The Colorado Kayak Chronicle

South East Highlights

2012-01-26T10:04:00.002-07:00

Got to head down to the southeast to visit my brother this past weekend, it worked out perfectly with rain and I got to paddle some of the best runs in the southeast including the raven fork, the west prong and bear creek all in a three day period. Enjoy the video!

The Pelechuco: A Big Bowl Of Via

2012-01-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have learned over the years that when you go on kayaking trips by yourself you can never be too sure what to expect. I first met Cooper Lambla in Cusco Peru following a week of rolling solo through the heart of the Peruvian Andes. We barely knew each other for thirty minutes and we already had plans to spend the next month exploring the largely untapped rivers of Bolivia. Outside the country any imformation was impossible to find so it wasn`t untill we arrived at the Instituto Geographico Militar in La Paz that we realized how big of an undertaking it would be. With difficult access it quickly become apparent that most boating would have to be done from close to the source all the way untill it reached the low foothills of the Amazon Basin. We decided to warm up on the already know Unduavi river figuring a roadside run would help us know the character of the rivers without being too commited. Brimming with excitement, and unsure of past put-ins we got off of the bus as soon as the river looked remotely boatable at around 10,000 feet. The locals shook their heads in something between confusion and amusement as we dragged our boats optimistically towards the steep, rocky, mountain creek. The first day consisted of mostly portaging with ultra-steep stacked class V and occasional commiting slot canyons. It wasn`t untill the second day that we were finally rewarded with several miles of quality boofs and gorgeous canyons with the cascading waterfalls typical of the northern Andes.

Cooper Lambla near the beginning of the good stuff on day two

Cooper probing a slot on the `Duavi

Inspired by what we found we decided it was time for a mission, and a big one at that. The Pelechuco river is one of the northern most drainages of Bolivia`s Cordillera Real, and a principle tributary of the Tuichi; a river renowned for it`s thriving jungle ecosystem as it flows through the remote Madidi National Park. In the early dawn hours we borded the ten hour bus from La Paz to the town of Pelechuco. The drive itself was spectacular, passing through fields of grazing Alpaca on the high alpine tundra with glacier capped peaks in the distance.

The headwaters of the Pelechuco from the road

Upon first arriving in Pelechuco most of the locals thought we were nuts, but eventually several became excited and offered us their help and advice. We learned where we could expect to find fishing trails, how far tributaries were, the names of people who could help us in potential take out towns, and we were even given a ride in a 4x4 several miles down river.

Cooper and I with Juan (a folk musician and driver) and Reynaldo Vasques (Hotel

owner, horsepacker, and most simply stated - the man)

The river started with a several hour portage. That was followed by about a half hour of boating and then a several hour portage on the other side of the river. The jungle was quickly getting denser and the river showed no signs of mellowing. Only a good double boof kept moral high as we ate tuna with ketchup and mayo in a small, buggy camp.

Cooper at camp one

On day two we ran almost everything but the gradient was unrelenting, with many small must make eddies above horizon lines as the river dropped from the Andes in one continuous rapid. At lunch we realized we hadn`t made it as far as we thought and were in fact barely on the map. Shortly after lunch a 14 inch crack propegated in the bottom of my boat and we had to camp early for repairs. Still moral remained high. Realizing the size of the undertaking we were on the water early the next day and around noon we finally reached the point where the gradient mellowed (slightly) and we were able run several kilometers of whitewater without scouting.

Coop linking it up on day three. It was still pretty steep!

Just after lunch on day three we finally got what we came for. The gradient picked up again, but this time - instead of scary steep boulder gardens - we found ourselves in a tight-walled bedrock canyon that we named the Babylon Gorge.

Myself spreading my wings on Boof To Babylon

Below the canyon the river finally lost some of its angst and we were happy to finally relax while we paddled several miles of class 3/4 in spectacular canyons with pristine jungle crowning the rims. We took out in the first town we saw and were immediately surrounded my the locals, curious to know where we had come from. By pure chance there was one car in the town that was getting ready to make a trip to the outside world. The drive to the pavement took about seven hours and was on a one lane dirt road with a precipitous drop to one side and board bridges spanning gaps in the road. After the driver fell asleep at the weel Cooper drove the vintage land cruiser to safety much to the amusement of the Bolivians riding with me in the truck bed. After the Pelechuco we spend two more weeks in Bolivia and ran three more rivers. Unfortunately both Cooper and I had camera mishaps so seen here are the only surviving pictures; so enjoy them.

A beautiful little river we stumbled upon. We still don't know its name.

A Typical Bolivian shuttle.

Bachelor parties and flat tires...

2011-12-11T21:31:00.001-07:00

To close the trifecta of why kayaking is fun, let us not forget about river trips. Waking up next to the river, floating for a few miles, seeing new places, and making camp again all amongst good friends might be on of the best parts of our sport. In that vein, I thought I would close with this trip on the Chilko-Chilcoton in BC near Lake Louise.

The back story to this adventure, was a good friend was about to walk the plank into eternal matrimony and requested one last hoorah before his weekends were to fill up with to-do lists and trips to Bed Bath and Beyond.The answer of course, bachelor kayak roadtrip! (PS most my kayak roadtrips don't usually include to many women accompanying but bachelor kayak roadtrips are special because women can't come and what happens on the adventure stays on the adventure). Given high snow packs, a cool summer, flows were a bit on the highside when the said adventure was to occur but never fear there are usually lots of options north of the border with the only issues generally being lack of concrete beta and shuttle difficulties.

So one fine weekend a group of 10 or so men, one large armored truck, one full size van, one dirtbike, a few chainsaws, hydraulic winch, row frame raft, and copious amounts of beer headed north for 4 days and many miles of kayaking bliss. The Chilko-Chilcotin certainly the hardest things out there but what they lack in pure difficultly they gain in countless miles of class IV haystacks and read-run whitewater in the midst of some pretty remote wilderness. For a bonus side fact they are also extremely close to the put-in for the Homathako and actually drain the other side of its headwaters.

Here's some pics enjoy;

I'm not sure why 90% of my kayak adventures involve driving through the night on dirt roads to get to a destination and arriving at or near sunrise but they do and I've made my peace with it.

A lot of kayak adventures also involve a large automobile stuffed to the hilt with people and gear.

Hale-bop have fun on the white mile section

Faceshot anyone?

Thankfully rivertrips involve camp chilling. 10 guys, a keg of beer, and a lot of time on our hands. Oh just what are we going to do

Well for starters a little bit of this.

Not quite boofs for breakfast but the crew is falling in line and feeling that keg of beer right about now.

No kayak adventure is complete without a stop to one of these...luckily some locals just let the air out of a tire and we didn't have to deal anything more serious.

Until next time, SYOTR.

Video Updates from Austin Nickell

2011-11-25T09:28:00.005-07:00

So as people start thinking about snow and skiing, I just cant stop thinking about whitewater. I have been working through some old footage and thought I would post a couple videos here.

This is my latest, while Brush Creek is certainly not the gnarliest thing out there it remains one of my favorites as it is just so much fun. This one was all shot on the Canon 7D camera.

This is the South Fork of the Feather River, a great fall run here in California.

This is the Thunder Run on the Kern River shot using the GoPro 3D system.
You need 3D glasses to properly view this one :)

until the next time.

Badfish River Surfer - Gauley River

2011-11-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

A Taste of the Badfish 6'11 River Surfer

This fall I was fortunate enough to spend a few weeks at the Gauley River. After a few weeks of playboating my brains out, it was time to break out the SUP board and get on a few of the classic gauley playspots. During a high release day, Haley Mills and a crew from the put in campground headed down to Koontz Flume Rapid for a little park and play surfing. With the water level at 4700, this was the perfect place to test out the Badfish River surfer in a rowdy wave/hole and see what it could do. Here is a short video highlighting what the Badfish River Surfer can do on the river.

Hope you enjoyed and if you get the chance to test one of these out on the river, you will love it,

Mike T

Photo TR: Southeast Fall Classics

2011-11-17T00:16:00.040-07:00

Fresh off a trip to visit my good friend Joe and run some steep whitewater, I can't stop thinking about the Southeast. We scored a near perfect weekend of boating on a couple true classics, the Green River Narrows and Tallulah Gorge.

Almost everything went right on this trip, aside from a few minor crashes on the water. First, it goes without saying that the whitewater was top notch. Second, I got to test drive the new Liquid Logic Stomper 90. The boat is super fun to paddle and truly combines the incredible hull of the Remix with all the features of the Jefe that have made it one of the most revered creekers to date. Also, I have to put in a plug for the local eateries and watering holes. Asheville is home to some fantastic restaurants, coffee houses, and bars. Can't wait to go back.

The photos tell it best. The first run was an afternoon run on the Green. Can't tell you how happy I was to see the Tuxedo Hydro station report on Wednesday morning saying the Green would be running for the long weekend. Being a newly minted Green local, Joe got me fired up to go left in Go Left for the first time. Some crashes ensued, but dang if that isn't a fun rapid.

Joe on Go Left.

And in the Groove Tube.

We spent day two doing back-to-back laps. With a bluebird day and the trees still holding strong color for this late in the fall, it was a standout day of paddling. We rallied down with a great local posse as well.

Groove Tube at midday. Photo: Nikki Malatin

Matthew entering Scream Machine, the beginning

of the slide series below Gorilla

Gorilla was waiting.

Third time's the charm, and it was the last lap of the weekend, so Joe decided to fire it. Green River OG and Liquid Logic founder, Woody Callaway, offered us some great advice: you come into the Notch with a plan, and then you ad lib from there to the lip. That's what happened, as we both planned to catch the eddy, but both got sent direct.

Joe in the Notch (missed the photo of his first Gorilla crash, dang!)

Rolling over the Monkey, Speedtrap, and the runout.

Slides! (so 1990s, bro)

After the Green we routed over the Eastern Continental Divide and headed to the Tallulah Gorge. We had great timing and caught a good old-fashioned festival party at Tallulahfest.

We got on the river early the next day and enjoyed watching Issac Levinson and Pat Keller lap the markee drop, Oceana. Pat was running a new line involving a hectic downstream ferry above the Thing, followed by an eddy turn next to it, and then a surf back around to the pool. Fun to watch.

What's that I spy on Joe's upper lip?

Well, it is Movember, after all.

Stomper & stairs.

Isaac on the middle line:

Pat inventing a new line:

Joe on the 'days of thunder' line:

Yeehaw:

Tallulah is definitely one of the most scenic places I have paddled. With predictable releases, occasional rain flows, and awesome autumn foliage, fall boating in the Southeast is hard to beat.

Cotahuasi Photos

2011-11-16T08:12:00.001-07:00

I thought that I would share a few photos from my recent trip down the Cotahuasi river in Peru. The Cotahuasi - while not being incredibly difficult from the whitewater standpoint - is one of the most humbling and awe inspiring places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Flowing over 3400 meters below the rim the small river carves one of the worlds deepest canyons (the peruvians claim the deepest) as it winds it's way through the Atacama desert; the driest desert in the world. To complete the picture the place is chalk-full of pre-incan ruins, Peruvian Condors, subsistance farmers, fisherman, miners, and hot springs. On this trip the water was low and we took extra time to explore ruins and side canyons and get the most out of this beautiful place. Enjoy the pictures.

Cooper Lambla getting western in on of the mini-gorges.

Cooper and Will Stubblefield resting after a sporty scramble up a side canyon

The Stubblefield emerges

A fairly standard riverside finding in this neck of the woods

Cooper and Will staying cool in the heat of the day

Dinner food passed to me in my boat by local fisherman. They didn´t

even know it was Will´s birthday!

Yes... even the shuttle was THAT fun!

