The Northwest...Washington and Oregon!

I cruised into Hood River just after dark wishing I could see more of the Gorge.  I had spotty cell reception on this trip and directions that told me to go a mile exactly from a gas station and I'd find the private drive to Lori's.  No problem...I've had worse directions and still found my way, in the dark.  Lori gathered her gear and we set off to find the boys at our home base camp at Trout Lake.  I had recommended to Lori to take the job at Wet Planet leaving all she knew in Minnesota for the unknown.  As an avid "mother hen" I was anxious to see how she was doing.

She was doing fantastic!   We went to the The Trout Lake Country Inn for breakfast and I walked into my past.  The building is ancient with all the original woodwork.  The front had a small bar area and tables with a comfortable sofa area and TV. The back was the old style dance hall with a classic stage. In the olden days I was told there used to be bath tubs lined up for the locals to come and buy a bath.  The decor was antique everyday items.  My favorite item is the picture of the Duke, John Wayne,  hanging on the wall.  The front porch was just how I remember the porch on our old farm house was.  Memories blew through my mind like the cool evening winds I recalled rocking on that porch. Lori and I schemed our first day together...heehee!

Scott on Husum Falls

  First off was paddling the White Salmon. Lori is truly blessed to have this stream as her home river.  Everything from class II to V.  What a beautiful training ground.   We then went to the Wind River and dropped three of our group off there and then Lori, Chris and I went to do the hike into Falls Creek Falls. Walking in the northwest woods is like walking in a fantasy world. Emerald greens and rustic colors so rich it's hard to believe they're real.  The hike was long and we had almost given up finding the falls when we came out on an overlook and saw the falls down below us.  We cracked our celebratory beers, took some photos and wondered why our path didn't take us to the bottom like the guide book said it would.  Darkness was on it's way and it was a long hike out.  We decided to finish our beers as we walked further on the path to see if it went to the top of the falls.  Sure enough just as I was finishing my beer we arrived at the top of the most magnificent, three tier falls you could imagine.  Standing at the top was breathtaking! The guide book mentioned a root ladder along the side of the falls you could use to climb up.  We started down climbing the root ladder.  With each level the falls revealed more!  Wow!  This is THE BEST part yet!  Down climb some more...No no!  THIS is the best view yet.  The beauty and immensity of the falls is humbling!  I found myself trying to capture the complete aura in one photo but was unable to fit so much into my lens. There are so many hikes they recommend out in the Gorge area...I recommend this be your first. We took lots of photos and then with dark almost upon us, headed back out.  Personally I love trail running downhill.  It was over two miles to the car and we trail ran most of it until it was too dark to see the roots and rocks on the trail.  We ended the day hooking back up with the Wind river group at the bar for dinner. Great start for our Washington/Oregon trip!

Chris and Lori Falls Creek Trail

Falls Creek

Me on the overlook

First Tier of Falls Creek Falls

Second Tier Falls Creek Falls

Third Tier Falls Creek Falls

Awesome hiking crew!

  Day two started with breakfast at my favorite inn.  An early morning run on the White Salmon.  Then we all went for a group paddle on the Clakamas River in Oregon.  A friendly playboat run just outside of Portland. This river was just pure fun!  We followed with a group hike to Punchbowl Falls on Eagle Creek.  Some of our group deemed it to be runnable and made plans for the next day to huck it.  We finished the evening with dinner at the Full Sail Brewery.  Awesome stout beer and an awesome day two!

Below Punch Bowl Falls on Eagle Creek

Punch Bowl Falls on Eagle Creek

  Day three, Lori had to go back to work so we did an early morning bomb run of the White Salmon only starting higher up on the run.  Afterward the group scattered to do separate adventures. I wanted some alone time in Hood River just hanging out, getting my bike fixed and taking in the neighborhood.  Some of the others went to huck Punchbowl Falls and Oggie went hiking with his Uncle and Brian waited for his friend, Eric, at the campsite.   On my way back from town I stopped to drop some lunch off with Lori.  She heard there was going to be an ender contest at Top Drop that evening.  Wow!  We need to get one of these started here in the Midwest!  The rules were your boat had to be nine or more feet long.  You get three minutes to see what you can do in the hole and with each move the crowd shouts out a number from  1 to 10.  A score keeper does his or her best to average the score.  Sound like fun?  You bet it was!

