White Christmas

We had a White Christmas here in Portland. It had been snowing and the city pretty much shut down for days so I had a bad case of cabin fever. All I wanted for Christmas was to get outta the house and do some paddling. And I got it! It was fantastic!

Sunstrip Campground, Clackamas River -
we had to walk through 2 feet of snow to put on.

Yes, it was a little cold.

But not too cold to stop and admire the scenery every once in a while!

View upstream from the take out at Bob's Hole.

Then home to Christmas dinner. I had put a roast in the crock pot so we had a great dinner in no time! A Merry Christmas, indeed!

Winter Wonderland

There are delays on the project I'm on at work which allowed me the opportunity to take an unexpected and much needed week off after finals. I was looking forward to kayaking every day and catching up on chores around the house. Well, I got my time around the house alright.... It's been snowing almost every day for the past week and a half. Crazy! The City of Portland pretty much shuts down under these conditions. Doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere soon...

Dogs and kids are loving it!

View up the street...

Happy holidays everyone!

Waterfalls!!!

Today was an interesting day on the East Fork of the Lewis River 

“waterfall run”. It's been raining a lot and the river spiked so it was, err, I guess you could say a little more exciting than we anticipated. It was my first time down, so I wouldn't have known any better if the people I was paddling with weren't saying stuff like, wow...the river is twice as wide as it was last Saturday! Actually, that's not true...I would’ve been able to guess anyway - trees usually don’t grow IN the river. If I were Catholic, I would've been crossing myself. I had a couple minor debacles and Brian had one BIG debacle. He got tossed about at the bottom of a drop, his paddle broke in half, then he swam out of his boat only to find out he hadn't zipped up all the way so his "dry"suit filled up with cold water. Fortunately, he didn't drown right then and there! Then he had to paddle the rest of the river with 1/2 paddle. He was a little worried about going over the 2nd waterfall with only 1/2 paddle, but fortunately he found a rope and we were able to lower him down around it. As we were lowering Brian's boat down to him, another group of kayakers appeared on the river. I looked up in time to see the first guy upside down at the base of the falls, but, well, that's not a big deal really. But come to find out he had gone over it way off-line and upside down! Poor Paul. His knuckles aren’t looking too good and we hope they aren’t broken, but I suppose it could’ve been worse... So then it was my turn. Despite all this trouble I was very excited and not terribly nervous........until I started paddling and almost missed my line. But then it was okay again........until I got a little sideways in the air so I flipped over at the bottom and tried to roll up a couple of times, then freaked out and went for a little swim. Being upside down at the base of a waterfall is a little weird. WEIRD and CHAOTIC. I have a pretty high tolerance for such weirdness (obviously), but sometimes it is a bit much even for me. Oh, well. It was still fun. If I could’ve hiked back up and run it again, I would have. It's a beautiful river and I meant to take lots of pictures, but turns out I was preoccupied with other things and only took a few. So, without further ado, here are pictures of these two waterfalls that I threw myself off of in a little hunk o’ green plastic.... Those of you that don't like doing such silly things can just appreciate the scenery! 

Sunset Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Fish to Bob's, Clackamas River

The stretch of river from Fish Creek to Bob's Hole is one of our local favorite class III runs. It's got some fun rapids, and goes year-around. The Clackamas River is where I learned to kayak, and I have done this run countless times. And it's still fun! One of the guys used his pfd-mounted Hero camera to record our trip yesterday (a pfd - personal floatation device - is aka life jacket for those of you scratching your heads). I tried to outrun him, but it didn't always work. If you want a taste of whitewater, watch this video in high quality. Since it was filmed at chest level as he paddled, you might feel like you're gonna get splashed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9JcFe79TUM

I only took a few pics. Here's one of Carter Bridge rapid (at about 700 cfs). Lots of fun waves & holes to play in!

Kalama River: the stinky time of year

A few of us floated on down the Kalama River on Sunday. It was beautiful out!! More rain would make for better paddling, but I suppose I can enjoy the sunshine a while longer. 

Besides flat water, we had to contend with lots of decomposing salmon. You can read about salmon here to find out why there were so many dead salmon (it has pictures for those of you with a short attention span): www.nps.gov/wrst/forkids/upload/salmnbook.pdf  I probably do not need to tell you that it was really stinky.