The view from camp one

San Joaquin, Tied for First

2011-11-12T14:04:00.002-07:00

Jon Chin and Austin Nickell hiking into the put in. p.Andrew Pernicano

Andrew Gibs, Benjamin Scheib and Geno Hacker prepare for a spectacular day.
p.Andrew Pernicano

Austin Nickell gets his boof above a scary sieve rapid.
p. Andrew Pernicano

Breaking through to safety.
p. Andrew Pernicano

This is a really awesome run that should be high on any boaters list. If you are in California and it just happens to be running be sure not to miss it. We were fortunate enough that there was construction on a turbine and they needed to release into the run. With flows around 1000cfs we set off towards Mammoth Pools reservoir. I was happy to get two laps on this beautiful run in November of 2011.

CO Highwater Recap Part II: Wildcat canyon

2011-11-08T20:08:00.009-07:00

Another memorable trip from this summer was Wildcat canyon. This is an impressive canyon of the South Platte River in the southern Front Range of Colorado. The run is usually referred to as Cheeseman, but I like to call it Wildcat since that’s on the map and it recalls a funny movie moment.

That we enjoy easy access to explore Wildcat canyon by kayak is due to American Whitewater. Thanks to persistence and lots of negotiation, AW brokered a deal allowing kayakers unfettered access to the ideal put-in for the run, so long as we call the local community landowners ahead of time. On this trip, we managed to briefly high center the shuttle rig under the load of 7 kayaks, kayakers and our gear as we were escorted through private property to one of the more scenic get-ins in Colorado.

Once on the water, the canyon does not waist too much time in beginning to drop. As with most of the State in July, Wildcat was running at high flow. We had close to 500 cfs, which turned out to be the high side of good for some of the rapids. The ample flow also had rearranged some timber, leaving some rapids unnrunable. The classic “slap yo moma” was out due to a giant tree blocking the exit to the falls. Next time…

Here are a few photos recounting the trip, and a video from the day.

Oliver paying his at Club Dues:

Tom following suit:

The waterfall entrance to Punji Stick was out of play with wood issues:

But half the crew earned the bottom of the rapid:

No denying that the canyon is an incredible place to spend the day. Maybe I will go back to fish.

A ‘tweener rapid that dished out some treats.

Kyle doing some downriver freestyle:

Jason enjoying the smooth granite and good flow:

In the end, we all got some good exercise that day. The choice to portage on this run comes easy when you see the sieves and undercuts that wait for offline paddlers. There aren’t too many places in Colorado with Cali-style granite boulder gardens though, so a trip to Wildcat is well worth it for qualified creekers (as soon as someone flosses the logs out…).

Boat waiting for a ride:

Gearing up to earn it:

The most memorable aspect of the run, for many, is the hike out. Hiking out in the heat of July was a bear, and one of our team experienced significant dehydration. The sight of your shuttle vehicle at the end of this day is a great relief!

Summer 2011 Wrap-up Part Duex

2011-11-06T21:35:00.013-07:00

In the vein of fun things to do while kayaking, I put forth the Whistler Triple Crown. The WTC includes the Upper Cheakamus, Callaghan, and Soo all within 30min of Whistler, BC and supposedly used to compose a yearly race among locals. All these runs don't push the the boundaries of kayaking like other notables in the area but are generally have an extremely fun to epic ratio*

*Unless you prefer to run them at gnar high levels like many of the locals prefer from time to time.

First up the Upper Cheak - From putin to take out might take you 15-20mins on a roller coaster of haystacks and hole dogging. Beating the shuttle driver happens fairly regularly and earns one a Kokanee, eh.

Some say potatoe some say pototoe

Boofs for breakfast, yeah baby

Round 2 - The Soo and Upper Soo. If levels cooperate you can run the Upper Soo into the Soo but flow are usually too high for most in the Upper Section when the other runs are in their prime. The Upper Soo is a short little box canyon made up of bedrock on one side and railroad blast on the other. Kind of remind me of the glory days in the high desert that is Colorado but that's another story.

Exit drop on stacked series

The runout to the Upper Soo

Following the huckin duckie I thought a pic of Junior would be warranted. Truck like these aren't always necessary in BC but they do help a person acquire road sodas from passengers.

Round 3 - Callaghan Creek. For pure fun there might not be a better class V creek. Lets review, opening drop 8-ft cross current boof ledge, then boogie, 2 drop 15-ft waterfall with slightly tricky leadin, then boogie, 3 drop the most perfect of perfect 20-ft waterfalls to a few miles of class 4 to easy 5 boogie. So so good...

Proper form and position on drop #2

The main event

Nuff said.

So there you have it. If you find yourself in the Whistler zone next summer wanting to have some fun, give the triple crown a try. I'm positive you won't be disappointed.

The Homathko: Dubious at Best

2011-10-28T12:07:00.001-06:00

My season got a late start this year. With a broken rib in May and a full season of work, my kayaking was mostly local until September when a couple spare weeks allowed me to road trip up to B.C. I presented the idea to Xavier Engel who optimistically informed me that he would go and that we would undoubtably boat around Whistler for exactly two days at which point the Homathko river would drop to a runnable flow. Xavier never lies! The prophecy delivered, and our third day in Canada found us heading north with some trepidation as the river dropped nearer to a runnable flow.

Hector Darbymaclellan guiding us down Tatlow creek near Whistler

As we neared the put in it became apparent that cold weather was working in our favor and the run was in; if a little bit high. What could possibly go wrong? In the town of Tatla Lake we were greeted with some local skepticism - the result of several kayaker evacs from the canyon in past years - however that did not lessen our optimism as we neared the put in.

The Crew: From left Chris Gragtmans, Pete Lodge, Xavier Engle, Louis Geltman, Ric Moxon and I

Day 1: One of the factors that makes the Homathko such a classic expedition is the fact that you run the river from source to sea. The trip starts with a paddle across Tatloyoka lake to the outlet where the Homathko river begins with a few hundred cfs. Over the course of four days you cut through the B.C. coastal range, running six canyons (and portaging one) before ending at the Bute inlet on a flow of over 20,000 cfs! On our first day we battled bitter headwinds across the lake. Once on the river the flow seemed to increase continually as glacier charged side streams made their contribution to the Homathko River. We camped on a huge sandy beach just above the start of the Great Canyon and the whitewater.

Morning at camp 1

Day 2: Shortly below camp the walls started to tighten and the gradient escalated as we paddled into the Great Canyon. Most of the morning we worked our way through high quality boulder gardens which had a fun big water feel and were all runnable.

Louis Geltman the rally master. Louis found out we were going on the

Homathko about three hours after he should have left Hood River OR!

Louis again. Somewhere in the Great Canyon.

Chris Gragtmans in yet another classic rapid with no name.

The highlight of the day came shortly after the exit of the Great Canyon when the river dropped into the shallow but committing mini-gorge known as Birthday Canyon. Amazingly polished and fluted rock frames this beautiful rapid, which ends in the entire Homathko river going through a slot about six feet wide.

Pete Lodge in the entrance to Birthday Canyon

Chris Gragtmans fighting the boils above the slot

Ric Moxon above the crux

Unfortunately we did not get to enjoy the high of Birthday Canyon for long. Shortly below we came upon the the large tributary on the left that marks the start of an arduous portage. Several hours later we got in our boats at the foot of the canyon and paddled a short ways down to camp at the confluence with Mosley Creek just as darkness fell.

Day 3: Day 3 picked up fast. With the added flow of Mosely Creek the Homathko was starting to get a big water feel. After several miles of spicy read and run we got to the first of the three Tragedy Canyons. This canyon was fairly short and easy although a little bit intimidating. The second Tragedy had an unrunnable log in the entrance forcing a portage of the first bit. Paddling down to a midway scout point we had no idea what was to come! Several big rapids led to a point where the river dropped into a massive river wide hole!! After much deliberation we decided to go for it and like sadistic little ducks we paddled in a neat line into the massive, walled in hydraulic! It let us all through and the adrenaline high from this rapid (which we called Dubious at Best) carried us through the final Tragedy and the intimidating - but mellow - Waddington Canyon. From here the walls opened and the cliffs gave way to views of ice fields and peaks in the distance. Several fun, but far less intimidating rapids led us to our final camp

Day 4: The last day consisted of a mellow float through a beautiful valley topped with glaciers. After several hours we began to smell the ocean, and even saw seals swimming up from the Bute Inlet. Shortly after we arrived at Homathko camp. Upon arrival we were immediatly offered coffee and hot showers by our friendly hosts, and we spent a pleasant several hours conversing with chuck, the owner of the camp, while we awaited the plane.

Xavier and Louis framed by Bute Mountain near Homathko Camp

Chuck enthusiastically showed us the entire camp including a hydro-electric generator and a thirty-foot power boat all built by hand. Unfortunately our time here was short and before long the plane showed up. What ensued was the best shuttle ever!

Chris, Xavier and I excited about our shuttle rig

Saying farewell to the beautiful Homathko

2011-10-27T22:18:00.004-06:00

CO Highwater Recap Part 1: Clear Creek

As anticipated, the huge snowfall of last winter (La Niña I…) led to highwater flows for a majority of this kayak season in Colorado. Especially for the rivers and creeks of northern Colorado and the Front Range.

One of the highlights of the season for me was enjoying our local mini-Payette; that is, Clear Creek. The river ran at over 1000 cfs for more than a month – no rocks in sight!

The afterwork classic run, Black Rock, gained a big-water feel and was not to be missed. I will let these great photos capturing a late evening Black Rock rally at near-peak flow tell the story (photo credits: Justin Merritt):

Lower Narrows in early July:

Rigor Mortis (aka rigo):

Pitted.

A successful highwater blue angel run through rigo is too good not to celebrate:

Here is a video edit to give some perspective from on the water:

With round two of La Niña (Spanish for “the Niña”) appearing to be on tap for this winter, I can only hope more of this is in store for next year. In the mean time, I am looking forward to some fall paddling in the creekin' heartland—the Southeast—with the Huckin Duckie and company.

-Alex

Forkin' Fun

2011-10-27T20:07:00.000-06:00

So Colorado just received their first foot of snow! Cheers to a good season in the Rockies this winter and next spring. But meanwhile, I plan to continue taunting y'all with a little Southern comfort - whitewater style. I am always hungry for new personal first descents, so it has been awesome to live in a different neighborhood where they come aplenty.

Last weekend, in-between 16 hour operating room shifts, I was able to squeeze in a trip to the legendary Russell Fork Gorge. On the way there, my beta was relatively limited. I knew there was a release happening and I knew the river had bad sieves. I didn't have a guide or anyone in mind to meet. The only important piece of information, however, is that there was a water release happening - I was on my way with a cooler full of PBRs looking to make friends.

Some texting paid off and I was able to link up with a true legendary whitewater paddler as a guide down the Fork!

The Man, the Myth, the River Gypsy - Leland Davis

If you have not paddled with the River Gypsies, then you haven't been around the proverbial whitewater block. After all, they wrote the book on the classics of your whitewater neighborhood.

Speaking of classic - peering down into the Russell Fork Gorge with full Kentucky fall colors in effect

Yayaya, so it is purdy. But how about the boofing you ask? The Fork is down right boofalicious.

Rolling into Triple Drop (courtesy of www.RiverGypsies.com)

I should mention that the Russell Fork at 8-900cfs has relatively easy IV+ with a spice of V- rapids. However, it is not a place for those looking to progress to IV+. Any of the rapids could prove disastrous again as they have in the past. The sieves live up to their reputation. You're playing for all the marbles in this gorge.

Jeff Matonis laying into the Horrendous white fluffy pillow of joy

People always talk about this infamous rapid El Horrendo - spanish for 'The Horrendo'. The name brought sweat to my palms as we rolled up to the huge horizon line and witnessed the whitewater spray distorting our view of the large group of gathered spectators. Leland and I spun circles in an eddy while he described the line to me. As Andria and Leland disappeared off the lip, a little light of joy flickered in my mind. The thought brought a huge smile across my face while I remembered the legendary Daniel DeLavergne quote, "You only get one chance to run it blind!"

