The Lochsa will likely be somewhere between 6 and 9 feet on the visual gauge. Here is a brief video of a raft running two rapids at 9.5 feet on the gauge, muhuhahaha:
Big water fun is sure to be had!
Update. Well, maybe the big water fun will be had by some, but it's looking like much of the PDX community will not be heading out this year, due to high flows. Listen to Johnny Ott, the voice of experience and reason:
Lochsa River
I saw a post by Will[ie] mentioning the Lochsa. I am very familar with this area and I have gone to the big weekend four years steady. This year however I am going in June. Will[ie] is right the river is going off in a not so fun way. IT is very high and thing are washed out with wood floating down. Not a safe time for rafters or kayakers who might be swimming. The weather is not great for the weekend and Idaho is still at 100% snow pack. I would highly recomend going there in the middle of june. The creeking will be great righ around then as well.
Johnny Ott
Second update. Very few people from the PDXkayaker community went out to the Lochsa this Memorial weekend, but those who went said it was pretty epic. Turns out that the water came down to a more manageable "very high" level, and the wood was mostly washed through by the weekend.
What an amazing weekend! I was so excited driving out that I took a self-portrait:
Here's a YouTube video from fishhawk1400 (feel free to pause it and then skip the 55-second boring text intro):
Sunday. After a late start (I missed the boatercross kayak race, unfortunately), I enjoyed the tail end of the event and set to work helping tear everything down. It was a privilege to be one of the last to leave, and to get insight into how these events actually come together.
Saturday. This was the day of the Mass Start Race, Relay Race, and Big Air competition.
I took 3rd in both the Next Adventure Mass Start Kayak race and the Next Adventure Kayak Relay race, and was a finalist in the Next Adventure Big Air Competition. (Who sponsors these things, anyway? ;) ) Highlights included my first 14 miles of catarafting, a midnight run in kayaks with some other crazies, and huge applause for running the big air ramp backwards and attempting a forward flip:
Here's some video of the mass start race. I have a blue boat, yellow drytop, blue PFD, black helmet, and black paddle. Jersey number 44. I'm the fourth guy down until the end when I snake third place.
After all the excitement of the competition, we had video premieres, an awards ceremony, and a bluegrass band near the Andy & Bax campsites in Lockaby campground. Sometime around 1:00 a.m., it seemed like a good idea to go kayaking. Austin R., Christina G., Kenny Kiley (maker of Blunt Family (woody bent-shaft) Paddles), Ryan Youngs, and I headed up to Fish Creek for a moonlight run. On the way up, I took the opportunity to ghost ride the whip, much to the amusement of my companions. The run was uneventful and a lot of fun, and we hit up the big air ramp afterward for good measure. My recollection of the night is fuzzy after we met up with some folks with Eugene and partied in the middle of Fish Creek bridge on the way back.
Friday. After wandering around during the morning in search of the folks I was supposed to be volunteering with, I threw in the towel and took an offer from some catarafter friends for a run. It was my first time catboating, and moved my total hours of rowboating up to the neighborhood of ten. Luckily, I figured out how to row in time to save myself from the Clackamas at 9,000 cfs. I formed a wicked blister on the base of my middle finger on my left hand, but it was worth it.
When I got back from catboating, I found that my homies had shown up, so we took in a quick run in kayaks, followed by some testing of the big air ramp. I did a perfect half-back flip off the ramp and lost my grip on my paddle. Following a couple of failed hand rolls, I punched and went for the most epic swim I've had so far. It took me 1/4 mile to get to the bank, with my boat and paddle booking downstream. Luckily, my new friend Dave helped me with some chase boating, and I had a few moments to collect myself before jumping back in and swimming to the other shore, which took another 1/4 mile. Did I mention I was wearing a drytop with nothing underneath, swim trunks, and 0.3mm neoprene booties? :) I dragged myself out of the eddy, collected my gear, and rendezvoused with my homies. I have video of my valid booty beer, which should be forthcoming.
Thursday. I headed out in the early evening to help set things up and camp with my homies. I ran into Dave Martin from Wet Planet and, after introductions, we took in a run together, from Sunstrip to Carter. After asking around, I found out my homies had headed back into town. I'll be damned if I camp with stinky rafters, so I spent the night listening to the sounds of the rapidly-rising Carter Bridge Rapid and sleeping on the flat part at the bottom of the country's largest big air ramp -- sweeeet!
Headed up to the Olympic Peninsula after work today with Luke to grab some boats for Next Adventure. We'll stay with Kris W. at a cabin on a lake, and find some fun creeking tomorrow before heading back down. It'll be nice to test out Das Frankenboot (my stitched-together MAC-1) and see how The Plastic Mechanic's recent repair holds up. I should get an updated picture of the hull and post it here...it's more "Frankeny" than ever.
Update. We didn't plan far enough in advance to secure local paddling partners, so Luke and I ended up scouting some things, and taking in a couple of mellower classic intermediate runs in central Washington.