Last time I was on this river (a couple months ago) we conducted an arduous portage around the dam. I believe the dam's sole purpose is to divert water for a fish hatchery, and it is a major pain in the arse. We watched lots of salmon trying very hard to jump over the dam to go home, but even the biggest and strongest couldn't make it (note the irony here?) I made a fool out of myself cheering them on "go fishy go!" to no avail. Also, this dam is right below the best rapid on the whole river, and makes it virtually un-runnable (because most dams, including this one, create deadly hydraulics). Finally, it is a long, hard walk around through thorny blackberry vines. This time we got on a little below the dam for the best the river has to offer, the "red barn" run. Because you take out by a red barn! Duh! Anyway, back to the main attraction: whitewater!!

Dog Paradise

I live with the absolute best dog in the world! He is very well-behaved, loving, loyal, and fun to play with! Every once in a while I take him to Kelley Point Park on the outskirts of Portland where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers meet up. The port docks line most of the opposite banks, but it is still very peaceful and scenic.

He is very tired and dirty when he gets home so where does he go.... straight to my white bed!! Oh, well. He's so cute, who cares.

P.S. I wanted to include another scenic pic, but blogger wouldn't upload it, so you will just have to visit my flickr page for more...

A non-kayaking related post (sort of)

This picture demonstrates a couple of things... First, fall has come to the Pacific Northwest. It has been raining, and the trees have decided it is time to go to sleep for the winter. In the past this was a time of regret... we only get 2 or 3 months of sunshine and warmth here. I like rain well-enough so I can deal with it, but even so, I longed for more sunny days. This year is a little different - because I found kayaking!!! We can kayak year-around here, but summer is the worst time because all the rivers get low due to lack of rain and so there are only a few options to tide us over till the rain comes back. It started raining last week, and has kept raining, and I am pleased. 

Second, notice the construction. Those guys are cutting down a tree! It is across from my house. Not only do we get to hear construction noise for god knows how long, but we no longer have a nice green buffer shielding the ugly hospital buildings. What a pity.

Video of Husum Falls, White Salmon River

Little did I know that Heath Barber was standing by with a video camera when I went over a little waterfall last weekend. As you can see, it went pretty well until I flipped over for no good reason. Oops.

Super Low Lower Wind River, Washington

So there are a few paddlers around here that are desperate enough for fun intermediate whitewater this time of year to brave the Wind River at super low flow. I am one of these people. Last Wednesday was not my best day on the river. I only landed two of the falls, but as it turned out I would've rather plugged those too. Oh, well. I was due for a humbling and I still had a great time! Good people, great scenery, hot springs, waterfalls, super cute dog... pretty much all my favorite things in life were on this trip.

The Wind River is probably the most scenic river I have paddled, so I don't mind a little flat water.

Alex, Dan and Kourtni all ran the terror that is The Flume, but I'm too chicken!

Alex runs The Flume

Dan runs The Flume

Shipperd's Falls is a 4-part waterfall. It starts off with a 10-ish footer, then a 20-ish footer, a manky slide, ending with a 10' weir. They are all different, all friendly (at low water!), with nice recovery pools between each drop. This day I landed the first drop flat, which is like doing a belly flop in a kayak. Ouch! 

Me hitting the auto-boof (it launches you!) on the first drop

Looking back at the 2-4th drops of Shipperd's Falls

This hot spring is the best. Nice & hot, comfortable, and you can't beat the scenery! It is just downstream of Shipperd's Falls, and the paddle out from here is only an easy 1/3 mile.

While Alex, Dan & I relaxed in the hot spring, Kourtni paddled out, got her dog and they hiked back up the river a ways so the dog could paddle out with us. I don't know who enjoyed this more - me or the dog. 

Late summer on the White Salmon River

It has been fun, in my first year of kayaking, to discover how much river features change at different levels of flow. This is a great thing because it means that you won't get tired of paddling the same ol' river time after time! Adrienne and I paddled the middle section of the White Salmon River in Washington on Sunday. This run is a classic... it has fairly continuous class II-III whitewater flowing through a beautiful gorge. It was much lower than I had run it previously, a little bumpy, but still lots of fun! At the end, you are rewarded with the option of running a 10' waterfall. I have run it 5 of the 6 times I have paddled this stretch of river (I didn't run it once because there was a raft stuck in it!) It is awesome to end the run with an adrenaline rush!

Adrienne running Hussum Falls

Me running Hussum Falls