Some of the best Glory Boofing east of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish! (courtesy www.RiverGypsies.com)

The River Gypsies missing their faithful hound Hudson - possibly one of the most famous river dogs?

Leland proving with his Golden Stroke that he's been in the game longer than you know.

Thanks for making all these pretty pictures!

So check it out. The Fork is holding heavy with intense fall colors, glory boofs, one of the deepest gorges in the Eastern US, a sweet play wave at the takeout (bring the playboat!), and great camping. But one of the most important things in my criteria is good eats near the takeout. Again the Russell Fork comes through with an unbelievable Southern BBQ joint smack in the middle of the shuttle! Five star paddling trip, represent!

Baby back ribs, pulled pork sandwich, smoked sausage, spicy baked beans and homemade potato chips covered in a spicy vinegar based Southern BBQ sauce. Legit.

Andria, Leland, Jeff, Sean and I got into a conversation over a 30 rack of PBRs about how guidebooks are dead. People are not willing to pay for what they perceive they can find for free on the internet. These are sad times my friends. I surf the world kayaking web as much as anyone, but it has limitations.

I love guidebooks because you get tons of information from people who actually know what they are talking about unlike the internet. All the information for lots of runs is in one place (putin, takeout, nearest watering hole, kayak shops, camping, etc) The authors perceptions and stories enhance my enjoyment of the river. For a prime example, read the description of the Clark's Fork Box in Whitewater of the Southern Rockies.

Most importantly, as one author stated, "I love buying guidebooks to all regions of the Earth because the act of buying one significantly increases my chances of finding myself on an adventure."

In that thought, I bring you a list in no particular order of some of my favorite whitewater books:

...Colorado Rivers and Creeks II - Out of print. Mine is double laminated to help me keep my first guidebook forever. The book to which all others will be measured. Still has the best directions/maps for kayaking Colorado classics.

...The River Gypsies Guide to North America - Spectacular book that will get you on the classic runs all over the Continent. It'll steer you toward the nearest watering hole as well!

...Whitewater of the Southern Rockies - Probably the most complete compilation of kayaking runs ever created. Legendary stories, epic commitment. Easily the new standard that is likely to never be met again.

...North Carolina Rivers and Creeks - Continued the stellar tradition of CRCII for the Southeast. Introduced me to a whole new world.

...Canyonland River Guide - This book welcomed me to the idea of 7 days, incommunicado. Beautiful. Probably one of the best covers!

...Montana Surf - also out of print and I can't get my hands on one. Bummed. One quote for you: "Poach that Shit!" - YLA forever.

...New Zealand Whitewater 4th edition - A classic book that will help you get it done Kiwi style. Excellent illustrations and Kiwi speak. The West Coast is truly one of the best kayaking destinations in the world.

...The Kayaker's Guide to Ecuador - The best travel destination for Class II-V- boaters on the planet! This book was written by the people that made it the destination.

...Whitewater Classics - I love kayaking culture and this book brings all of the personalities into the rivers that made them.

...The Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande - My only companion and advice for 7 days on the Mexican boarder.

So go buy yourself a whitewater guidebook and have one hellva adventure! I can't wait to hear about it.

Every river should end in a huge Climax:

courtesy www.RiverGypsies.com

A True Lover

2011-10-16T20:08:00.003-06:00

So I recently ran into a long lost love of mine. She's truly a beauty. Possibly the one that got away too soon. As all boaters fail in attempts to verbally describe their love of the river, so it is that the words escape my tongue for the love we shared. She had her kinks to be sure. Every day I would have to touch her just right to get her to open and sometimes I had to pet her to turn her on, but she always came around. And crucial to winning the heart of any boater, she was extremely low maintenance. She reveled in being ridden hard all day then being put away wet and dirty. We shared epic sunsets on the Baja coast and found rivers from Wyoming to Arizona and across the country to North Carolina and West Virginia. Once, during a Gore lap, she was even stolen from me by another man, but found her way back even if a little worse for wear. Her name was El Toro Rojo - The Red Bull.

Not one of her finest moments.... Notice that we had to unload everything and then find rocks to pave the road Roman style for the truck to get out. Thanks E-town!

Here's an old school photo of C.Mo loading an inner tube so we could impress some ladies on the Filter Plant!

As many of you may know, I have a colorful driving record. So after rolling a Tacoma loaded to the hilt full of beer to bribe some Alta ski patrollers in the Utah desert during a blizzard, I found myself in need of a new rig. Sure enough, like lots of my very best friends in life, I found her on Mountainbuzz. A rafter was selling her with just under 100,000K. 1996 manual Xtra cab 4-cylinder Toyota Tacoma. Or a 'Yota Taco in the parlance of our times. She came fully tricked out with an Alpine stereo, 4" lift and monster BF Goodrich tires! Even had the topper, roof rack and a custom made padded bed/shelf on the inside. I became the second generation boater to own her.

She only ever got stuck twice and a Southeastern boy was driving here. Sure was a beautiful day to be buried at the South Mineral Creek road.

We had loads of fun together. She made it to the North Fork of the Crystal - no small feet. Clarks Fork Box, Embudo, Crystal Gorge, and countless other putins were no match.

Real men rock pink boats on their monster rig!

After all of the years of fun we had together, her broken AC finally forced me to shed her from my life as I moved to Texas. But like all good kayaking ladies, there was another bro waiting eagerly to pick her up. And so it was that after selling the ole Truckster to my buddy Paulie we parted ways.

Loading boats or discussing "Good touch/Bad touch" scenarios at the North Fork of the Payette takeout?

However, she has been surprisingly easy to keep up with and met me for a Labor Day weekend at the North Fork of the Payette last year. She even brought me a boat all the way to Idaho from Colorado!

Upper Gauley get-in with full fall colors in effect.

Over the last year, Paulie moved to New Zealand for some graduate level kayaking work. He passed El Toro Rojo onto a true whitewater connoisseur, Tango. I have received random text photo reports of the Truckster being at kayaking hot spots from Bailey to Stone Bridge and all places Colorado between with even some Minnesota hucking.

Pretty amazing when the fall foliage can out color a group of rafters...

Tango even rallied the truck out for Gauley season! It was hella good to see the both of them. And even though Tango's never been there, El Toro Rojo knows the way to the Green putin, so fire 'er up! So good to spend time with close kayaking friends on a beautiful river....

Represent for CO and the CKS Squad!

So always remember to show your rig some loving. Oh, the places you'll go. As the fourth generation of boater to own her, Tango's got El Toro up to 230,000 hard earned shuttle miles with no signs of stopping any time soon!

Russell Fork fall boating on the way to your flavor hole for consumption next time.....

Cheers

Following the water

2011-10-12T11:17:00.005-06:00

After such an amazing summer of hopping all over the US, I have come full circle to my winter home of Chattanooga TN. The spring started off with competitions on the east in Connecticut and North Carolina, then rallying the RV all the way to Reno and back to Colorado for the summer Circuit. After Teva Mountain Games I traveled to Germany to compete in Worlds which was a huge highlight of the year. After jumping off the plane and going to the OBX for a quick surf vacation, I traveled to Iowa to sell smoothies for a road biking tour and then headed out to the OR show in Utah to check out the new products for 2012. As soon as the show ended, it was back to Salida, CO to finish up season on the Arkansas river. When the water started to run out in Colorado the Gauley was calling with warm weather and good friends. The Gauley is an awesome place for relaxing and getting to paddle world class whitewater.

To kick off our time at the Gauley, we hit the New River Gorge at 6 ft and 9ft. At 6ft, upper and Lower Railroad had great potential to throw wave moves and it was a great level to run the whole river and catch a ton of waves on the fly. Although 6ft was a great level, 9ft was better. Listening to local beta, we heard that the play was not the best, but we hit the jackpot when we arrived at Greyhound bus wave. The wave was big, glassy, and surgy and allowed for any big wave tricks. The river left side of the wave formed a monster hole, but the shape of the wave kept paddlers from getting kicked into the meat. Getting the opportunity to paddle the New was a great way to warm up for our month in West Virginia.

The Thursday before Gauley fest, we got the chance to compete in the first ever SUP event on the New River Gorge. It consisted of an attainment race up river about a mile above Fayette station and back to the beach, as well as a 3 mile downriver race to Teays landing. Paddling down Fayette station was defiantly the most exciting part of the race because I got to work on my whitewater swimming with about 20 other people swimming at the same time. It was awesome to paddle with so many people that are excited about SUP on the river. Look for a bigger and better event there next year. Check out the video of the race SUP WAZOO

The Gauley River is a magnet for all of our friends from around the US and is a great time for us to paddle big water with good friends. With extra water releases this year, I was able to get in a bit more training than I have in previous years. I playboated for 6 about hours each day working every playspot until I was exhausted. One highlight of Gauley Fest weekend is the Upper Gauley Animal River Race. This year I had the opportunity to paddle my “new” dancer and had the chance to get in multiple practice runs in the week before. The race starts at the put-in and continues about 9 miles down to sweets fall, where racers looked both exhausted and happy to finish the grueling race. My dancer treated me well through both the big rapids and the long flat water stretches. This was another great way for me to broaden my paddling skills and I look forward to being even fasted next year. Heres a quick video of the awesome play on the Gauley.

2011 has been a great year in kayaking and I am excited to see what 2012 holds. I have been able to push my boundaries as a kayaker and broaden my horizons in the outdoor industry. Now that I am in Chattanooga, Tn, there will be plenty of paddling left in 2011, but I have my sights set high for 2012.

Fall Boating in Washington

2011-10-10T15:31:00.009-06:00

In mid August, after an awesome summer in Colorado, I headed back out to the Northwest and to school. On my way I stopped in Hood River and camped out there/loitered at the Truss take-out for a week. I happened to meet up with Jay Gifford and the brothas Wells, Todd and Brendan, who showed me the sickest lines down their backyard run.

After a week in HR I linked up with a group of boaters and headed to the beautiful Ohanepecosh. The Ohane comes off of Mt. Rainier and offers some fun creeking and excellent camping at the edge of Mt. Rainier National Park.

Here are some pictures courtesy of Matt Kurle:

After a couple days on the Ohane, we headed to Lower Lewis Falls. Lower Lewis is a sweet 40 footer that stays in through late summer.

Photo by Brett Barton

A sick photographer from Portland named Isaac Koval came along and shot some super rad pictures as well. Check em out

Sick shot Isaac took from the overlook

Base of the falls. Photo: Isaac Koval

After Lower Lewis we headed to the Upper Upper Cispus. UU Cispus is a cool run with several waterfalls on it, the biggest being Behemoth. Behemoth is a sliding 20-30 footer that lands in a boily pool before exiting in a pretty stout hole. We had a pretty scary/eye-opening situation happen on this day. One of the crew came off of the drop crooked and went into a nasty cave behind the falls. We had to vertically extract him out of the cave and up a sizable cliff face. I did not have a pin kit on me that day, but fortunately several others did. This served as a reminder of how important it is to practice rescue scenarios such as this so that you can react quickly and efficiently if and when the situation actually presents itself. And to never forget my kit again.

Fall boating in the Northwest has been really good and is just going to get better as the rainy season approaches. I have been paddling on Robe and the Middle Fork of the Nooksack several times this fall and I am excited to get on some new runs once the rain picks up.

Stay tuned for a BC update and the sickness that lays within the Ashlu river valley.