Sunday. Ah, Mother's Day. Originally started as a war protest. After a lovely brunch with Luke's family, we got to the business of picking a run for the day. Our eventual plan was to run the middle section of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie. Luke's brother Nate accompanied us to help with shuttle and get help for his own shuttle. Nate would mountain bike to the takeout, and we would kayak -- it would be a low-key race, of sorts.
We wandered about, looking for a suitable put-in, and eventually settled on a spot on the side of the road. We came to find out that we put in too high, as a couple of miles of Class II riffles and flatwater lulled us into complacency. There were some entertaining Class III+ boulder gardens and chutes to be had on the remainder of this intermediate run. We definitely charged this run, never stopping paddling and finishing in about an hour. At the takeout A nice woman named Renee, whom I had met on the Toutle (January 27th), recognized me and let Luke and I make some tasty turkey wraps. She was on the way back from the Wenatchee and had tons of extra grub. At this point, we saw a sheriff rig pull up, and Nate hopped out, grinning sheepishly...no bike, though. He had blown a tire a short way into his ride, and the deputy was kind enough to run him down to us. Renee and I talked river safety while Luke and Nate ran up to get the other truck and retrieved Nate's bike from where it was stashed in the bushes. Renee's two friends, whom we'd passed about 1/3 of the way through the run, were just coming off the river when we completed our shuttle back to the takeout. We definitely booked it down this sucker!
Saturday. We headed out for the North Fork Sauk, only to find that the road was blocked 0.1 mile from North Fork Sauk Falls, due to a washout. After extensively scouting the waterfall (an unrunnable 45-footer with Class VI and Class V+ lead-in drops that we plotted lines down anyway), we headed up the road on foot to see what we could see. This is the falls we scouted:
As we headed up the closed road on foot, we noticed six piles of bear scat. After about 1.5 miles with just one spot of river access, we decided to head back. On the way back, we saw a bear off in the brush and seven piles of scat. We were clearly in bear country, and decided against heading back in with our boats. We resolved to get a run in on the standard Sauk section. We put in near some campers who helped us set shuttle, and charged down this classic Central Washington intermediate run. Everything was boat scoutable, and we charged. Near the end, we wondered if we'd already passed the takeout, which resulted in some unnecessary bushwhacking and a possible first descent of a wood-choked tributary creek to get back to the river. Overall, it was a fun, if exhausting time.
I can't really fathom why people aren't flocking to Joe Bob's (near Bob's Hole) on the Clackamas these days, as it is seriously "in" lately. If flows are this good next weekend, we may have to have a rodeo event at the 25th annual Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival! Going by the NWRFC forecast pictured at right, it might just happen...
Thursday. Headed out to Joe Bob's for dawn patrol (5am) with Luke and Eli L., with the level around 3850 cfs. Good times all around. We got a solid 1:45 of surfing in before I broke my backband and had to call it. It's a very aerobic wave to work, due to how fast the eddy is, especially if you exit the wave in the center or on the furthest side from the eddy. I had some nice cartwheels in the foam pile and some sort of proto-loop attempt sprinkled in with some longer rides. Backsurfing and flat 180s are coming along nicely, as well. I think I missed the wave twice this morning, ferrying out while winded a couple of times because of the time pressure.
Wednesday. Headed up to Bob's Hole after work, solo style, to see if Joe Bob's was as good as I had been told by Todd R. Just like he found Tuesday night, no one was there to take advantage of the best play within fifty miles. What were they thinking?!? I had a few 30+ second rides, which was a breakthrough for me. Level was around 4000 cfs, and I got a nice 1-hour session followed by a break and a 45-minute session. I recorded video of the second session with my camera phone...I need to get the card reader situation worked out, edit it down, and post it. Reviewing the footage has already been immensely helpful in troubleshooting my mistakes and inefficiencies. I only missed the wave once, and barely at that.
Man, is it nice to have a boat that doesn't leak like a sieve. Thank you for taking my money, Gorilla Tape and Wild Wasser! ;) I'm measuring post-playboating water by teaspoons instead of gallons, and I feel like a new man for it.
I'm near Sandusky, Ohio, this weekend for River Rally 2008. I did get out paddling here on Thursday -- a flatwater sprayskirt-free romp on the Old Woman Creek freshwater estuary, ending with paddling out the mouth and catching some swells on Lake Erie. The Pungo is a hell of a boat, I guess. I was super glad to get out and work the old muskles. If I hadn't paddled, I would have served myself up the longest break from yakking I've ever taken. Having that associated with Rally just would not be cool. :)
I definitely need a better Rally picture, but this one will do for now. Van rides rule!
Update. Someone was nice enough to pass along this picture of our Old Woman Creek paddling crew. I squat at lower left, paddle-less.
Sunday. Two laps on the Clackamas, Sunstrip to Bob's. Paul M. and I had a good time bombing down. We stopped at Toilet Bowl during the first run, and I was able to catch and carve the monster bronco wave at the bottom -- a breakthrough for my surfing ability, for sure. The nice weather during the previous few days had all sorts of people out enjoying the river. Cat boaters, commercial rafters, IKers, and dirtbag hardshellers, boating in (im)perfect harmony. Awwww....
