South East Highlights

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

           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...

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

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

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

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

           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