2011 Summer Wrap - Part 1

2011-10-09T22:37:00.015-06:00

There are a lot of reasons why I kayak. Sure I like the adventure, the challenge, the beauty of seeing new and unexplored places but at its core kayaking is a lot of fun. In the words of Don from Small World Adventures "whats wrong with just fun?". In this vein of thought, I had a few goals for 2011 of doing this run or that river, having less out of boat experiences, etc but my top goal was just to have fun and do whatever is in good and no else embodies fun whitewater more than Idaho.

This year I had my sights on the Secesh South Salmon combo and while flows/weather didn't cooperate for the Secesh. The South Salmon was oh so good...albeit quite a bit lower than the previous year we were in there at. If you're looking for a wilderness river in Idaho to do sans permit I would highly recommend the South Salmon, in fact having done it twice now I think I'm going to make it an annual pilgrimage.

Every trip to Idaho should include some time spent on a white sandy beach. Ideally you will also have access to a blender.

Running through Devils Creek

They don't call it the whitewater state for nothing

Yup, its good, its fun, and there have been rumors of a Bikini Creek hidden deep in Idaho's wilderness runs.

Boof clinic take 1 - Fall Creek Rapid and the end of the goodness

A good forward stroke

Boof clinic take 2 - I'm pretty sure this man might be the most bad ass human being I've meet in recent hishtory

Paddlers in Idaho like long fast boats and usually aren't this color coordinated.

If you venture to the SF you'll also get to enjoy a scenic ~20 mile paddle on the main and get to see a bit of this.

If you venture to the SF you'll also be about 2hrs away from the best 15miles of kayaking in North America which no self respecting kayaker should drive away from. I heart the NF

Fist of Boof - Land on a Stroke

2011-10-04T21:04:00.010-06:00

Boof with stroke on one side, land with stroke on the other

Land on a Stroke

Technique with Sensei Stafford
Photos by Spencer Mauk

Today's lesson is short and simple. It really is a simple concept yet when done correctly it can enhance the effectiveness of multiple areas of your boof. Below is a sequence of Boof Leroy to help illustrate the technique. Land on a stroke. The ideal is to take a stroke on one side of your boat and to land with a stroke on the opposite side. This is not a technique for large waterfalls, which we should not be boofing in general anyway.

By focusing on your follow through, you allow three major components of your boof to be completed almost effortlessly. The first is your torso rotation. The further you wind up the more momentum you have to take a stroke on the opposite side when you unwind. Second, spotting your landing. When you uncork and lean forward for your follow through stroke, it will most certainely be easier to see your landing zone, and thirdly, landing in control. When you land on a stroke your are much less likely to roll, and much more likely to be leaning forward and moving in your desired direction, ready for the next stroke.

Torso rotation

Grab some water, i.e. ready for take-off

Spot your landing and pull through, i.e. launch

Use your uncorked torso rotation to be lined up on the opposite side for a stroke upon landing. Ideally leaning a bit more forward than Boof Leroy here

Land on that stroke feeling balanced and poised

Ride off into the sunset

Ashlu - Box Canyon

2011-09-27T23:11:00.008-06:00

On Joe's cue I thought I would post up some more pictures of a run of the highest quality that is still flowing just fine and likely will until the first snowflakes fly. One might even say this run inspired my motivation to leave the high desert that is Colorado for the land of plenty of water and mushroom foraging if you're into that sort of thing. The Box needs no introduction if you paid any attention to TRL the past few years and while its dammed and it breaks my heart every time I see the lake when the box is flowing (read most weekends in (April/May/August/September) its still as good as it always was and as a consolation we know have a gauge for the run so we know when to stop drinking our mocha frapachino double tall skinny latte and go kayaking...Enjoy.

The opener 50/50. From my observations the double waterfall is more like 30/70 in the less desirable direction.

This guy should teach a boof clinic for RiverWrangler

The preferred outcome to Kernage

The less preferred outcome to Kernage

Entrance to the second canyon and cross current boof bliss.

The Green may run 300 days out of the year but you don't get views like this the Southeast

It's Finally Kayaking (off)Season!

2011-09-26T17:44:00.001-06:00

As many of you loyal Colorado Kayak Supply Squad blog readers may know, I missed nearly all of the now legendary Summer of 2011 kayaking season. I was stuck in Texas. I know, you just threw up in your mouth a little and I'm sorry too. But I must have built up some pretty good Karma somewhere because I now find myself in a place that I have always wanted to be for a year.... The South East!

Now is my time to gloat because as you all sink into winter, I'm going to provide you with some impetus to get off your booty and go exploring during Colorado's off-season. We're just warming up down here.....

After unloading, but not unpacking all of the boxes from our moving truck, I did what any legitimate creeker would do. I loaded up the wife, dog, tent and paddling gear for a journey directly to Green River Adventures where I picked my very own Green River Access Key!

$60 entitles you access to the Shit, year-round!

And the beauty of the Green became mine. Sunshine, big boofs, warm water, and a ridiculous number of rapids deep in the Green River Gorge.

Gone Left, without dying even!

I know, I know. You have read about the Green. You have seen pictures of Sunshine and Gorilla and know they run 300 days each year. If you haven't been here you still can't appreciate how good the Green really is. There are still so many rapids and great boofs that people don't take the time to photograph. The depth of the entire gorge and the thick foliage are impossible to adequately capture on film, but I'll try for a few shots.

Mmmm....sorta reminds me of California - relaxed 8 foot boof.

The Groove Tube. Definitely one of my favorites. First you disappear, then you fall 10 feet.

The Southeast is of course home to many of the best creekers the world has known. I pretty much only hang out with the sickest, like Pat Keller and Toby McDermont.*

*Pat did not know I took this photo of him at Sunshine and has no idea who I am. I did give Toby a shuttle ride once and I think he even drank one of my PBRs.

Sunshine and clear water heading into the Factor

A smooth ride through the Hammer

One of the possible alternate lines at Hammer Factor

Looking down into the sweet sticky goodness of the Polk County Welcome Center

So there is another taste of the off season for all of you jonsin' Colorado kayakers. Be sure to get out and get some paddling done this fall and winter! I plan to keep assailing you with Southeastern classics, so you'll be really aching if you don't. The Russell Fork is this upcoming weekend, Gauley after that and the Talluah Gorge following. And those are just if it doesn't rain!

I did manage to get one photo of me in Colorado this spring. And sure enough, it proves once and for all that I do have 3 'o's in my booof! Furthermore, this shot also proves that if I had been able to make the Race then the Buckle would be inscribed with Huckin Duckie.

Kirk, a fellow SE boater and last year's winner, agreed that this stroke alone would have guaranteed a win. Also note the awesome CKS stickers!

And I leave you with a great parting shot that you will have a hard time finding in Colorado....

Grand Canyon Kayak Trip, 2011

2011-09-24T12:28:00.008-06:00

Two years ago a was lucky enough to be able to be a part of a trip down the Grand Canyon with a a group of German Kayakers. This group/school/club/team came over to experience one of the greatest river runs in the world and I was hired by Arizona Raft Adventures to be a safety kayaker/instructor for the group. They had such a great trip in 2009 that this year they came again and I was lucky enough to be along in the same capacity.

Surfing

More Surfing

The group contained the full spectrum of skill levels, from expert expedition/creek boaters to play-boaters and racers to some who had been kayaking less then a year and were just solidifying their combat rolls. It was great to be able to share one of our greatest rivers with them and see everyone support each other as they learned how to boat in class III big water.

Flatwater Games

An extra bonus (and challenge at times) was that we had some extra water this year. Because of complex water law and politics, the storage systems between Lake Mead and Lake Powell were going through "equalization", giving us a constant 25,000 cubic feet per second. This was about 10,000 cfs more then normal summer flows and the flows on their last trip in 2009. The surfing was not quite as good overall as in 2009, but being able to see the canyon and its rapids at this water level was a treat.

Basalt Rapid

The S-rig rafts carried our gear, beer and all the food and equipment for the trip and all we had to worry about was kayaking all day everyday for two weeks and then eating good food and visiting some side canyons and waterfalls when we took a break from the water. We worked on surfing, squirting, rolling and how to read water in these kind of conditions. Everyone helped and learned how to rescue others.

Yes, that is all beer.

A lot of them were intimidated at first but everyone rose to the challenge and made big strides in their boating. I remain convinced that a Grand Canyon trip is one of the best ways to progress from a class III to class IV boater. There is nothing like spending that much time paddling in relatively safe, but challenging conditions to make you feel more comfortable in your boat and with your roll.

Granite Falls

One of the other highlight was being able to paddle some of the tributaries. It was good to mix things up and get some micro-creeking in for the better paddlers to contrast the river experience.

Tapeats Creak Gorge

Tapeats Creek Gorge

Havasu Creek Fun

Beaver Falls, Havasu Creek

At any water level Lava Falls is amazing, but at 25K it was awesome, especially the crashing wave/hole that was the ledge hole. It was a great way to spend two weeks of the summer. Forgetting the outside world existed and just concentrating on helping people progress their boating, getting some good surf, and playing in the big water hydraulics.

Jens finishing off Lava Falls

24.5 mile rapid

Matthew Klema

Middle fork of the San Joaquin, Devils postpile

2011-09-20T16:37:00.018-06:00

I was lucky enough to get a week of from nursing school in the end of august and some how the middle kings and devils postpile were still in a good 1-2 months after normal, we had all done the middle kings so we decided on the postpile (I had done part of it a few years back but had to hike out, but tyson and rolf hadn’t done any of it). Driving out from Denver I picked up Tyson in salt lake and then we rallied out to sac to pick up Rolf and rallied up to Mammoth to get a few hours of shut eye.

Day 1

We were lucky enough to get a shuttle set up from a local climbing shop that ended up saving us 10+ hours of driving. We got dropped off in the national monument and began hiking down to beautiful 80 foot rainbow falls around 9am (if you can try and get into the park before 7am so it wont be open=less hassle). Putting on to a creek with about 150 cfs on it we paddled for about 30 minutes before starting an hour and a half portage on river left around some serious mank/sieve piles. Putting back in we were greeted by great low volume boulder gardens for a few miles before we got to the first gorge. The gorge started with a few marginal drops that get run but that we decided to leave for next time due to limited safety options. Lower down in the gorge we got to run some fantastic drops in the locked in gorge. Below this gorge the river opened up into some great slides for about a mile before dropping into another gorge. It was getting late so we decided to camp early at an amazing camp spot (something that was a constant throughout this trip).

The team (Me, Tyson, Rolf) at rainbow falls happy for an adventure

Rolf on our putin drop

Me on a great triple drop

Tyson on the same

Rolf riding it out switch

Rolf on a great slide in the first gorge

Tyson on a big drop in the first gorge (the pothole above this is scary)

Looking upstream from our camp

A downstream view

Day 2

We got up pretty late after a cold night of good sleep and didn’t put on until late morning. The gorge below our camp was short and sweet ending in a great 20 footer. The next few miles were mostly class 4-5 boulder garden read and run rapids until we got to the start of the boof-a-matic gorge. This gorge contained one unscoutable and unportagable rapid that we had good directions on from Kevin Smith. The highlight was a 40 foot sliding falls called boof-a-matic falls, after that I was able to scramble up to the gorge rim and get a look down on the last few drops that looked pretty full on but I thought we could run them. When I got back to the group I gave them beta and told them we could all go scout if they wanted but they said that I looked to nervous for them want to scout it. The last two exit drops were pretty full on but went relatively well but could be a bad spot to make a mistake. After the gorge we took a nice long break and watched a bad ass helicopter pilot get water out of the gorge to fight a fire in the fish creek drainage. After our nice break we ran a few more miles of great rapids before finding a nice campsite a few miles above millers crossing, we got to sleep early with our minds on the crucible that we would be paddling the next day.