Saturday. Two laps on the East Fork Lewis's waterfall run -- one in the morning with Luke and Dave B., and one in the afternoon where Oly and I suited up and launched from his house to join Kourtney, Kim, Paul, Grace, and Dave P. for the last half of the run. Oly and Brenda made a big rib dinner that everyone was late for, but were gracious enough to pull it out of the fridge for us when we arrived. I think I owe Oly some indentured labor for how not-smoothly the evening went off.
Friday. After-work run on the Clackamas, from Sunstrip to Bob's with Robbie V. Ran into Trevor R. and BSed over some El Jimador. Good times.
Thursday. After-work run on the Clackamas, from Sunstrip to Bob's with Luke. Kind of a tweener day for play, but got some nice rides on Teeny Weeny Wave and Bob's. I left my PFD in Ashland after the "Upper Klamath" race, so I rocked the outfit at right. Style. Sophistication. Female attention. Have it all with an old-ass orange rafting PFD!
Bryan from Next Adventure shuttled us down to the Upper Klamath race in Deek's bitchin' Mercedes van, with a dozen boats and 11 people making the journey. It took us 5.5 hours and 4 cases of beer, but we made it. I think everyone liked my story about hunting with my dad and brothers and running into a trapped sheep. For some, it was a crash course in my sick sense of humor, I think. We arrived at Noah's Rafting, set up sleeping bags both inside the warehouse and outside by the van, and conked out, eagerly anticipating the next day's whitewater.
Saturday morning brought a clear and dry dawn. After a bomber breakfast at the Breadboard in town, we loaded up and hit the Upper Klamath. The Upper K is a classic big water Class IV+ run. We were fortunate that both turbines were releasing from the dam, so flows were around 2850 cfs, which made for more entertaining whitewater and fewer nasty rocks to hit. Caldera was definitely the highlight of the run, with about a quarter mile of big Class V-ish waves, holes, and funky hydraulics. Our kayaker crew styled it, with most of us running in playboats. We definitely did a good job of representing Portland kayakers.
Snow Saturday night forced Tim B. to relocate the race to the Scott River. We even had a couple of inches on the valley floor.
A highlight of the trip came when I was inspired to throw a wet sheet of plywood on one side of the huge bonfire we had and jump it on a borrowed bicycle, under the full moon on 4/20 -- twice. I flubbed the landing both times, but Ty styled it once and called it good. I don't have any hair left on my knuckles. Paul Gamache from Team Bigfoot let Robbie Virostek shoot some video -- apologies in advance for the camera work of an inebriated minor:
Here's the weird part: I hadn't read Willamette Week before hitting the road, and I only sometimes read the Free Will Astrology horoscope. After the trip, I returned to read this horoscope:
We had 80+ racers for the event, and the weather and water level cooperated perfectly. Big up to Luke Spencer for being the lead organizer. I think the turnout this weekend surprised everyone involved. If it's any bigger next year, we'll rival the legendary Green Race. (Photo at right is yours truly boofing Hammering Spot during the race on Saturday.)
Sunday. We had a huckfest on Sunset Falls (video by Cory Morton):
Before it started, Dingo, Jesse, Cory, Neil, Johanna, and I put in a few miles above the falls for a run. Johanna was killing it for her first time in a kayak (inflatable though it was), and doing on a solid Class III/III+ run. I tried out my newly-repaired AT2 paddle (warranty repaired to a 0-degree offset) and was loving it until it broke again. It's true what they say -- nothing paddles quite like an AT. If only they were stouter. I'm told the AT Flexi is not as brittle. Back to the factory with it, I reckon. After the huckfest, it was time to break everything down and load it back in the cars for the trek back to Portland. Oly and Brenda were consummate hosts, as always!
Saturday. We had a stunning turnout for the race! 80+ racers and plenty of spectators and event volunteers made for a fun crown on and around Canyon Creek. The weather and flows could not have been more optimal: 70 degrees and sunny, with the level 3-4 inches below the unit. The higher flows seemed to catch some people off guard, especially those who'd only done the run in the relatively dry weeks prior to the event. Around 8 boaters found themselves swimming out of Prelude to Thrasher, and a few racers found the need to take a quick dip mid-race, probably just to cool off. ;-) Party.
If you see the Canoe & Kayak Magazine pictured at right, check it out...I'm in an Accent Paddles ad on the third page, hucking Sunset Falls. I'd been paddling all of 6 months when the shot was taken, and if Luke or Oly's shots had turned out, they'd be in their rightful place in the ad. I'm told I'll be able to pick up a few copies at this weekend's race, so I'm stoked to provide some genuine autographed copies to my family and any groupies.
...
Allo, groupies? Are you out there?!? Williekayak(at)gmail(dot)com. ;-)
Update. The ad came out! So far, the spoils of my newfound fame remain to be seen, but I'm sure the riches are en route. The actual ad is pictured to the right. The photoshop work is not particularly stunning, but I'm happy to say that, yes, Luke is my fearless leader, and I'd follow him on most any run, so I'm happy to "Follow the Leader" in the ad.
