Bailey Fest 2012

I've been attending Bailey Fest since it started 3 years ago.  Every year once it's over I leave thinking that it couldn't be any better, and every time I come back it's even rowdier.  Bailey is a class 4+ 5- run. Bailey Fest is a class 5+ party.  It gets wild.  This year there were 4 kegs of Oscar Blues beer at the put in party and camp area and 40 cases of Oscar Blues beer at the take-out extravaganza.

If you go to Bailey Fest you can enter a number of competitions for prizes.  This year I entered the world famous foamie race and won an awesome IR fleece. The grand prize was a Jackson Zen.  BBQ from the local restaurant Hog Heaven for the party at the put-in as well as a hang over breakfast in the morning. At the party Saturday night, they premiered my movie Unlimiting Factor which was really cool to see projected on the big screen.  I made a short edit from Bailey Fest. Juice Sauce.

Enjoy

Upper Upper Cispus

Late August in the Pacific Northwest really means one thing for local paddlers... It's time to make the yearly trek to the Upper Upper Cispus. Most everything around has long since dried up and summer is coming to a close. Just as you find yourself looking ahead to the rains of November. Wham-o, the UUC drops in and we're all treated to a few weeks of summer time steep creeking.

The run itself mostly consists of class IV - V boulder gardens intermixed with some smaller slide and falls. This all changes and the bed rock begins to creep in as you approach the lower gorge. Approx 3 miles into the 5 mile run.

The crux section of the run consists of a steep and powerful boulder garden in the bottom of a vertical walled gorge that is directly above the lip of a 30 foot waterfall called Behemoth. The boulder garden itself isn't too difficult, but it certainly has a class V feel to it with the big drop just down stream. Adding to the suspense is the fact that the entire series is must run and it's fairly difficult to get out of your boat after running the gorge. Go with someone you trust and be prepared to run a 30 foot drop without a scout.

Directly below Behemoth is a sticky 6 foot ledge with a nasty hole on river right. If you run the big one correctly, 90% of the time you're going to end up gutting the worst part of the 6 foot ledge. Paddle hard!

After the sticky hole there is a big pool and everyone has a moment to catch their breath before dropping into the last series. This quarter mile long boulder garden is as good as it gets. Stay right the whole way and keep boofing.

Then entire series combined has to be one of the better 1/2 miles of white water around and something that shouldn't be missed if you're in the Portland/Hood River area at the end of the summer.

I snapped the following shots a few weeks back and have been back in the past two weekends as well. Enjoy.

Cruise Control scouts the Put-In Falls - This drop is a mere 200 yards below the launch.

Headed down

Melting the Put-In Falls

John Edwards on the same drop.

Typical boulder gardens on the upper 1/3

The right line at Island - Boof Early

Dan Rubado finishing off the right line.

Island from below

And again. The bottom hole can be munchy.

That's me running the lead-in to Behemoth

And.. Clawing my way out of the hole right above the lip.

Looking back up the gorge - Standing at the lip of the falls.

It's hard to get out of your boat at the lip, but manageable with the right ninja moves. - Scouting

Looking down into the final boulder garden

Brooks Foster gutting the ledge hole below Behemoth

Cruise Control on the big one.

What's in a Sunshine photo?

It finally happened.  I sacked up and ran Sunshine at a normal flow of 100%.  It's not even close to being the most difficult rapid I've run or the most dangerous.  Not the most remote, not the tallest, not even the most challenging of that day.

But Sunshine has a mystique.  Every hard paddler has seen a photo.  A 10 foot falls that crashes down on a rock shelf, which causes a claymore mine explosion of water into the air.  There is exactly one boat-width of salvation on the left or the right.  Either direction is a classic cross current move to the lip. Losing your angle risks losing your legs.

The stories are legendary and relentless.  Millions of tales from the first D to attempts at 'gapping' the shelf and onto the discovery of the left line.  Crashes have occurred backwards, hairy side down, and pancake flat onto the anvil.   Over the years, nearly imperceptively the pillow shrank, the little wave got bigger, and the right eddy became stronger - or so I've been told as I'm no local.  The left line became the new right line.  Legends echo up the gorge and through the foliage on a summer day.

I have seen scores of paddlers fire it.  Some slick, some grating.  Hack jobs and Olympians, kids and old-timers.  Three strokes in either direction and you're a hero or a zero.  I watched, watched, and watched.  Several times I tried to force myself into the boat, only to find myself clipping the rappel rope yet again.