Tyson happy to be on this side of that hole

Tyson dropping into a sweet slide

And in the runout

A badass heli pilot showing off

Rolf boofing

Rolf riding it out

Rolf on another fun one as Tyson looks on

Day 3

Getting up a lot earlier we were on the water by 9 am making good time through an amazing gorge with great read and run class 4-5 before making it to Cassidy crossing around 11am. Below the crossing we began making numerous portages in pretty gorged out conditions for the next few hours before making it to the crucible proper. We were able to do some friction climbing and get a look at the first two drops but we couldn’t see the last two rapids of the gorge. It is a very interesting feeling doing a run where you know that your going to have to run rapids without being able to scout them, this was the situation we had put ourselves in and it had me pretty scared dropping in. Once we were locked into the gorge below it was all business and all of my fear melted into concentration. The third drop of the gorge is the crux drop of the gorge, we knew that we could run the double drop right-right but that it pushed into a sieve just downstream. We had been told that a middle-middle line came in a higher water but we were having trouble seeing the second slot that was in the middle (most of the water was going left into a sieve) finally I got close enough to the lip that I could see the middle slot and went for it, we all ended up having great lines and were glad to be below that drop. The last drop of the crucible is a 15 footer into a pothole I set safety as Tyson and Rolf ran the drop, then portaged the drop in the middle due to a lack of safety from below. Below the crucible granite creek plummets a few hundred feet off the canyon walls into the river and we took a long break to soak in this amazing place. Back on the water we boated for another hour or so before setting up camp on a huge gravel bar. We wondered what the next day would be like thinking that there wouldn’t be to much more and that we could make it out by early afternoon (we were wrong).

Portaging our way closer to the crucible

That pool is only 4 drops away but feels o so far

A beautiful falls on granite creek

Our camp fire and sunset

Day 4

We got up early yet again and were on the water by 8 am, starting of with some good drops with a few portages thrown in we made it to the south fork confluence in a few hours. Taking a break we decided that we wouldn’t be too long from the bottom, but below here the portaging became more complex and more frequent. Our moral kept getting lower and lower as we kept portaging finally getting to the lake at 6 pm, our hopes of finding a ride out were dashed when we realized how late it was. We paddled across the reservoir in 2-2.5 hours and made it to the boat ramp just at dark.

Rolf loving life after a portage

Rolf on a great boof

Looking down into more gorges below the south fork confluence

Driving back to sac we didn’t get to an airport hotel until 2am, just in time for rolf to get a few hours of sleep before his 6am flight back to the real world and his job. This run is an amazing adventure in every imaginable way, great rapids, huge gorges, scary portages.

Here is a short video I put together of our trip:

Devils Postpile of the middle fork of the san joaquin from Tom Janney on Vimeo.

For a great write up and of course great pictures go to Darin McQuoid’s site: http://www.kayakphoto.com/darinmcquoid/middlesanjoaquin.html he calls the run the hardest multi day in cali which I tend to agree with.

Summer 2011

2011-09-11T22:17:00.008-06:00

Man, this summer has been the best of my life thus far! I apologize for not updating often, but I have been too busy kayaking! On my way back to CO, we went by Bridal Veil for a little park n huck pit-stop. A lady named Jean was kind enough to take photos.

I returned to Steamboat for the first part of summer, and to my surprise Fish creek hadn’t even started running yet. Thankfully, the melt-off began just before the Paddling Life Invitational and held for nearly two months! It was the best Fish season Steamboat had ever seen and we were able to paddle nearly 50 laps on it, many of which were above 3 feet! Incredible!

Photo: Holley Gardel

While in Steamboat we also hit Slater Falls, which is north near the Wyoming border. It is a super fun drop with a twenty foot slide leading straight into a 30 footer. It was quite the day, as there was one skirt implosion resulting in a lost boat, and a massive mud bog on the drive home, resulting in swamped truck and necessary tractor removal.

Marty Smith oozin' with steeze

Another perspective. Photos Aryeh Copa

Crested Butte is the shit. Flows were great, the weather was beautiful and we were able to paddle OB, Daisy and Upper East.

Stupid Falls. This one hurt. Photo: Mike Head

I also had opportunity to go down the Grand Canyon, which was without a doubt one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Slip n slide on Olo Canyon

Lava Falls. Photos: Mike Farney

I also got on Mad Creek, which hadn’t been paddled in a while due to wood and the North Fork of the Little Wind in Wyoming which was rugged, to say the least.

I have a ton of footage that I am trying to compile at the moment, so I should have a sweet little video droppin’ here in a bit.

Finally, stay tuned for some updates from Washington and BC! I’m back in school here in Washington, and BC has been going off!

-Brian

Stomper Styles the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

2011-09-11T21:32:00.008-06:00

Hi my name is Josh Oberleas; I am a kayak instructor at Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center and a member of the CKS squad. I was given the opportunity to use the newest boat from Liquidlogic, the Stomper (90 gallons), for a 4 night 5 day trip through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Montrose, CO, and then also paddled 2 days on the Gunnison Gorge. After this experience, I would have to say I am thoroughly impressed!! The Stomper, in my opinion, is one of the best creek boats ever made!

Lead in to Ball Crusher (V+)

Photographer: Greg Grahlmann

I have paddled many boats throughout my years of instructing in Colorado, and the Stomper is like the Jefe and the Remix put together. The speed of the Stomper is comparable to that of the Remix but what is also great is it has the rocker and the volume of the Jefe for ease of boofing. One thing that makes the Stomper excel over all of the other boats out there, is the fact that it is almost unstoppable when it comes to crashing through waves or blasting through holes. The whole entire time I was in that boat I never had one moment where a wave slowed me down. In fact, when I landed a boof my speed would almost increase as though there was a rocket on my stern blasting me past the hole and off the foam pile for my next move.

Double Drop (V)

Photographer: Zach Simon

The Stomper was a great ride filled with grace and style. It was soft like a cloud as it rode nice and high on the water even with 30 pounds of gear and a 195 pound paddler. There was not a single moment where I had my stern caught, or I was endered backwards because of all the weight in the back. The momentum was always forward.

Handling: The Stomper was great at holding a straight line, even at top speed. It precisely carved on its edges without resistance or spinning out which made for quick S –turns and technical moves during rapids. This truly is a high performance craft, Ferrari of creek boats, with speed, style and great handling.

Run out of Ball Crusher boofing over the hole on the left, and blasting away from it

Photographer: Greg Grahlmann

Rolling: Even fully loaded, the boat had a really nice snap to it, and it rolled very easily. Granted, I had no combat roll situation in the canyon, I did roll it a few times to get the feel, and it was really snappy and rolled with ease. However, I did have two awesome kick flips that snapped around really fast. It’s a great boat to roll even for beginners!!

Boofing: WOW!! One stroke boof every time, and again it held its momentum so well on the landing that I just blasted off. The speed of the Stomper combined with its ability to pass through any feature without out losing speed is just unmatched for a creek boat. It takes just two strokes and this boat is at top speed every time blasting off like a torpedo, ready to STOMP!!

Fun one stroke boofing to stomping!!

Photographer: Zach Simon

The Edging: The primary stability is great, very well balanced and it locks you in to place. When you want to catch an eddy it turns on a dime and you’re in. If you need just a little more edge, the secondary edge is well balanced as it also locks you into place. It was amazing how long I could hold a 5 edge or how hard I could edge and not fall over. The edge to edge transition is very smooth and fast, when I went to switch my edges on flat water or during a rapid it was smooth like a hot knife slicing through butter!

Storage space: Lots of space in the back of the boat for all of my gear, and there were great spots to put random things and still have everything rigged so that if I did swim I wouldn’t lose it. For this expedition, there is a grueling mile long portage over nasty scree fields and massive poison ivy, and it’s not an easy place to hike a boat. Fortunately, I had time and was able to hike my gear to the cave camp and then hiked back for the boat. I shouldered the Stomper, and I was pleased that the weight of the kayak felt lighter than the Jefe Grande. Even though I still had some gear in the Stomper, I was able to shoulder it practically the entire way.

Lots of space for your gear

The Back band: It is awesome how I can get my stuff out of the stern so quickly because the back band just lifts up. As a safety kayaker and instructor, it is very important that I have access to my dry bag so I can get my first aid kit or rope quickly and without damaging my bag or straining to hold the back band up. In the Stomper, it’s a breeze. The only issue I found with the back band was that when you tighten it, the side bars slightly squeeze in. Honestly, I did not even notice that the sides were slightly inward. Actually, to me it made for a better, snugger fit.

Easy access with the back band lifting up like this

The Outfitting: Well, what can I say? It has Liquidlogic’s signature lazy boy comfort, and the outfitting is nice, durable, and super simple.

Something that I did notice that can catch paddlers off guard is if you get lazy and you are sitting back looking up at the amazing canyon walls or watching your buddy run the rapid and a little side current comes along it has been known to window shape people. I felt it grab me a few times, but that is a minimal problem to have considering how smooth, fast, and easy this boat is to handle. Besides, stay in the moment and you won’t get thrown around.

Nice Work!!

Photographer: Greg Grahlmann

To finish up, Shane, in creating the Stomper you gave the kayaking world a great thing. This boat will give paddlers the confidence to run rapids that they might not have considered running, I know it gave me the confidence to run Ball Crusher (V+) in the Black Canyon, even with the Stomper fully loaded. The Stomper is a great step up from any creek boat out there, and switching up from the Jefe Grande to the Stomper has been a drastic improvement for me. So to all paddlers, get out there and try one out! I guarantee that you will instantly fall in love with the Stomper.

Photographer: Zach Simon

Whitewater SUP on the Pigeon River.

2011-09-05T18:40:00.005-06:00

The Pigeon is a class 3-4 river here in TN. It is like the Ocoee but has fewer rapids and deeper channels. It is a quick, warm and easily shuttled run, which makes it perfect for SUP.
Here in the southeast we haven't been using skegs on our boards. We like to boof rocks and run slides which would not be possible with skegs. Everything in this video is done skeg-less.

Stand Up Paddling the Pigeon River. from Aaron Koch on Vimeo.

The boards we use are the Imagine Rapidfire, Emotion Traverse and soon the Badfish MVP.

Enjoy the video and don't forget to go demo some boards at CKS.

Aaron

Fist of Boof - One Day Wilderness Checklist

2011-08-29T22:05:00.014-06:00

One Day Wilderness Checklist

with photos from some of the best wilderness day runs of the year

There might be a thousand ideas out there about what the cutting edge of our sport is, but I don’t think there is a ton of debate as to where the soul of our fine sport lies. I believe, without question, that it lives on wilderness rivers. It’s not about the difficulty, the craft, the length or the gradient. It’s the incomparable feeling of freedom while floating through a canyon that has escaped the long reach of civilization, the clutching hands of “progress,” the fate of too many rivers worldwide.

ES Harris Creek put-in, Vancouver Island - photo Todd Gillman

When you embark into these special places for a day of freedom here’s a list of what EXTRA to bring:

1 breakdown paddle per two paddlers

2 throw bags per paddler, at least one of substantial length (75’ or greater)

1 first aid kit per two paddlers

Sample contents: Gorilla Tape, gauze, super glue, ibuprofen, Benadryl

1 emergency extended stay kit per paddler

Sample contents: Cliff bars, Lara bars, lighters, fire starter sticks, bivy, dry layers, water purification tablets

1 repair kit per two paddlers

Sample contents: bituthene, Gore-Tex patch kit, needle and high tensile fishing line

1 basic pin kit per paddler

Sample contents: 3 carabineers, 2 prussics, 1 sling

1 full pin kit per 4 paddlers

Sample contents: 4 carabineers, 2 tiblocs or acenders, 2 slings

1 water bottle and water purification tablets or 1 filtered water bottle, per paddler

ES, Laramigo River Canyon

What most of the stuff on the list is for, should be fairly obvious, but you may be wondering about a few things. In the first-aid kit the Gorilla Tape is for everything from attaching a stick as a splint to a primitive band-aid. Super glue is for stitching without stitches and Benadryl is for allergic reactions. Take a wilderness first-aid or first responder course and decide for yourself what is most important to bring and how to use it.

