Dog days of winter

Had to share...

Hospital Rock for Desperate Souls

After a long winter with no boating, some nice weather and a hunk of time on our hands convinced us that a trip to the Kaweah was warranted. Normally I am a high water junkie; my personal low run on this section before was over 600 cfs at Three Rivers, but reports of successful runs down in the 400's made us think that a flow of 380 cfs might be doable, if not enjoyable. After two low water runs (one at about 380 and another at about 400 - corresponding to about 120-140 cfs on the stretch), I can definately say that this run is a good time, with or without water.

Rebecca looking up at a scenic Angel Wing rock formation

The first day we ran from the Hospital Rock parking lot down to zero-to-sixty. At that point the 60 cfs diversion made the river extremely non-enticing, so we hiked up to the roadside and jogged the shuttle from there. The second day we decided to walk on up to Buckeye campground and put in there.

Rebecca on Buckeye rapid

Gino takes his turn

When we got down to the "normal" Hospital Rock put-in, we discoverd the scary reality that is the Hospital Rock rapid - Check out the massive, tree clogged sieve on river right. At this flow there is no water going around the sieve...

Rebeeca doesn't like the line on this one

From there it looked pretty chunky down to Baby Niagra, so we decided to shoulder back to Baby Niagra and put-in there. Most of the rapids from there down had the same lines as normal water with smaller holes and a lot less push.

Rebeeca on the roadside drop

The only exception really was 420 rapid where the water starts to go subterranian. The first day we carried around the entry sieve and ran the rest, the second day we just called it and walked around the whole thing.

Reba's 87th photo on 420 gorge

That funky drop with the pinball finish

Gino on Table Rock

Again, I was blown away by how much fun this run was at these low flows. Maybe it was not being in a boat for 4 or 5 months, but I would certainly go do this again on a nice February day!

The author getting his Februboof on

Out of the office, will be back soon...

We are still alive and well, just been either too busy or too lazy to update stuff. So here are a few pics and synopsis of what has been going on around here...


2009-2010 winter has been a good one around the Kern River Valley. The normal El Nino pattern here is wet and warm; for some reason, the latest rendition of El Nino has been wet and cold. Normally we have to do most of our skiing above 8000 feet, but this year's low elevation snowline has opened up some new territory for us, namely Spirit Bowl.

Mike Breaking Trail to the top

Spirit Rock is a granite outcrop near the top of the Sherman Pass (at least the part that they plow in the winter) and has a nice north facing slope. Marc, Mike, Andrew, Rebecca and I got a chance to get on it one day with a nice fresh dump of snow.

Sorry Andrew, I didn't have any good pictures of you skiing, so this will have to do

A look at Spirit Bowl from the top - Spirit Rock is to the left

Mike with Spirit Rock in the Background

All in all it was a super day; good sn0w, good folks, good workout...

Marc shredding his spirit

One of the more entertaining aspects of this ski is the exit across a creek and up the hill back to the car. Some folks decide to ditch their skis and jump across, others tried to make a snow bridge.

Um... how did you get across?

"Back in Canada we simply walk on water" - Marc Vernon

We all eventually made it across with varying levels of sucess and skinned our way back to the car. Who says Kernville is best enjoyed in the Summer!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Weeeeee!

Got a couple of decent storms in December, enough to start poking around on the Tele-Skis. They didn't plow up Sherman pass until right around new years, so we were relegated to the Greenhorns - still a lot of fun to be out playing in the snow.

Rebecca trying to avoid stump alley

Rebecca and I went out in during one storm and found some fun spots - a little thin in places, but well worth the work.

Marc and Rebecca at minitahoe

A few days later we got out on a bluebird day with Marc and had a blast on some thick, wet snow.

Eric Showing off his mad-Georgia-tele-skills

We found a nice north facing stash and pretty much obliterated it - so don't even try to go there until the next big snow ;-)

give me a C -eh-N-eh-D-eh

It was a great couple of days to try out our new skis - and man were they nice...

Who says there is no line here

The storms brought usually shy Greenhorn Snow People as well...







Happy New Year - here's to a great start in 2010!

