First Class V Swim: The Green Truss

Still editing video, but I had my first real swim. It's been year since I've been out of my boat for real, and it sucked.

I was boating with another guy from school who is much better than me down the Green Truss section of the White Salmon. Definitely has some class V on it, especially at the level (just under 4 ft.) Niko had run this river plenty of times, but neglected to tell me that this was the highest he had ever run it. I think this was probably to my benefit because I was pretty scared anyway. If he had told me, I might have tried to hike out.

This river has a pretty big drop, Big Brother, which I have been looking at footage of for a while. Its almost 30 ft with a cave thingy on the right and a shallow landing on the left. At this level, the normal river right line wasn't really in, but a left line between two rocks over a fold into a big slide opened up. It looked pretty stout. Furthermore, the next rapid, Lil Bro had a boil line at least 4 ft away from the base of the drop. Niko said he was walking, so definitely was too.

The river started narrowing up and had more of a big water creek feel than the creeky, manky southeast stuff that I am used to. Adjusting to the new style and feeling pretty scared on a new river, I followed Niko down every rapid. We scouted double drop, which as Niko described, is just one of those rapids where you roll the dice on flipping. Niko styled it, but I was still a little confused about how to run a rapid like this. It looked flushy, so I have it a go. I flipped after landing the first drop and make friends with a couple rocks and rolled up in the pool. Not exactly fun, but it was nice to hit some rocks and not freak out.

Eventually we got to Upper ZigZag, which Niko said was pretty hard to describe the line. I followed him into the tight gorge walls to see massive curlers and reactionaries. I passed a flipped Niko who had gotten eddied out by the most massive curler I have ever run. I ended up having a pretty good line, which I attribute to my Remix that is probably too big for me, but works great in big water.
Next rapid was Lower ZigZag. Lower Zigzag used to have a big ass log leaning on the left wall, which added some difficulty and made the rapid pretty classic, but, due to the floods that cleaned everything else in the area, the log was gone. I was kind of bummed that I couldn't run the exact rapid that I had seen in so many videos, but I was really grateful later... Niko pointed out this little flake that was mostly washed over on this decent sized hole along the right side, that was the line. I probably should have followed Niko more closely, because I was too far right, barely boofed, and ended up surfing the hole. I think the video can capture this next part pretty well. I felt a little frantic during my swim, but I got out all right. After quite a bit of hiking and attempted hitch-hiking, I found Niko, who had gotten my boat. My paddle wasn't so lucky, but my brand new breakdown made me feel pretty good.

We put back in, but I was getting pretty tired and my nerves were starting to wear. With light running out, and no set shuttle from the bottom, time was working against us. We portaged BZ Falls extra high, which was to my benefit, but involved a little more portaging, which always exhausts me. We got to the 17 ft seal launch that is the sneak of BZ and I was DONE. Niko had to hold my boat and push me off, I actually asked him how to seal launch (which I have done quite a few times) b/c I was losing confidence in my ability to perform. Luckily we got the bottom and Niko found us a ride with some local boaters before I made it to the parking lot. I was pretty wiped, and I think this picture captures it pretty well.

I love how my drysuit makes my face look extra fat...  The picture was Niko's idea.  He said that pictures after runs like this are always the best, and I have to agree, despite my dislike of my fat drysuit face.  I'll post up the swim footage soon, just have to make the video not so damn long.

Ramblings

   Two more runs on Canyon Creek.  Water is still pretty high the second time.  I flipped at the same place on Kahuna and ended up swimming, but for much lamer reasons this time.  I botched my first roll, saw the harmless but scary looking undercut wall, and swam.  It was stupid.  That whole day was mostly bad lines.  But the good news is that this lets you get a lot of rescue practice!  Luckily, my bad line off of Champagne turned into a good rescue as I rolled up with an empty boat in front of me.  I was in perfect position to push it in to the eddy on river left, right before hammering spot!  The reuniting of man and boat took a little longer than it should have, but it all worked out.  I had an assist on another rescue earlier in the run.  I guy lost his boat at a rapid above Kahuna.  I chased it down and managed to pin it on some rocks, which was hard because it didn't have any float bags (n.b. always have float bags).  I got yelled at by the trip leader because he thought i was going to go off Kahuna chasing after the boat, which was not the case, I knew where i was, but everything worked out.
   Second run was at a much lower level.  I think it was around 640 CFS.  The river was much tamer.  A few of the earlier rapids confused me, but I felt confident that I could handle what was beyond every horizon line.  Though the confidence was great, my lines weren't as good, probably due to not scouting.  But I finally ran thrasher, quite well, and had a great line on a much easier Kahuna.  Definitely a classic run.