Finally, one day the sun was shinning, which means nothing as the drop is named Sunshine for glaring reasons.  But rather, it was finally sunny in my mind; I was smiling on the inside.  The day had come.

Your's truly

Sure, it's not the best photo.  After years of dirt-bagging photos on the blog, my wife finally surprised me with a SLR camera.  I'm slowly discovering that this shot is a little over-exposed with two slow of a shutter speed causing motion blur.  Yet it is a really neat personal photo.  It places me into the legends of the water along with uncounted others.  It's one of those photos that never get old to the people who are in them like boof shots of Double Trouble, Entrance Falls or Oh-Be-Joyful.  The photo gives a moment of pride in accomplishment and reflection on a long successful journey with rivers.  

My skills have equaled this drop for a long time.  My first Gorilla spanking was in 2004.  I had boofed my way down the Green at midnight with just slivers of moonlight in the weeks before this photo. I have been paddling class V for 10 years on three continents, 5 countries and 17 states.  I guess all of the experience gave me the patience to wait for just the right day and I was able to truly savor the flavor.  Or maybe it just makes me a pansy?  That is a razor thin line that never gets clearer with age.

Acobamba Abyss section of the Apurimac River, Peru

The summer issue of kayak session features the Acobamba abyss section of the Apurimac river in Peru.  We never did a write up on that particular part of our trip two years ago so we though we would share some pictures.  Amazing river and amazing canyon.  With Matt Wilson, Evan Ross, Ryan Casey and Ben Luck.


Photos: Matthew & Nathan Klema

On the Road (part 1)

For two weeks I got to travel to Missoula, Montana and Cascade, Idaho. We left Salida and headed to Wyoming, where we surfed Lunch Counter. It was pretty insane! After a fun time there we headed to Missoula for the USAFK championship. When we first got there, we had to adjust to the fact that it gets dark at ten o'clock. It was pretty nice. On the other hand, the wave was changing constantly. At times the whole wave would turn green, and other times it would have a nice pile. After a couple days of training, and eating ice cream at the Big Dipper, it was competition time. The first day the junior women just receded. The wave was unattainable and after our four rides I ended up in a tie for second with Lauren Burress, but the tie broke my way, which put me in 2nd behind Sage Donnelly. The next day..... it was finals. Out of the three rides my first ride was the best. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to beat Lauren's third ride. I ended up third behind Lauren and Sage and third in the point series. It was a pretty successful and fun event!

Jackson, Wy

Lunch Counter

Lunch Counter

Willow Slide into the Clark's Fork 

Big Dipper Ice Cream w/ Kady Kellogg and Sage Donnelly 

Missoula 

Brennan's Wave

Podium

Mini expedition warm-up

In the amazing guidebook to the rockies (WWSR) there is a section on the back of the book that has lists of check-offs, such as best after work runs, best hike in runs, most likely places to swim and expedition test pieces.   The list consists of the best 5 runs to test your expedition skills on and consists  of:  Hellsgate of tonto creek (AZ), Black Canyon (CO), Rio Brazo (NM), Bull lake creek (WY), The box (WY).

This year was a pretty dismal snowpack for colorado with most runs not seeing enough flow to boat but lucky for me I just moved to Durango.  This year was amazing down here if you like running valliceto and pandoras box (and who wouldn't?), they were in for 3 months at great levels.  Together with being the top runs in the region in both difficulty and quality, they both make you work for your whitewater or as the local boys say "keeps the rif raf away".  Expedition boating along with great skill takes two main factors, being in shape and mental strength to paddle all day, two things living in durango with allow you to practice.

Having already completed 3 of the 5 runs on the list this year looked like the year to check em all off.  Lucky for me I was able to have a good combination of flow and access to get to the rio brazo and find another person to hike 18 miles into bull lake at high water.  And I was also able to do another run on the list (Black canyon) twice in one day and complete a 3 day mission on the north fork of the little wind.

Expedition paddling is what drives me (and lots of other boater) because it gets you away from the world for a few days and allows complete focus on just kayaking.  The list in WWSR is a great spot to look for anyone looking to test themselves and to get on the best whitewater the region has to offer.  Maybe someone can get them all done in a season, that would be fun wouldn't it.......

Enjoy some of the pics!
-Tom

Tom Janney Brazo falls

Will Rawstrom hiking into the brazos

Freemont Shieds exiting the brazos canyon

Food for 5 days (note the peanut m&m's, a must have)

sunset on bull lake

deadman's lake, the putin for bull lake

Scott dent on bull lake

a family of fuzzy friends on bull lake=glad to have bear mace 

Jim Janney black canyon

Painted wall black canyon