Freddy Gnarquist, Harris Creek - photo Leif Embertson

In the repair kit, the bituthene, otherwise known as “ice and water shield” is for patching your boat. In the Gore-Tex repair kits there will be a patch and some sun curing Aqua Seal, which allows you to quickly repair a drysuit or drytop. The Aqua Seal can also be used in combination with the needle and fishing line to repair a skirt. If you don’t know what the stuff in the pin kit is for, it’s time to take a swiftwater rescue course here.

Nick Wigston, North Saint Vrain

What you wear becomes more important on a wilderness run and should even be considered a part of safety precautions. Dressing warm is almost a necessity even when daytime temperatures are hot. The water is generally cold and when the sun goes down, or hides behind some clouds, the temperature can plummet in a hurry.

Temperature plummeting in a hurry, ES, Christopher Creek, AZ - photo A. Woody

Think about wearing some of the equipment on the list, so that if it’s your boat that’s pinned you still have a pin kit to work on getting it out. The Astral Pouch bag, or a waist throw bag is great because you never have to remember to grab it when you are portaging or chasing your buddy downstream. It’s never a bad idea to have some food tucked away into the front pocket of your PFD for emergency walk-a-bouts and carrying your pin kit in your PFD could save you from having to embark upon said walk-a-bout.

Proper footwear means that your shoes are not only good in the water and comfortable in your boat, but that they are tough enough to portage over rugged terrain, sticky enough to grip polished wet rock, and comfortable enough to walk multiple miles in. A fuller coverage helmet, Kevlar skirt and a rescue pfd are also recommended.

Austin Woody, Harris Creek - photo Todd Gillman

It is important to choose the right boat for the job. Selecting the right boat for the difficulty level and the extra gear you’ll need to carry will make your experience safer and more enjoyable. The boat your most comfortable in is usually the best. When in doubt take the big boat.

The new Liquid Logic backband makes it sure a lot easier to get all this stuff into your boat!

Knowledge of the details of a run is another essential component to successful wilderness paddling. Bringing maps of the area is always a good idea, but at the very least a pre-run map consultation is a necessity. Understanding where escape routes are, which direction the river travels in at easily detectable landmarks, and where the closest help might be could save someone’s life, including your own.

Wilderness rivers require an ability to detach one self from the conveniences of everyday life and to be prepared for the wild. It’s not too hard, and most of all it simply requires experience. Going with experienced wilderness paddlers is a great option for novice explorers, however new to wilderness paddlers can, and should get out on their own in small groups, but just at moderate difficulty and remoteness levels until they are comfortable.

Cutch, Big South

Finally, exploring wilderness runs requires a strategy. Putting on a wilderness run with people you don’t know requires a pre-trip meeting to share knowledge and discuss communication techniques, boat scouting and expectations. Nick Wigston wrote a great article on river running strategy which you can find here. Many paddlers may not have thought about river running as having a strategy but there is a fairly universal set of tools that experienced paddlers who’ve never met before will still be able to use to communicate and run a river effectively and efficiently. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, grab the list of ingredients from the beginning of the article, read, understand and share Nick’s article with your crew and get out there and dive into the soul of river running.

Mummy Range, Little SF Poudre

Gore Canyon 1650

2011-08-28T20:03:00.001-06:00

Gore Race is the final "real" kayaking that I get in the season. It is a weekend packed with excitement, where people come from all over to celebrate a great love for the sport of kayaking. When I was told that the Gore Race was cancelled this year due to high water I was devastated. But I decided to go to Gore anyway and it was really fun. We met lots of other people who had come to run the river, which was at a sweet level, even though the race wasn't on. I ran (or tried to run) the left-left line on Gore rapid for the first time and wound up face surfing in ginger (much my happiness it was not a very long surf and I didn't have to swim). Anyone who is in CO next August and wants to run an awesome river and meet some psyched boaters should check it out.

Gore Canyon 1650

2011-08-28T12:30:00.003-06:00

Royal Gorge

2011-08-18T18:28:00.002-06:00

Royal Gorge on NF of the American from Rolf Kelly on Vimeo.

Royal Gorge

2011-08-17T18:06:00.008-06:00

3 day, 30+mile trip down the North Fork of the American River in California. Some highlight pictures are below. The video can also be viewed above.

http://vimeo.com/27816625">Royal Gorge on NF of the American from http://vimeo.com/user3727198">Rolf Kelly on http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.

Scott Baker on perfect 20

Havier Engle on Wabina Entrance

Rolf on Rattlesnake

Andy Blakesley on twisting 20

Havier Engle

Kiwi on Heath 1

Cascade Idaho (way late)

2011-08-15T11:08:00.017-06:00

This year my brother and I got to take a trip out to Cascade, Idaho for the Kelly's Whitewater event as well as the USACk national freestyle event. We went for my brother more but I tagged along for the ride. It took us two days to get there. And we stopped in Boise to see the blue field.

We got there and got our hotel room which was about a block away from the whitwater park and pretty much everyone was staying there in a room, or in a tent. I got my gear unloaded and headed over to the park. The water was so warm! The feature was nice and easy, besides the one up above which had a good wave on river left, but a pretty meaty hole on the right. The girls and cadets got to have the competiton in the friendly hole and everyone else was up above.
I have been working on loops all year and was hoping to pull one off in the competion, but that didn't happen. I was bummed, but every competition I get super nervous and nothing seems to come togther. Though every comeption I always had people giving me tips on what I should do better. (Thanks guys!) I ended up placing second out of three in the cadets. The whole trip was a blast! It was great to hang out with everyone. The lodge had a pretty awsome game room! I met new people and was able to paddle in the warmest water Iv'e ever paddled in.

My brother didn't place so well in the KWP event, but ended up second in the point series behind Dane Jackson. We watched Halo Effect and hung out before heading home the next day. Definintly one of the best trips of the summer for freestyle!

The Garbarator

2011-08-08T10:56:00.004-06:00

SLAP! My stomach drops out from under me as I fall. Before I even realize I'm falling I hit the water hard, tumbling completely out of control like a rag doll in a washing machine. I bounce around forwards, backwards, sideways, upside-down, clinging to my paddle, half blinded by the foam. Then forward stroke and rudder- I'm in a semi-controlled front surf. The water flies under me at what looks and feels like a zillion miles per hour. Part of me is screaming "Get off the wave NOW!" but another part is thinking, "OMG, this is the craziest, wildest, most fun ride I have ever taken!" I lose control again and flush off the wave. I roll up and immediately want back on. I eagerly wait in the line-up. Thus goes my first surf of Garb.

That was two days ago. Today I, and the rest of the Keeners, spent an hour and a half surfing it at prime level. Every time I peel out of the eddy with apprehension, looking over my shoulder and leaning into the curler, then waiting for the entire foam pile to crash down on me. I'm in and going for an insane ride. I bounce around in the wave, maneuver towards the curlers that bring me to the top of the foam pile, and then drive/fall down five feet. Today I fell on my left edge, was thrown up into the air as I simultaneously transferred my edge and threw the bow under me into a massive air blunt. I stuck it on the wave screaming with joy and adrenaline. That blunt saw to the achievement of one of my two main goals of my time with Keeners and was one of the most fun things I have done in my time on the Ottawa.

Ottawa River

2011-08-08T09:47:00.003-06:00

Last week was packed with fun, exciting, and wild adventures with the Keener program

on the Ottawa River. We began by meeting 19 new people from around the world and giving ice breaker speeches. Monday and Tuesday were spent getting to know the Ottawa and our fellow Keeners. Wednesday rolled around and we raced down McCoys and then had a no skirt race down the Lorne, which resulted in quite a few swims. It was insanely awesome. Then, it was Thursday. I was terrified that morning because Thursday is Big Water Beat-down. We ran through Phils (a very large hole/wave on McCoys) and then I went for a couple of surfs in left side (the more mellow side of Phils).

Hand surfing Left Side

Later we ran the boof on the Lorne. To my amazement I did not get chundered in either, and Thursday is now my favorite day of the week! Friday was competition day and half of the Keeners went to S-Bend hole and had a super low key competition in the most encouraging atmosphere on the planet. Over the weekend some of us took first aid and paddled in our free time. Today I participated in a swiftwater rescue course and got some good re-cerc time in the boof on the Lorne. It was actually not scary and felt pretty much like a water/amuesment park ride or a Jacuzzi. I have never been this tired in my life, but rarely in my life have I been this excited for upcomming adventures.

Surfing Big Joe on the St. Lawrence, Lachine rapids

4th of july in Feather Country

2011-08-02T09:33:00.007-06:00

Its been a bit since our quick trip out to California over 4th of july this year. We had a huge crew of 9 out there for a 3 day weekend. We were originally planing on the royal gorge but flows were still a bit too high, so we settled on starting the trip out on big kimshew creek. We didn't end up getting shuttle figured out and getting up to the putin until noon, we decided with such a big group that we should pack for an overnighter in case we didn't move fast enough. We ended up making great time down the classic run and made it to the takeout about an hour before dark.

The crew hiking down the cali slabs
Getting western
Sean lee firing up big kimshew falls
Ross Herr on big K falls
the 20 footer below the big k falls
Andy Blakslee on frenchies 40

From Big kimshew we decided that we would stay in the Feather area and hit up the devils canyon on the middle feather. I had done this run 4 times before this and ensured the group that we could do it in a day and a half. We put on at 1 or 2 in the afternoon the first day and mad bombing commenced, I only had the group get out and scout one drop the first day. We stopped after about 5 hours of boating at an awesome beach camp about halfway through the run.

Great beach camp

The next day we got up early knowing we had about 5 hours of boating and that a lot of us had flights to catch. We continued our quick pace and only scouted a few times the second day as we made our way through the devils canyon. This run is so amazing, it is 35 miles of class 4-5 boating with only one real portage that gets run at lower water. Due to some work being done on the milshap bridge our shuttle drivers had to take the long way and come in on river left making for a long bumpy shuttle. We raced to the airport and just made our flights home, the whole time thinking of when we could return to feather country.

Sean Lee scouting in the devils canyon

JJ getting pushed around in helicopter

Here are a few videos that Sean put together from the trip:

Big Kimshew low from Sean Lee on Vimeo.

Devil's Canyon of the Middle Feather from Sean Lee on Vimeo.

Crystal River Headwaters Action!

2011-07-27T10:03:00.013-06:00

First two photos by Ben Carter, all other photos shot by Colter Beereboom!

This story is a two weekend extravaganza!

Weekend 1:

It's 9:15 Thursday night, I just got off work, and I'm headed to Ben Carter's house because we have no idea what to do this weekend. I pull up, we grab beers, and we go to the computer to check flows. The original plan was to head to Crested Butte for some OBJ laps, but the flows were tanking. I tell Ben of this mythical place they call North Fork of the Crystal. I had been there the year before and my mind was blown. The North Fork is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado, and my favorite place in the world. In our crew the whole drainage has been dubbed the Enchanted Forest. Ben is little skeptical, but with his wife being out of town he is definitely in for an adventure. I convince Ben that his Tundra will get some unnecessary beating, and that we should just take Ol' Nelly!

Rigged to Flip!

Now contrary to popular belief not only is Ol' Nelly great on the off road it's highway capabilities are unbelievable. This machine can travel up any mountain pass at speeds exceeding 25 MPH. Morning rolls around and we load up the Jeep with 4 boats (2 creekers and 2 playboats), plenty of gear, shovels for snow, and a large dog named Odie.