Canyon Creek, back just in time

As you have probably heard, Canyon Creek is back.  After bitching about not being able kayak during the insane flood, I was able to reap the benefits.  The epic flooding washed out the giant logjam on Canyon Creek.  I would like to take credit for this happening, as it washed out as soon as I got to Portland.  But I think I will settle for having a great, close, classic run that makes half-day trip possible.
    The water was pretty high, I was expecting some hard class IV, but ended up getting a lot more than I asked for.  Luckily some locals showed up and showed us down.  I ended up flipping and going deep off of Kahuna, which caused my skirt to implode (first time!).  Pretty stout run for a newish boat, and a new style of river.  Many more canyon creek runs to come.

Copper Creek: First River in PNW

So I landed in Portland on January 14th, and not four days later, I'm kayaking class 4/5.  One of the guys I paddled with said that this was a good run to start up here on.  I have to agree.  Though we portaged "Final Five" gorge, I had an amazing time.  This run had many more big drops than I was expecting.  I have realized that despite my bit of class 5 experience, I have spent very little time running waterfalls.  I've run drops and ledges and slides, but few true waterfalls.  Luckily, the PNW is full of them, like few other places are.  I watched a lot of video before I came out here, and the landscape is as beautiful as it looks on camera.  The water is an unreal green, bursting with bubbles that seem to effervesce from nowhere.   The drops are stout and plentiful, the gorges are tight and committing.  The plants make me feel like I'm in Avatar.  It just feels epic out here.  I hope that I never lose the appreciation for and awe of the beauty of this place.

Music: Ted (Bibio Remix) by Clark

Album: Ted E.P.

Old Stuff 7: Cheoah

My helmet cam stopped recording after Bear Creek Falls, but I threw together what I had.  I didn't feel great about my paddling and it kind of shows.  The camera is too angled downward, but my editing was pretty good considering what I had to work with.  

PNW, finally

I'm sitting in my room feeling the mixture of boredom and pleasure that comes with being exactly where you want to be but being unable to do anything.  It feels like my plane has landed, but is still waiting for a gate to open.  Long story short, I have about half of everything I need.  I'm in Portland, but I don't know anyone.  I have a kayak and a paddle but no gear.  I have some webbing and trees but no slackline stuff.  I have climbing stuff but no way to get to the gym outside of walking (I could do it, but I have time conflicts).  I mean, its great to be here, but I would really like to have my car with all of my other stuff in it.

Also, I just got a kayak, but the outfitting foam extra stuff was left at the store, and I was too giddy from getting a new Remix 79 to notice.  The boat looks pretty sweet, and it barely fits into my dorm building.  Thanks to some creative thinking by my parents, I was able to stand it up vertically in the basement bike racks.  It BARELY fits.  The boat is 8'11" and the ceilings are 9'.  You do the math.  I was able to throw a couple bike locks on it, and it looks like it can't fall out or anything.  And if you are wondering what my RA will say when he sees it, you don't have to.  The RA boss or Area Director, helped me move it in!  Nice guy, but the latex gloves he was wearing seemed pretty weird.  Anyway, things are looking pretty good, people seem nice, I just have to make a move and get the rest of my gear.

I am waiting on my roommate to show up from who-knows-where.  But its not that bad.  I'm listening to a sweet genius mix and editing the small amount of Cheoah footage I have from last fall.  Now that I am here and its getting real, I am starting to miss the southeast.  I'll be back in the summer, but everything was so familiar there.  Being in Portland is like being in a foreign country, in a totally good way, but it is definitely foreign.  Everything will work out, but I've been waiting for sooo long.

Speaking of waiting and of me, my plane saga on the way over here was pretty awful.  I know that being able to travel across the country in one day is amazing, and I should feel grateful, but I really hate flying. It was your normal story of delays, running to gates, and missed flights, but the second flight has some great moments.  After waiting 5 extra hours in Minneapolis, our plane stayed on the runway from quite a long time.  I usually sleep on planes pretty easily; in fact, I have trouble staying awake.  Sleeping on planes is great, unless you wake up and your still on the ground...  Enough complaining.  Still waiting on my roommate.  I might try to talk to someone.  Cheoah footage soon to come.  Along with plenty of real new stuff.