Ironic that day four was the Fourth of July!  By this time Brian's friend Eric had joined us and our group did another paddle on the White Salmon.  Lori had to work but begged off early in the afternoon so our core hiking group consisting of Lori, Chris and I could hike Sleeping Beauty.  A small mountain (by comparison) from which on a clear day you can see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. St Helen's.  It was clear when we started but after hiking to the top we were just in some light clouds that obscured the view.  Still we were able to look down at an incredible sight!  We celebrated this hike with an awesome stout!

Back at camp Chris was talking about going with me when I left in the morning so we could do the Lochsa River on the way home.  Chris was fired up to hit this river and I was curious.  I loved the Payette and was having thoughts of going back to it and doing one last big water playboat run on my way home.  Chris assured me that the Lochsa was big water and you can do it in a playboat. We were on the road at 5:30am headed east.  Just because you're headed home doesn't mean the adventure is over.

Kiters in Hood River.  Maybe I should have brought a kite or two.

I really need to apologize for the lack of abundant river photos.  My Optio took a dive off my truck and I hadn't replaced it before the trip.  I used my SLR camera for these shots so if you click on the photo it will enlarge and I truly hope you enjoy them.  I have since replaced my Optio and I promise you I will go back there next year and shoot up the rivers. I have some helmet cam that I will be editing as soon as I find a bit of time.

The Day I Forgot my PFD!

I am known far and wide as "THE" person who has extra of everything stashed in my truck.  If you forgot it, Nora's got it.  I always carry two PFD's in my truck. My rescue PFD and my play PFD. Not this day though.  I had just gotten back from the Northwest and unloaded my truck.  With my brand new PFD just arrived I took my older ones out and hung them on their hooks. I didn't get around to putting my new PFD in the truck before I went to my home river...The Vermilion.  I was bummed when I discovered this fact in the parking lot.  Since it would be an hour round trip home to get it and I spend more time in Donut Hole than on my living room couch I decided to paddle without it. All things considered including that I am a very strong swimmer and it's a small pool drop park and play river with lots of paddlers there, I wasn't too worried.
  The river was up from the summer rains.  We had a fairly large group gathered to play.  The Verm is a place to just go and hang out with friends and have fun.  Some of my best paddling memories are from this river.   We made it down to my favorite hole...Donut!  It was stomping and so much fun.  I chased one paddler down to the pool below when she swam.  It's a large safe pool for the most part and a favorite swimming hole for the local kids.  The only current is a jet on river right that pushes along a slightly undercut cliff wall.  In the summer the young people that hang out also like to butt slide down through Donut hole so it's not unusual for us to wait for them to go through.  Two young men were taking turns in the hole with us.  All was good.  Then one of the young men decided to try to talk his girlfriend into sliding down.  I could see she was very reluctant.  He then decided to try to persuade her by making out with her above the drop so all of us could watch.  "Come on baby...I'll be there to save you." We could see it all coming down.  I was next in the hole and it was to be my last ride and then I was headed out.  The pool below was filling up with the boaters that had washed or swam too far down and it was time to go.  Well she was finally convinced so I let them slide hand in hand through the hole and then I jumped in for my last surf.  As I turned to head down to the pool I saw only her in the fast water along the undercut with her boyfriend nowhere to be seen.  I had a suspicion something was very wrong and sped down to her.  When I caught up to her she had sank completely underwater and I could see she had no idea how to swim.  I was horrified to see she was actually drowning. I looked to grab something on her to pull her up but there was nothing to grab. I was just about to jump out of my boat when she hit the wall and grabbed on.  She pried her head above water as I pulled up next to her. She didn't realize at first I was there but pressed her head into the rock.  She was terrified, sobbing and hysterical.  I talked to her to calm her down and explained that I was going to give her the back of my kayak to hold on to and I would take her across the current.  Bobzilla had caught wind of what was going down and was there if I needed him.
  She was a sweetheart and listened to my commands.  Not being a swimmer she was hard to ferry across the current since she didn't know how to float.  I saw her boyfriend just watching in waist deep water on the sand bar.   I yelled at him to come and help her.  No response.  Again I told him to come and help her. Very little response.  He took a few slow steps. It was pretty obvious he really didn't give a %&*$.  Wow!  When I did get her onto the sand bar and she was standing I asked her if she even knew how to swim.  She said "no".  Now here the story pauses on my blog...One of my rules for my blog is to post nothing negative. When I learned her boyfriend had encouraged her to go down through rapids, without a PFD, when she didn't know how to swim a few, ah shall we say, negative things came out of my mouth.  It wasn't pretty.
  Ok back to the story.  The sand bar is only in the middle of the river and there is a small deep area next to the shore she needed to get out on. I told her I wasn't leaving the pool until she was safe on shore and towed her to shore.
  Observations in hindsight.  A friend just sent me this link today about drowning.  The parallels are amazing.  She was bobbing with her feet hanging down and her hair was just floating in the water around her head. There was a total of about  fifteen paddlers and young people hanging out down there and thankfully I saw what was happening. No one else noticed.  A drowning person can easily panic and pull down their would be rescuer.  I was very aware of this as I helped her out.  Being without my PFD put me at a disadvantage.  But then, in the past,  I have rescued a few others in serious drowning situations while just swimming without a PFD.  The best thing is to have training.  Not only in swift water rescue but also in CPR and lifeguard.  I am also trained in First Responder.  Thankfully it all came together and it was a good feeling to know it turned out right in the end.  Bobzilla remarked that "somebody" owed me some beer.  I laughed and said "somebody" probably wasn't old enough to buy me some beer.  I truly hope she dumped that boyfriend!