Moab and Gooseberry Rocks!

So It has been a while since I promised pictures - lots has been going on at the brewery. Anyway I wanted to get these up from our trip to Gooseberry Mesa and Moab - both of which provided some of the most fun/unique riding I've ever had.


On the way to the Great American Beer Festival, we decided we deserved to have a little fun. First off was a stop at Gooseberry Mesa just outside of Zion Nat'l Park. Neither Rebecca or I had ever ridden on Slick Rock before. We started off on the practice loop to get our toes wet; turns out slick rock is really not slick at all. Gaining confidence we headed on for a loop out the South Rim to the viewpoint (seen above) then back along the North Rim.

The first few minutes was pretty humbling on a section called bowls and ledges - everything was so different from what we were used to. Not only did it look like there was no way to climb up this stuff, but it really looked like it would hurt when (not if) you fell.

Part of the frustration was that we were on a trial marked as moderate, and we knew we wanted to head back on a trail that was considered difficult. Thoughts of mangled bikes and bodies mingled with amazment at how fun and pretty this place was. It wasn't until we actually hit the Yellow Trail (marked as difficult) that we began to get some confidence that we might actually make it. It turns out that confidence is everything on slickrock, since the rock can handle much more than you think it can.


Pretty soon we were comfortable that not only was slickrock much easier than the type of riding we were used to, it was a frickin' blast!

It was so much fun, that we decided to camp out that night and do the loop in the other direction with an addition through hidden canyon the next morning before heading out to GABF.

Skip ahead and we were on our way home after a very eventful and fun few days in Denver. What better way to break up the long ride home that another stop, this time in Moab to meet up with some friends and ride there. Our first day was on Porcupine ridge - a bit more like the riding we were used to with bombing, ledgy downhills and some impossible moves (for us at least). I didn't have the camera with, but we had a great time riding with Corey, Lisa and Steve. The next day we were on our own and were pretty much required to ride the Slickrock Trail.


Having spent a few days on slickrock now, we were comfortable enough to enjoy the amazing scenery this ride has to offer. If you were going to build the perfect mountain bike park, you would be hard pressed to top this place; Amazing views, fun riding and some kick-your-butt hills made this ride unforgettable.


I have to say, I love my local trails, but I really can't wait to get back to these places for some more good times.

A Little Slickrock on the to and from GABF

It's been a while since our last post, but we are still up to no good. The latest was a trip to Gooseberry Mesa and Moab on the way to and from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. We've never ridden slickrock before and man was it fun (and different than anything we've ridden before).

We'll try to get up some more pics soon, but while I've got time I'll throw up a couple of pictures from the i-phone

Rebecca and Lisa on Porcupine Rim


Eric doesn't need no stinkin' bike for slickrock


Rebecca enjoying the spectacular camping in Slickrock State Park

Dudes (and one Dudedette) Paddling Faster Than Normal

So you've done Cherry Creek, big deal. Have you done it in a non-stop fashion while paddling faster than normal from the confluence to the leap? Have you then gone on to run Lumsden with the peanut gallery in full effect? Have you then gone on to party for 12 hours straight? Have you then gone on to paddle the creek the next day in a state somewhere between extremely hungover and still intoxicated?

If so, you've officially earned your Cherry Creek Badge of honor. If not, you have something to aspire to... or is it perspire to...

RACERS, ON YOUR MARKS

If you have been to the Captain Kirk Cherry Creek Memorial Race, you know what it is all about. If you haven't... Well if you haven't it is kind of hard to describe, but I guess I'll try to explain what it means to me - it's about being with your paddling brothers and sisters and celebrating how lucky we are to be able to do what we do.

It is also about boating hard and playing hard.

Screw this Green Boat! The Captain (aka Charlie Center)

The Man, the legend - Noceti

A sober (I think) Joe Bosquin

Tim Hagan - the man behind the curtain
Eventual Runner-up Macy Burnham (check out the Dancer Pro...)

Keith and Rebecca (left) planning out their race strategy). It went something like this:

Keith: "If I get hammered, you have to keep going so that someone can time the race"
Rebecca: "If I get hammered you better save my ass!"

