Joe Bob's is sick!

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.

weekend update - spring begins to arrive

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!

weekend update - clack, canyon creek, and rest

Sunday. I'll try to get out today, maybe an afternoon Clackamas run. The last thing I'd like to do is hit my schnoz again. EDIT: didn't make it out Sunday. Took the opportunity to patch myself up.

Saturday. I rolled out with Oly to meet Luke S. and Deek for a Canyon Creek run. Our group swelled to around 18 before it was done: Neal F, Chuck T, Ken Braumeister, Cory N, the midget and Cory M, R.T. and co. from Seattle, Mari and her "old-school boater husband", Ryan M, et al. Given the amount of people on the run, the carnage was minimal. Level was about 6" below the unit...pretty mellow.

Saturday Carnage. Wildcard IK crossover Markus got pinned upside-down between a boulder and the wall of the gorge, which was scary to everyone but him for a moment. I managed to bloody up my face with a close encounter of the paddle-shaft-related kind at Big Kahuna (a.k.a. Big Falls) by sneaking up on the undercut wall from below. I was in a borrowed LL Gus, and paid the price for a launch line gone awry, boof gone weak, and a melt line gone sideways. My nose was bleeding profusely from both nostrils and a cut by the bridge of it, so I was scaring the children with my bloody visage, for sure. Maybe Dave G got a good shot of it when it was fresh...time will tell. It looks a lot better since I cleaned it up, and I should only look like Meatloaf (per independent assessments by Dr. Peake and the Honorable Luke S) until the swelling goes away.

Reunion. Dr. Peake is returned from Mexico, and he, Kourtni, and I had a chance to catch up a bit Saturday night...the two that made it happen, and the one that couldn't. He shot some great photos down south, for sure. Summer schemes are still being hatched.

Friday. I got out on the Clack after work for a short run that actually included some decent play near Armstrong. Todd R, Jim, and Oldschool Ken gave me some good instruction in the fine art of surfing gracefully. By the time I got down to Joe Bob's I was actually applying some of it, even! Lots of work to do there, but it's getting better quickly. It was nice to see that my friend Diana actually boats these days. Level was around 1800...perfect for Teeny Weeny Wave.

open pdxk run on the upper clackamas

I posted this on PDX Kayaker on Friday:

Getting back to my roots, taking J.O.'s advice! ;)

The NWRFC forecast for Sunday looks to be about 2600-2700...one of the best levels for this run. Weather forecast is fair, too. If you have a hankering for a 10-mile run with some Class III this Sunday, meet us at Bob's Hole (Mile 36.7 on Hwy 224) at 10:30.

If you have any questions, feel free to give a holler or send an email. I'll be happy to show you down if you are new to the run.

Willie

And so begins a mellow trip down the Clack today. Got a couple of responses: a gal named Michele wants to join us, Paul M. will be heading out, and a feller named Todd might try to catch us on the fly midway down.

Weather is predicted to be partly cloudy with a high of 48 degrees. That'll do.

The flow is 2629cfs and dropping at Three Lynx -- Toilet Bowl should be nicely activated today.

The shoulder feels tons better this morning, and paddling motions aren't causing pain, so I'm stoked about that.

Post-trip update:
Paul M., Anthony E., Dave B., Luke S., and I had a great day in the sunshine on Three Lynx to Bob's. Todd joined us halfway down, and Kourtni was able to serve as a shuttle bunny owing to her going to the wrong put-in and finishing her run before we even got to where she put-in (Fish Creek). Betsy met up with us at the Hangar and good times were had. Nice day on the river. It was nice to see Alex D. and Shane on the river, too.

I was sorer than I thought from my Saturday fun times on Canyon Creek, but had a breakthrough cartwheeling the RAD 195 in the shoulder of a pourover hole. Surfing the massive pillow at Hole in the Wall while a raft and an unboated rafter were stranded in and above the Hole proper was a rush, too...looked like they had safety covered already. The wave at Toilet bowl was epic and my line was good.

Lots of raft and kayak traffic alike on the Clack yesterday. Level was 2600 at Three Lynx, but lots of cfs seemed to come in with the tributaries (Roaring River, Fish Creek, etc.), so it was pretty big by the end. The weather was mostly sunny and 65+ degrees in the sun...a wonderful taste of the spring to come.