The Northwest ...Payette River

Minnesota girl headed out west!  YeeHaw...oh...wait...I lived in Oregon a long time ago.  This was my first trip back to the state I grew up in since I left in "69".  My first stop was to see Andy and John in Idaho. They were both working for Cascade Raft and Kayak as instructors and raft guides.  I don't think I've seen a better operation yet.  It is owned by the Long Family...world class kayakers and incredible teachers.  The knowledge they pass on to their employees is priceless!  John and Andy both encouraged me to attend a rolling clinic put on by Cascade to see  first hand their teaching technique.  I was amazed at how easily Chad Long put a new student in the proper position to roll within seconds.  I will definately be putting this knowledge to work back home.

  I was camped out with John and Andy on an island on the Payette River neatly tucked in between two class V rapids.   As music has the ability to penetrate your physical body and affect your soul the sound of the river flowing a few feet from my tent saturated me with it's song.  It became an essential element for me that I was reluctant to leave.  The Payette was my intro to big water...yes it was big in Colorado a few weeks ago but I have never seen whitewater such as this.  From class V rapids that stretch non-stop for miles, to super fun huge class III.  I could spend a lot of time just enjoying the area...and I will be back.

  

Kelly's Whitewater Park

  I took the time to go up to the new Kelly's Whitewater Park to check it out.  After looking at HUGE water on the Payette for days it struck me as small.  Well it's not.  My whitewater perspective had been pleasantly skewed.  The features are excellently created from easy to challenging.   The park it's self has brand new landscaping and a beautiful clubhouse.  Plenty of comfortable viewing for spectators and a backdrop of snow capped mountains...I just love Idaho!

   Special note.  The guys from the Midwest and I decided to do an easy paddle on what is called the Swirly Canyon section...class II-III.  The guide book says there's just some squirrely eddy lines in the canyon.  What it didn't say is that it takes about 500 whirlpools and squeezes them down into a half mile stretch with sheer walls.  If you know me you know I really dislike whirlpools.  There wasn't a single straight line anywhere to be found.  People were flipping (not me) and it was quite a time getting through.  I was taken spun backwards and slammed into a wall at one point.  By far the most unique stretch of whitewater I've seen yet. But everything for a reason...once through the canyon your fear of whirlpools is gone.

                                                                                                
                        Hot Springs at the Swirly Canyon Take out


  The rest of the crew moved on to Washington in the morning and I took Emily up on her invite for one more run on the Main Payette before I left.  I took my playboat this time and it was addicting!
I was very reluctant to leave Idaho, but Washington and Oregon were calling and I needed to see my friend Lori to see how she was fairing.  That evening I crossed over the Oregon State line for the first time in 41 years. I wondered if I would make it back to my home town of Coos Bay this trip.