If you look closely you can see people talking smack

The intensity at the put-in. Feel the tension?

Safety boats getting a head start - they should get to Mushroom by the time I do...

The race itself is about 40 minutes long; from the confluence of the main down to Lewis' Leap. I have to say that you start to feel pretty exposed about 15 minutes into the race when you are already extremely tired, are headed into Mushroom, realize you are probably passing the last of the safety boaters and come to terms with the fact that you will be paddling the remainder of the class V run on your own.

To be honest, I'm guessing that there were folks past Mushroom to help out a racer in need - the problem was the lack of oxygen and tunnel vision prevented me from being able to see them. Keith and Rebecca, on the other hand were completely on their own; they raced as a team, ostensibly providing safety for one another as they made their way down to the finish line. This is certainly one of the more thankless jobs during the weekend and a big thumbs up to those two for sucessfully escorting the time clock down to the leap!

This year's race sure seemed to have all the makings of a good one. There were 5 Green Boats, yes 5 (I think that must be every single Green Boat on the west coast). Macy Burnham, Tim Hagan and Ben Wartburg were the only ones that "manned" up and paddled old school boats (the Dancer Pro, Animas and a sinking Dagger boat of some sort). I rounded out the class with my stubby Remix 69 - but like I told everyone, it's not the size that matters...

Sure enough, It was one of the more competitive races in recent memory (except for Charlie blowing away the field for the win). Here are the results


Long Boat
1. Charlie C., Green Boat, 36:40
2. Macy B., Dancer Pro, 37:44
3. Guido, Remix, 37:52
4. Taylor C., Green Boat, 37:53
5. Robbie H., Green Boat 38:07
6. Jared N., Green Boat, 38:38
7. Thomas M., Green Boat, 38:50
8. Tim H., Animas, 40:30
9. Ben W., Sinking Response, 1:01:34

Short Boat
1. Ben J., Mystic, 40:25
2. Aaron S., Nomad, 41:03
3. Kurt S., Nomad, 41:15
4. Joe B., Nomad, 42:11
5. Sean M., Nomad, 43:04
6. Chad D., Nomad, 46:43
7. Roman N., Fluid Solo, 55:10

Team
1. Rick S., Habitat, 44:46
Jim B., Jefe
2. Rebecca G., Remix, 45:37
Keith K., Nomad

Highlights of my run included a mostly-capsized run through Jawbone, a sweet boof off the center rock in Mushroom, a complete flub of Unknown Soldier, getting lost in some boulder garden, survival through Sky King and a nice boof at Christmas Tree Hole. Other highlights include, but were not limited to, Ben W mostly sinking his way down, Roman's heroic surf in Richard's Hole and Dave and Kevin's equally heroic rescue of Roman in Richard's Hole.

As racers finish their runs, they congregate on the rock overlooking Lewis' Leap and talk smack about how much faster they could have been as well as make fun of other folks as they make their way down. Comments like "Is Joe racing or is he safety - it doesn't look like he is racing..." or "Where is Ben, we are about to loose light on the sun-dail".

Charlie explaining exactly how he smoked everyone

So who's setting safety for the safty folks...

Rebecca looking bad-ass

Ducklings headed down the leap

One of the highlights of the weekend is when the race is done and everyone fires up Lumsden. The peanut gallery is always in good form and you get to see just about anything that can happen on Lumsden. We were a little late getting down this year and only got to catch the tail end of the action, but here is some of it (mixed in with a little pre-race day footy).

The scene...

The parking lot below Lummy

Is that Joe's boat?

Is that Joe?

After the fun at Lumsden, it's time for some serious lounging and swimming time before the late night party scene...

Lounging on the rocks

Who says pool toys are for kids

Taylor achieving terminal velocity

Something funny happened...

After this, things got a little hazy, something about a killer BBQ, the Big Creek Shot table, keg stands, men in dresses, not one but two bands, and a whole lot of dancing. Maybe we'll round up some pictures for a later post. Until then.

A little vidy of the Lumsden show




In memory of Kirk, Kenny Gould, Deb Martin, Larry Berg, Lars Holbek, Jon Burnham