We're off. We drive down highway 24 and head towards Buena Vista. We stop at good ol' CKS to see an old friend and then dart towards Independence Pass. As we were doing a little sight seeing we come upon a nice local cliff jumping pull out. We jump into the deep mini gorge and then head into Aspen. We stop at Cemetary Road and decide we have to run Slaughterhouse. Great run and you can always depend on locals to give you a ride back to the top. After Slaughterhouse we finally make it to Marble, Colorado. The sun is setting and we're headed up Lead King Basin! We cross the creek and everything is going good until a wrong turn turns everything that was going good into a class 5+ road. We went up Sheep Mountain. This road was covered with snow, wood, and mud. We make it up a respectable amount of this road thinking that this is the way to the NF, but we finally come upon a log in the road that is unmovable. We camp out on the road.

The morning sun comes and we decide to turn around and head out hoping to make it to the NF through the town of Crystal. On our way down Sheep Mountain I realize that I had made a wrong turn and we did a lot of work for no good reason. Our spirits are now high due to the fact that we believe that we're going to finally make it to the Enchanted Forest! We get there and we scout for wood. Everything looks good to go and we have another crew willing to set safety for us! As Ben and I gear up, Pablo Von Huene shows up out of nowhere ready to put on with us. Pablo goes first and we see him disappear around the entrance rock backwards. I look at Ben and say, "Well I guess I'd better go." The first slide goes great, but Pablo is no where to be found. I line up the second slide and boof. I land on my right edge and get throttled. I set up to roll and get completely rejected by the log in the eddy. At this point, I have no doubt where I am. I pop my knees out and reach for something to grab. I can see the tree I'm up against but I can not get my hands on top of it. My kayak hits me in the head and I go under again reaching and climbing up. Finally my head comes up and I'm grabbing onto something stable. My kayak is squeezing me between it and the tree and I'm starting to assess how dangerous the situation is. A rope goes over head and lands next to me, but I have no idea on how to use it. I take a deep breath and try to climb on top of the tree. This is when I realize my skirt is caught. I quickly leave one hand on a solid limb and go under with my face and other hand and get my skirt unhooked. By this time Pablo is out on the tree with me and I climb on top. Glad to be ok. The boat extraction and paddle extraction is easy and the only gear lost was a drain plug.

High water NF is no joke when there is a log in the eddy on the right. If there was no log the drop would be relatively inconsequential. Ben ran the last two drops solo, and Pablo and I waited to be safety on the log for the next crew. The next crew does great with no hang ups. I get out and run a redemption lap in which I ran Icing backwards, but stomp the rest of my lines. Ben and Pablo are happy with one full lap. After a few beers and some food Ben and I lap the bottom 8 footer a couple times for some practice. The next morning we lap the bottom 8 footer 3 more times and are satisfied with the weekend of high water North Fork. The hot springs at mile marker 55 just after Meat Grinder going north is a great place to eat lunch.

Weekend 2:

Chris Mack and I load gear around 12:30 on Friday and take off in Ol' Nellers again with plans for Crystal Mill Falls, the North Fork, and the South Fork Punch Bowls. We have an exciting drive getting there in the hot sun with no AC. It's dusk and the light is dwindling fast as we pull up to Crystal Mill Falls. As we gear up the rest of our crew pulls up. I get two laps in on the falls and Mack gets one, and we decide it's time to head towards the NF. When we get there it's completely dark. We light up the fire and party down in my favorite place in the world. We slowly wake up the next morning and start to get excited about the creek. We make some food and go for a walk to pick our lines. Colter Beereboom and I gear up and get in the first laps of the day. At lower water the creek is just as much fun, but much less stressful. Every one is firing up the creek all day providing great footage for the video.

Mat Helm on Icing

Mack on the Double Drop

Myself on the 8 footer

We make a huge bonfire and Justin takes his dirt bike to provide some beta on the Punch Bowls water level. Justin claims that the Punch Bowls are running on the high side. We get some sleep dream of the Punch Bowls. The next morning we load up and head towards the ominous Devils Punch Bowls.

I think the rapid under the snow bridge goes.

As soon as we get there, I decide that I'm ready for this drop. I put on my helmet and elbow pads and start walking up the hill. As soon as we had safety set, Justin helped me launch into the biggest drop I've run so far.

The Line:

Balance boat on sketchy rock and snap your skirt on
Have trustworthy friend slide your boat into position
Say a prayer or whatever
Tell your friend you're ready to send it
Slide
Hip check a rock
Slide
Lay a stompy boof
Regain composure
Line up the second drop moving left to right
Lay a few strokes
Fist Pump

Second up was Justin. He decides to pencil the first one. He lines it up and styles. Textbook! Josh Heise steps up and boofs! He works it out and styles! Jon Rezabek decides he wants to fire it up and has a roll at the bottom of both drops, but couldn't be happier. We leave the SF happy as could be.

Myself laying the funk

Justing Plugging the top

Justin firing up the goods

Heise in the Top

Josh Heise

Another short stop at Crystal Mill, and the weekend of kayaking is coming to an end. Until next time Enchanted Forest, until next time!

Josh Heise Styling the Mill

Wilkerson Pass
Photo: Chase Nobles

Late Season Glenwood

2011-07-25T09:37:00.004-06:00

After the competition season and then a few busy weeks of work, I finally had time to make it up to the Glenwood Wave. It was running around 14,000 which is normally a great level. Locals were saying it wasn't as good as normal due to the long high water this year, but I still thought it was great check out the video.

Dinky Waterfalls

2011-07-24T08:44:00.019-06:00

After doing the warmup on SuperDink, (yes SuperDink is a warmup run in Cali even with 500 feet per mile drop), Dinky Waterfalls was looking to be at the perfect flow levels.

Why is Dinky a step up? Mandatory waterfalls, some of which can be scouted and then the chuck and huck portage. For me, this was harder than any drop, especially when your boat fills up with water just before the next drop.

Cam on one of the first drops

Plan B campsite....sub-optimal but worked

Chris on the classics slide/waterfall to pool to the next slide.

Getting towards the bottom

Dinky is an amazing run! If you go, be ready to hike though thickets, have trouble being able to scout drops and maybe having to run a few things (Willies) blind unless your an amazing rock climber. But its worth the effort and a classic California run.

Photos by Chris Menges and Tim Kelton

Super Dink....Cali part 1

2011-07-20T22:46:00.023-06:00

Not a lot of class V runs have great spectating. California's "Super Dink" which is the higher up section to the famous multi-day Dinky Waterfalls is easily accessible from the Dinky campground. The lower water levels made the long granite slides make a fairly stress free and enjoyable run. While we didn't know this at the start of the run, we soon found out as 1/2 of LA seemed to be up for the July 4 holiday while spectating the famous "Infinislide" which is close to 1/2 mile in length!

LA quickly heading down...

Menges and Cam heading down....much to the crowds delight!

Fun, somewhat stress free slides

Cam

I'm sure she was thinking "He probably needed to be another foot left to nail that boof".

Cam play boating Cali style on one of the mellower slides

Cam firing up another great slide

Don Mega High Gore

2011-07-14T19:12:00.001-06:00

On June 4th 2011 Kevin Dombey, Kevin Fisher, Sam Smiley, and myself headed into Gore Canyon at 8250cfs. The highest i had ran it prior to this run was around 4500. Highlights of the trip for me; watching Kevin Dombey fire everything except pyrite in a playboat, and me swimming kirshbaums. I can't really think of anything more refreshing than a brisk swim in the kirshbaums at 8250. Ahhhhh the memories...

High Water on the Arkansas

2011-07-12T10:59:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of this summer, when everyone was feverishly claiming that this would be one of the years to look back on, one of the biggest years in Colorado’s, and much of the west’s history, I began to get psyched for my two week trip to the Arkansas River Valley. As expected the water rose to high levels, but unexpectedly, it did not come to a huge peak -- at least not yet. For weeks it stayed at a solid, super fun level, as did much of the rivers in CO. But it was over too quickly, and before I knew it, I had to go home. Three days later, I came back. It was just to much to resist. Well, that was just part of it. What really happened was a zero percent contained, massive fire that hit the mountains near my home town with a force (as in 40,000 acres in 14 hrs). This said, I like to look on the bright side, and the bright side was that my two weeks of kayaking had turned into four. The town is fine and I would rather that our mountains hadn’t burned, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can say that those two extra weeks of kayaking were the best way to keep my mind off of flames. I had a blast -- quite literally bombing through the hole (which was then flushing) at Pine Creek and lapping Clear Creek of the Ark . I hope everyone has been having as much fun as I have with their adventures!

High Water at the Buena Vista Playpark

2011-07-04T22:12:00.001-06:00

With high water on the Arkansas, I haven't seen many playboaters in the Salida/ Buena Vista area. Salida is a little washed out, but BV has some great playspots. Check out the video, then come see it for yourself!

Gunnison River Festival 2011

2011-06-28T18:10:00.011-06:00

Gunnison River Festival this year was an overall successful event, even though there weren't that many competitors, due to worlds. But their was just enough to make it a great event. Here are some overall results.

Pro Mens

Craig Kleckner

Mike Patterson

Dave Fusili

Junior Men

Evan Schehrer

Hunt Jennings

Steve Anderson

Pro Women

Kat Levitt

Nicole Mansfield

Junior Women

SageDonnelly

Anna Schehrer

Sage Kitson

Big Smiles, Big Sur and Glenwood Waves

2011-06-27T16:25:00.021-06:00

Glenwood.What a Big Wave summer for Colorado. Big Sur and Glenwood waves have been at great, high flows for weeks.

Glenwood, 21K. Fun, Fast.
Leif.
Big Sur.

Big Sur was between 24 to 28, 700, which created a good foam pile and steeper shoulder then at 22k and lower when the wave is mainly glass. Big Sur also has a 2nd wave/hole that is faster, more dynamic with an eddy. In addition there are some other easier waves. As you can see from the photos many people can happily paddle at the same time. Long rides with friends, big smiles. Casual scene, not crowded. Nice Camping in a beautiful desert side canyon nearby with good shade and hike.

Chris Menges and Morgan Shredding on SUPS.

Chrispy inviting paddlers and surfers to join in.
Group surf.

Second faster wave. Big Sur.River right side of Glenwood.

Crispy and Pat.

Update from Worlds

2011-06-25T05:18:00.003-06:00

Today I am competing in the finals for the World Championships in freestyle. I have been in 13th place for prelims, 10th for quarter finals, and now going in to finals in 5th place. You can watch the video of my ride that got me in to finals Quarter Finals Ride. I am super excited to be competing in finals since this is my first worlds. Please get the full Haley Mills Worlds Interview. You can watch the live feed on the ICF home page http://www.icf-freestyle.de/ Wish me luck I am going to get ready to compete with 4 amazing women.

2011 Fibark Freestyle Finals

2011-06-19T21:35:00.002-06:00

The Arkansas River was cranking at 3,400 CFS for this years Fibark competition. The Salida hole became a flushy wave and competitors struggled all weekend to stick tricks in the feature. Check out a few video highlights from the weekend.

Women’s Pro

Kat Levette

Natalie Kramer

Nicole Mansfield

Liz Block

Men’s Pro

Mattieu Dumoulin

Greg Parker

Michael Palmer

Quinton Barnett

Jed Selby

Lyons Outdoor Games Freestyle Update

2011-06-16T15:07:00.002-06:00

The Lyons Outdoor Games was last weekends stop on the event tour. Lyons is a small town and puts on a smaller, yet very fun event. The festival always has a great atmosphere. It is more laid back and is all about gathering with other boaters to have fun.

The freestyle event was scheduled to start on Friday. After working in Denver, I raced up to Lyons and arrived at 3:50. I had never paddled before in the Meadow Park playspot and was lucky that the freestyle started 30 minutes late so I could get a few practice rides in. The hole was small and had a funky surfers left corner, but kayakers could plug hard for big loops and still get all of the harder hole tricks.