Paddlemania with my My Personal Villain!

This weekend was the 12th annual Paddlemania.  It was going to be special for me as Saturday morning I was picking up my new kayak!  Not just any kayak but my Personal Villain!  This boat was darn hard to come by.  I wanted the the Elite and the wait I was told  was going to be three weeks...at least!  I was leaving for the Northwest in two weeks!  The demand for this boat is exceptional!  I did my home work and located one at Whitecap Kayak .  It was the only one in the Midwest for sale and I was hoping it was any color other than red, white, and blue. I had fallen in love with the blue, black and white one at CKS and was regretting not getting it while I was out there.  Lara said it was....yes...red, white and blue.  I saw it at Wausau and thought it's a swirled pattern and doesn't look too much like a Bomb Pop. OK...I'll take it!  I had already decided on the name of my Villain weeks ago.  Meet McMurray.  McMurray came into my loving custody  from the hands of a Pastor.    Pastor Neil Schroeter, the owner of Whitecap Kayak.  All things considered I asked him to Bless the boat.  Up until now all my boats had their virgin run on my home river, the Vermilion.  It was only fitting that McMurray was broken in on the razor sharp rocks of the St Louis during Paddlemania.  It paddled like a rock star!  I put it through the hole at the bottom of Electric Ledge and it didn't even pause a second. Still it wasn't the color I had imagined for my boat.  Back at the Outpost just about everyone wanted to see the large Villain.  I was amazed at the reaction to the color...people loved it!  I was assured over and over that red, white and blue IS the hottest color to get.  OK... it's my personal Villain and I still love it even though it's extremely bright and attracts large amounts of admiration.

  The 12th annual Paddlemania happened with a little bit for everyone.  A few lessons...a few tours...a first D with a Duo...lots of swims...one double extended swimming tour of a hole that was pretty bad and even a little stitching practice for our resident paddling MD...Burgess.  Surly Beer was consumed at record speed.  The Slot Machine Showdown was great entertainment as always.  Thirteen paddlers gambled....only two lost.  The door prizes from Midwest Mountaineering really rocked this year!  I had been putting off buying a new spray skirt and I won one right off the bat!  WhoooHoo!  Unfortunately there was no rampant nudity this year...maybe next  year. Thank you Team Midwest Mountaineering for putting this on!   Here is Todd's video of the Slot Machine Showcase.

  And for those of you that follow my amazing friend and artist Joi Electa...she had her second whitewater river lesson.  She styled down First Wave rapid!  Awesome!

Colorado 2010

This year has not been a good year for whitewater in the Midwest.  The creeks came and went so fast in Minnesota I changed my vacation plans and went to the Southeast for water.  Sturgeon Falls, our usual Memorial Day destination, was dry also.  Bryan, Caleb, Jade, and I made wise plans to go to Colorado instead.

  We came into Salida late in the evening and got our playboats wet and then had a beer with my friend Chris at the "Rope".  The next morning the river had risen to nearly 3000cfs.  Our plans for the day was to do the Fractions.  We hit up CKS in the morning for their Riverfest Sale.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Nick Troutman there and also meet Clay Wright.  I admit I was drooling over the Jackson Villain .  I'm still waiting to get mine from my local dealer, Midwest Mountaineering.  Then something happened that I have never seen before.  Clay and Nick said to go and take one of their personal Villains down the river today and give it a demo.  Yowza!  I went down and picked the color I liked and we headed to the Fractions.  Thank you team Jackson!

  On the way to the river I started to wonder if this was a good decision to take a new boat, not outfitted for myself personally, on my first run of this river at extremely high levels.  It turned out not to be a problem.  Jackson's outfitting adjusts so easily I fit snug in a matter of seconds.  

We met another group at the put in and we arraigned shuttle with them.  The Fractions start out very fast at 2900cfs.  I was feeling the edges on the new boat and seeing what she could do. On the first rapid one of the guys we had joined up with for shuttle swam.   We got him to shore and the crew chased the boat down around the corner and out of sight.  I stopped with the swimmer to make sure he was OK.  I looked around and saw I was the only one who had stopped with him.  I told the swimmer to walk downriver and I was going to find the crew.  I looked out and saw a rock and wood strainer taking up half of river right and I would have to do a must make ferry to river left and head down by myself until I caught up with the boys.  OK lets see what this Villain can do.  Dropping my blade into the water I headed across the current and made my line with ease.  Right now I'm feeling a lot of loving thoughts about the Villain!  Down a ways I found the crew... but no boat.  It was gone.  The swimmer joined us and we told him we'd keep an eye out for it.

