Upper Clackamas play: Joe Bob's

Joe Bob's is better at higher flows, but it's fun enough at around 2850cfs. Paul filmed me working on clean spins:



...and doing some sort of proto-blunt:

Teeny Weeny wave, low flow Upper Clackamas

I haven't updated in forever!

Here's a clip of me on Teeny Weeny last Sunday, shot by Paul. Getting used to the new(-to-me) Riot Astro 58. This was not my best ride of the day, as I was getting pretty tired. After flubbing 3 handpaddle rolls on the eddy line, I barely pulled it out.



Thanks for the footy, Rio Raul.

Carnage Run is always fun

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.

inaugural Carnage Run was a blast

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.

Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival 2008

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:

(photo by Jeff Bledsoe)
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.

(video by dweiber)
And some pics, too. This one has me pivoting off the very large wave in the middle of Carter Falls, after trying to catch the gate by surfing it:

(photo by Robert Virostek, Sr.)
And here I am, right behind Chuck Taylor, booking for third place:

(photo by Robert Virostek, Sr.)
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!

More to come!

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!

belated weekend update

(The cable modem at home was out over the weekend.)

Wow, it's been all Clackamas all the time of late. My playboating has really come along, though...I'm gaining better control over surf waves, and nearly-reliably flatwater cartwheeling (example) my RAD 195...on one side, at least.

Sunday. Once again, I hit the upper Clack, playboat style. This time, with Scott W. a.k.a. Werewolf. We ran into Todd R. and Ken H., and I got more highly-valued tips from the old-schoolers. I'm feel so blessed to have these old hands at the game advising and encouraging me.

Saturday. Playboated the upper Clackamas with Kourtni. More progress playboating, and a nice day out. Teeny Weeny and Joe/Bob's Hole gave up nice rides for me. Turns out that Kourtni is not a half-bad boating companion...who knew?!?

Thursday. Got out after work with Luke S. on the waterfall section of the East Fork Lewis River. It was nice to see Oly, and I got a bit more insight into Screaming Left Turn, which is probably the most technically challenging rapid on the run.

I've been a bit timid since I smashed my nose on Canyon Creek. Fairly peeved with my helmet manufacturer (who shall remain unnamed for now) for their continual delaying of the release of their full-face add-on. I'll be firing it up again, but with this year's 150%+ snowpack, I'm in no hurry.

Looking forward to Lochsa River, Idaho for Memorial Day. Also, this summer's Northern California trip with the elders should be quite nice. Man o man, I love kayaking. It might be the best thing that ever happened to me.

mellow day

Well, I opted to not head out for the Wind race. My buddy Tony took second, and His Honor Luke S. took 6th. Lots of loot for everyone.

I took a late afternoon play run in on the Clack, and boated well. I continue to develop the core strength I need to throw ends all day.

sunstrip to bob's, clackamas

With levels around 2550cfs, the Clack made for some decent play today. Todd, Ken, and Jim laid down some playboating science for this humble student. I'm a bit loose in my playboat these days, and both boats are leaking quite a bit more than is really practical. I detect an imminent boat-outfitting session...

park and play, joe bob's

I had a breakthrough day today parking and playing at Joe Bob's, at around 2750cfs. It was a great workout -- 2.5 hours, with maybe 15 minutes spent out of the boat. I completed an accidental back loop, aired 6 feet over the trough on a loop attempt, threw a couple of ends off the back of the wave, and just generally had longer and higher quality rides than I thought I was capable of. An hour and a half in, Tony S. and Eli L. showed up, and all three of us had some good playboating experimentation and progression. Tony and Eli bailed to check out the Roaring River put-in and take-out afterward. Hard beta is good to find.

clack attack, woo

Heading out this afternoon around 4:00 to playboat the Clackamas with Luke S. It's currently 3200cfs and dropping. Joe Bob's should be worthy, and the whirlpools should be nice.


Abort, abort! My buddy's lady left with his gear, so we had to settle for a Galaga tournament prior to Paddler's Pint. (Whoa! Sweet Galaga clone web game here!) I lost, 4-6. Apparently, competitive tabletop arcade Galaga is all about the kibitz. This is the offending machine:

So, no boating for Willie today. Picking a friend up at the airport tomorrow, so looks like Wind race practice runs on Saturday and Wind race run on Sunday, unless it gets too gushy. Riley wanted to hit Canyon Creek on Sunday to prepare for the April 12th race there. If the Wind is too high to race on, Canyon is probably going to be stout as well. Time will tell.

after-work paddling is back!

Gosh, it's nice to be able to head out for an after-work run again. Daylight savings time has its upsides, I suppose. :)

Tuesday. Hit a brown-tinted Clackamas River for a play run after work at around 3900cfs with Luke S. and Thor. More sick whirlpool rides at Big Eddy, and some nice surfs at Joe Bob's as well. At this flow, repeatedly attaining upstream to get on the wave is a solid aerobic workout.

weekend update - March 13-16, 2008

Sunday. Afternoon Clack play run with Kourtni went well. I had some sick whirlpool rides at Fish Creek eddy and Big Eddy, and I continue to hone my banzai line at Toilet Bowl...surfing the massive reactionary wave from river left to right, which lines me up perfectly for the Grand-Canyon-sized waves at the bottom. Got a decent wavewheel over the first wave and rode the next two out with my bow aimed at the sky. Ran into A&B folks and their blow-up toys at the take-out and tried to bum a shuttle, but they had already run theirs. Fortuitously, Kourtni was able to shake her hips at a passing vehicle with kayaks atop it, and we were in business in short order.

Saturday. Nice day playboating/creeking (in the playboat) on the East Fork Lewis River, with Luke, Oly, and Ken K. Level was 2300cfs or so, which makes this run a sweet-indeed blend of creeking and playboating. Highlight for me was the melt line on the left chute at Horseshoe Falls. I stuck it, went way deep, and emerged upright from the pile about 20 feet from the base of the falls. Pure bliss. Those guys think I'm a bit nuts, though. When I came up, I was about 5 feet off the bottom left corner of this marked-up photo:

Friday. Made it out to the Clack after work for a short run-and-play. Luke and I put in at Armstrong and ran down to Bob's Hole for a bit over an hour of good play. Joe Bob's seems kinder to me each time I try it. I'm gaining ground in the areas of wave-catching and front-surf stability. Level around 2800cfs.

Thursday. After handing Apple their own ass by presenting Linux thin clients to a local school district, I hauled my playboat out to the Clack for an after-work run with Diana. It was a perfect level for most of the rapids (~2600cfs), and we had an awesome run.

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.