With US Team members gone, there were only 5 women and 10 men competing in the prelims. The women simply reseeded and everyone moved on the finals and the 6 men moved on due to a 5th place tie.

On Saturday, Adrienne Levknecht won the South Saint Vrain creek race beating out 6 men. Then in the Team Boatercross, I had the opportunity to be an 8 ball. Paddlers had to do push ups, run with their boat, and finally paddle downstream past a few 8 balls. As an 8 ball I got in some good hits including a blow to Stephen Forrester’s face. Sorry Stephen!

Photo by Scott Sady

In the women’s finals on Sunday Devon Barker took the honors with great and consistent rides. In men’s finals Mattieu Dumoulin scored 1010 his first ride which would be hard to top. I had 560 and was sitting in second. The announcer, Jeff Campbell, told me I need 1020 to take the lead. In the eddie I told Mattieu I was going to score 1020 and then had a great ride scoring 1020. I was momentarily in first until Matteau’s second ride scored 1040 which I wasn’t able to top. Mike Patterson rounded out the podium with some impressive rides.

Thanks to the organizers and sponsors for putting on the event. Oskar Blues, Smith, and the town of Lyons.

Freestyle Results

Women

Devon Barker

Kat Levette

Elaine Cambell

Jessica Yurtinas

Adrienne Levknecht

Men.

Mathieu Dumoulin

Greg Parker

Mike Patterson

Jonny Meyers

Billy Bob Malesky

Quinten Barnett

South Fork Kaweah

2011-06-16T07:39:00.003-06:00

I try to make multiple trips a year to the Kaweah drainage. Its a really magical place to be with great scenery and even better rapids. I had originally intended on running the upper stretch of the South Fork however when we showed up with water high over the recommended levels every one took a second to review their decision. The group split 50/50 and I chose to head down stream one run for the Shatner Ranch Run. Dubbed for his large ranch that you boat through! All in all we had one swim on our trip, and it ended up being a great day. I love the personal first decent and hope for many more this year!

For more information on the South Fork Kaweah please check out this link.

I hope you all enjoy the little edit I put together for the trip.

Lyons outdoor games

2011-06-14T11:39:00.004-06:00

This years Lyons outdoor games was as fun as ever, with awesome weather and great levels for all of the competitions. Last year SSV was raging high so we had to change the race to above the narrows, but this years flows were a nice medium for a race on the narrows. Only 9 racers steeped up this year but it was an awesome friendly vibe at the race with everyone just excited to be going fast and to have a racer to safety team ratio of 1:3. I didn't have my best lines but still tied ofr second with stephen foster, but all of us were no match for Adriene Levknecht who smoked all the boys with smooth super fast lines. Hopefully more locals will come out and race next year! Enjoy the pics shot by Nick Abrams.

Me on lap number one

Jonny Meyers

Kurt braunlich

Adriene Levknecht fast even with one hand on the paddle
race lap 2
Creek racing and Oskar Blues beer, life is good

Lap 1:

Lap 2:

Surfin' the Stampede

2011-06-13T23:25:00.010-06:00

The Stampede section on the Upper Dolores has many surf waves in a scenic couple miles. A little local gem in south west CO. The waves have been fun this year with the high flows.

Some have great eddy service.

The warm up hole.

The levels and the features change through out the day.

Paddling through Aspens, Red Rock, and green pastural farms. Easy bike shuttle. Or just paddle the first set of waves, and walk back.

Cruising to the take out.

Badfish Stand up Paddle Boards!

2011-06-13T20:12:00.003-06:00

Mariela and I went to Colorado for a few weeks in May and June. It was an action packed two weeks, with Paddlefest and Teva Mountain Games. If you've never been to the rivers out west, you are missing out. We stayed in Buena Vista, CO and surfed/paddled: Numbers, fractions and the BV and Salida Playparks.

: Carving it up

We were able to surf some of the Badfish Boards, both down river and on waves. Mike and Zach are at the forefront of river surf design. It was awesome to surf some completely original designs.

Stand up River surf is a very new medium. Kayaks have been surfing river waves for years but SUP boards are relatively new.

: Ollie

Badfish stand up Boards are available in a variety of sizes. 5' 11" to the 9' river runner. They are all hand crafted in Salida,CO.

: Matt getting low!

If you are in the state of Colorado and you like to SURF? Get over and check out the boys at Badfish. If you just have to have one, get em at CKS!

See ya on the river

Aaron

Teva Mountain Games: Freestyle Results

2011-06-06T21:00:00.003-06:00

Photos by Kaleb Timberlake

The Teva Mountain Games went off last weekend in Vail. If you have never gone, Teva puts on a huge festival featuring kayaking, climbing, biking, running, and dog events. Venders were out in full force promoting their company by handing out free gear and there were free outdoor concerts.

I competing in the freestyle event on Friday and Saturday. Competitors struggled to score high rides as the features was hard to set up, fast, and flushy. After prelims I was in 7th place and moved on with 15 other men. In semis, I kept flushing and only scored 170 my first ride. Luckily I was able to put together a better second ride of 660 points, just 10 points below the cut. Finals was exiting to watch as Dustin, EJ, and Dane battled it out for 1st place. It was close, but Dustin ended on top with 940 points.

Other highlights included free shwag (including 4 free Chipolte burrito coupons), watching the World Cup for bouldering, and the Xavier Rudd concert.

Mens Final Results

Dustin Urban

Eric Jackson

Dane Jackson

Mathieu Dumoulin

Bryan Kirk

Greg Parker

Mike Patterson

James Bebbington

Casper Von K.

Stephen Wright

Nick Troutman

Rush Sturges

Scott Sady

Michael Tavares

Jacob N.

Womens Final Results

Emily Jackson

Ruth Ebens

Haley Mills

Lauren Burress

Nikki Kelley

Tanya Faux

Elaine Cambell

Adrienne Levkneckt

Cali warm up

2011-06-03T10:55:00.005-06:00

This spring I had 2 weeks off from school in late april so I headed out to cali to open up the season right, Nick abrams joined me for the trip and we meet up with a few friends along the way. We started off on a little creek called shirtail creek, it was a super fun tight steep creek and a great way to kick off the trip.

Boofing the first rapid, photo: Nick Abrams

Nick in pretty poor lighting

After a late night on shirtail we were lucky enough to stay at our friend Tera's house in Auburn and decided to do a two day run on deer creek, it was a great trip but was cold and rainy so I left the camera in the car which I regretted when it got warm and sunny the second day. Overall upper deer creek is a great run with only one portage at our flows (1200 cfs) but if you want to do the just keep going through the lower the shuttle for the upper took 6 hours.
After deer creek we headed into chico to see the sights and to drink some tasty beer, the next day we did butte creek which is an awesome little run with my good friend and bad ass chica lizzy english.
From there Nick and I decided on a 3 day mill creek run that drops over 4000 feet in just under 50 miles, this run was the highlight of the trip. Nick and I were able to hire a shuttle driver for pretty cheep and spent 3 incredible days out in the bush. The lower 30 miles was were the best whitewater was found and amazing scenery that looked like something out of hawaii. It is the best class 4+multiday I have ever done, check out: A wet state for a great write up

Nick on a typical drop on the upper
Nick cooking up some of our 1.5pounds of carne asada on night one of mill creek
Nick running the last rapid on the upper
Nick soaking in the scenery on the lower
Nick running typical class 4 gorgy lower mill creek whitewater

This trip was an awesome beginning to the season, I got on a new run all of the days out there except one (49 to bridgeport which is mandatory if you like worldclass class 4-5 boulder gardens. Check out the helmet cam video below for some more media from the trip.

Photos of Buena Vista Pro Rodeo

2011-06-01T23:13:00.010-06:00

Stephen Wright, Big air

Emily Jackson

Men's Finals.Dustin Urban's Clean Mcnasty.Eric Jackson

Haley Mills, setting up for Air.

CKS Paddlefest and BV Pro Rodeo: Final Results

2011-06-01T12:16:00.000-06:00

This past weekend the streets of Buena Vista filled up for Colorado Kayak Supply’s annual Paddlefest.

The gear sale/swap and in store sale are great ways to gear up for the season and Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center organizes a variety of clinics so you can learn from the pros.

If your looking for competition, South Main hosted its first ever open and junior classes in addition to the pro event.

This years competition was held on a small and easy hole located in the South Main Neighborhood. Due to nature of the hole, competitors were able to put up huge scoring rides during semi-finals and finals making this an exciting event!

Special thanks to all the organizers, judges, South Main, Colorado Kayak Supply, and The Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center.

Men’s Final Scores

Stephen Wright

Dustin Urban

Nick Troutman

Eric Jackson

Clay Wright

Mathieu Dumoulin

Greg Parker

Bryan Kirk

Jud Kaiser

Billy Bob Malesky

Women’s Final Scores

Emily Troutman

Ruth Ebens

Haley Mills

Katie Urban

Tanya Faux

Early Spring In California

2011-05-23T07:59:00.002-06:00

Nate Klema, first strokes of the season: Chuck Kern's Slide, Kaweah.

This March we (Nate, Ben, Matt and Cody) made a quick eight day trip to California during spring break. After an all night drive from Durango, we arrived to low flows on the Hospital rock section of the Kaweah. Despite slighly lower then optimum flows it was still good to finally get on the water for the first time that spring, and out of the van. The weather out look was good, so we set up camp and sure enough it started raining that evening.

Ben Luck on Chuck Kern's Slide, Kaweah

Another angle

Matt Klema, Kaweah

The next day the flows were up and we got few laps on Hospital rock section getting our figurative paddling legs back under us.

Ben Luck somewhere on the Hospital Rock section of the Kaweah

Cody on Hospital Rock, Kaweah

Ben, Cody & Nate in 4-20 Gorge, Kaweah

After another night of rain, the flows were high enough to tackle the East Fork of the Kaweah. This is one great run. It rained hard throughout the day. Enough to make the portages pretty scary, keep the cameras in the dry bags and the water levels rising.

We then headed to the Tuolumne. The Cherry creek section was running at just under three-thousand, which made for a great pushy big water day of paddling. The normal takeout road to Lumsden Falls was closed due to a landslide on one end and snow on the other so we paddled the sixteen mile lower section to the lake. It was good to get a long day in. The "T" was fun, and at 3K there were some pretty big holes lurking down there as well.

Matt Klema somewhere on the Cherry Creek section of the Tuolumne

Ben Luck

Nate Klema

Ben Luck, Lumsden Falls

...a little lower down.

Nate Klema, Lumsden Falls

Lunch with Lumsden in the backround. Bottles of wine increase punching power.

From there we headed north, to the South Fork of the Yuba for our last few days. Flows were optimum and the Cali boys showed us a good time as we ran laps and more laps on Purdons and 49-to-Bidgeport.

PLooking down on the 49 to Brideport section of the South Fork of the Yuba

A great warm up and start to the 2011 season....

Nathan & Matthew Klema

Surf's up in Utah!

2011-05-19T18:16:00.007-06:00

Surfing the Riverdale Wave was one of high lights of our spring trip. We paddled the wave on

the way to Idaho and on the return. The levels were from 2300 to 3000 on our visits. The wave was fast and bouncy, so much fun! Some of the locals claim their favorite levels are 2000-2300, because it is easier to set up for moves.

The local paddlers were friendly and super fun to paddle with. They are all so psyched to have so much run off this year. A few creeks and river runs in that area are flowing high. I see other CKS paddlers have been there recently, our timing to paddle together was off... next time. See you all at Paddlefest in BV soon.

local paddler: Amanda Kays

Me at Kelly's White Water Park

In Cascade Idaho.Serenna, hangin' on the Salmon.

She is a good traveler..

and happy camper.

Riverdale Surf Session

2011-05-18T15:02:00.001-06:00