  The rest of the river was high speed fun!  Back at Buena Vista I was reluctant to give back the demo Villain.  I had bonded with the boat and really didn't want to go back to my old boat for the rest of the weekend.  They will be in soon at Midwest. I don't do "waiting gracefully" very well but I will have to wait for my "personal Villain".

That night we listened to music and watched the pro boaters and drank some very good local brew.  It was a really great day.

Day two and the water just kept going up overnight!  We decided on Brown's Canyon.  We hooked up with three Minnesota boaters we ran into the day before.  Again at 3400cfs the river is fast.  The easy start to this river lulled the paddlers that hadn't ran it before.  Don't worry...it picks up further down and boy did it!   We picked up a couple of swims from one of our group who is a good kayaker but was just having a bad day....we all have them.  After her second swim she decided it was enough and started walking.I myself had a bad turn of events at the bottom of Zoom Flume when I was flipped and rolled and rolled and was slammed down each time again before I could get a breath...after several attempts I was out of the thin stuff they call air up there and pulled out. Caleb got me to shore and asked if I had hit my nose cause there was a little blood...no just a little too long under water.  After that episode he suggested my name should be Gnara....I kind of like it...lol!   I got back into my boat and we all paddled on.

  Before setting out that morning I had wondered what the Giant Steps would look like at 3400cfs.  I ran them at 1200cfs so I knew what the structure was underneath.  I could only imagine what it looked like at this high level.   It was incredible!!! The biggest and longest wave train I have ever ran!  Some waves were over 10 feet high!  Unfortunately one of our crew swam at the top.  FORTUNATELY...she was out of the river in seconds as a swim here would be a nightmare.  This is the start of the infamous boat rescue!  Bryan, Caleb Jade, and Jeramiah chased that boat for over a mile through huge rapids.  The strength and stamina to be able to do this is huge!  I was running sweep so I didn't realize there was a swim until I saw her boat in an eddy part of the way down.  I pulled over to get my breath on the river right of a huge rock and started looking for the swimmer and paddle.  Since Jeramiah was running after the boat I knew the swimmer was OK and headed down the rest of the rapid alone....again....as everyone else was so far ahead of me.  This rapid went on for over a mile before letting up.  At one point one of those waves knocked my paddle out of my right hand and threw me back on my boat.  The river here is very constricted and the waves refracting off the shore made for quite the paddle down.  I loved it!  The boat was rescued and the paddle was lost.  Again a good paddler just having an off day...everyone has theirs.  Back at the take out we all headed to Salida for beer and food...a great end to a great day!

 Monday and we only had time for a very quick paddle before hitting the road home.  I opted not to paddle the Fractions again but the boys made a bomb run down.  I took photos of them at Frog Rock and went back to CKS to drool, again, over the large Villain.  So maybe I like bad boys.  We enjoyed a few more beers at the Buena Vista take out with the other Minnesota crew and headed home. 

  This was an awesome trip with awesome friends!  Our crew was solid and times were good!  Memories that will last a lifetime!  Video is still being processed and I will post when they're done.

Side Note....

   I did make a big mistake that I will mention here.  While packing I reduced the gear I usually take along.  I had to pick one PFD and chose my rescue PFD.  What I didn't realize at the time was while it fits snug at an elevation of 800 ft. things change at 10,000 ft.  When I started running rivers at that level I found I couldn't breath....literally! It was scary to say the least.  When I asked Bryan to help me zip it before Brown's he pointed out it was too tight and that's why I had so much trouble breathing!  Your chest has to expand much more to compensate for the thin air.  Once it was loosened I had no trouble. 

Canoe U 2010...First Weekend

Rapids Riders is a club that is committed to teaching whitewater kayaking and canoeing in a safe and fun environment. Each spring we lead a fresh batch of newbies out on the fast moving waters of Minnesota. I have been with Canoe U for four years now.  The first two as a safety boater and this is my second year teaching.  One of the most rewarding things about teaching is seeing the growth of your students.  From Saturday morning on the lower Kettle to Sunday evening the growth as a kayaker was immense.  The joy on their faces at the end of the day on Sunday says it all.  Kayakers are a special breed of people.  Bonded together through the love and challenge of a river.  At the end of the weekend, nine students understood the experience of running a river.

This year I'd like to highlight the ladies!  We had a very nice group of ladies and they all were amazing women!  Each one taking the challenge of water in her way from bold to determined...all were successful!  My goal as an instructor is to make it easier for women to learn, and most importantly, stay with whitewater.

Now the men...whooo boy are they fun to teach!  We had a fun group of men with also that were not shy about running those rapids!  Reports from the other two groups confirmed that all the students were rocking the river and having fun.

The growth doesn't stop there.  Looking at the instructors and safety boaters many were students from the previous years.  Amazing kayakers now and awesome friends! Check out Bryan's Blog for his super photos!

In two weeks the students will come again to the rivers for their graduation weekend.  Another solid two days of running rivers.  It just doesn't get much better than this!

Kettle River Padlle Festival Number Four!

Tony Vavrika started the tradition of the Kettle River paddle Festival four years ago.  Since it's conception the water level has been varied from high water down to this years low water of 340cfs.  Still the highlights of the weekend are the down river race and the rodeo.

Saturday morning the weather was gloomy but it didn't dampen the spirits of the many paddlers that showed up.  My crew did a playboat run in the morning just for fun.  We found play still on Blueberry Slide and various spots down the river.  We turned around and went back to the top for the downriver race. As we waited for the racers to arrive at the put in we saw John Abraham pull up and we knew who first place was going to be.  John is an amazing racer from Duluth!

It was decided to go in heats separated by one minute.  They asked for the serious paddlers who considered themselves to be the fastest to go in the first heat.  Four young  men and I stepped forward.  OK...I thought...so what if I'm left in the dust.  I came to race. We started out in a group and I was in the middle.  As we approached the first drop I slowed to let the men boatercross battle it out for the narrow line down. I'm not a fan of boatercross racing.  I stayed with the pack after that never losing them as I had originally thought. I ended up taking 4th in the fastest kayaks!  Even at low level there was carnage.

 Back at Robinson Park we were greeted with Surly beer, I love their coffee beer, and more and more paddlers were rolling in.  It was time to head to the Gaslight bar where a great chicken dinner awaited us. I have to say I love the Gaslight!  They have the best Bloody Marys and always have great music! Tony as always puts on a very fine event and the swag table was heavy with great products from the sponsors. The paddlers were truly Blessed to be provided for by those sponsors!

Everyone outside NOW!  The fireworks  were to begin!  I am not exaggerating when I say these are THE BEST fireworks I have ever seen. The first year I saw these fireworks the lady next to me had tears in her eyes!

By then I was pretty tired and was thinking my tent sounded pretty fine but the movie was starting.  The Call of the River by Kent Ford.  I thought I'd watch a bit and then head back but I was hooked from the first minute.  This is an amazing film documenting the history of whitewater paddling.  The old footage and photos of some of the worlds pioneers in paddling!  See how many you can recognize.

Sunday dawned with sunshine and warm temps!  Beautiful!  Rodeo day!  We all put in and paddled down leisurely.  We had many new paddlers and with the river low it was the perfect time to mentor them down.  Hell's Gate is the last big rapid on the river and our destination was at the bottom.  The hole was friendly and the competition just as friendly.  Graeme Bloor taking first place.

This years low water attracted many new paddlers as well as the experienced.  As I looked at who I considered experienced I saw that it was many Canoe U alumni that have gone on to become solid  paddlers.  Some becoming instructors as I did. The community is also growing with more women coming into the sport. Also Ivan Bartha from the University of Minnesota St Cloud came down with a large crew of new and experienced kayakers and brought various boats for everyone to demo. Predominately a variety of Jacksons but also some C1's and canoes.

Thank you Tony for another great Kettle Fest!  Also a great big thanks to the city of Sandstone and the sponsors that make this a spring tradition!  You can check out all the information at  Kettle Fest  I'm looking forward to next year!!