Right on the banks of the Ottawa river, in full view of the line-up for Left Side and Baby-face is the previous home where Ken and Nicole Whiting trained for and won the 97 World Championships - ‘Robertsons’. Luckily for us, the cabins on this site are now home to the Wilderness Tours ‘Keener’ kids kayaking program - where veteran kayakers like myself, Stephen Wright, Billy Harris, Ruth Gordon, Eric Jackson, and many many more come to coach the next generation on the ample play and river-running opportunities of the Ottawa at summer flow.
Right now the water levels have us surfing some incredible corner wave and baby-face while Garb is just a bit too high. The freestyle training opportunities are great but there’s also river running opportunities on the class 4 right outside the back door called ‘Initiation’ and a 4+ / 5- over on the Middle Chute called “Garvins”. What a great place to be in late summer!
Just in from a late-evening Corner Wave session where the lights form the porch guide the way home .. Keenerville Rocks!
clay
Hi - welcome to Clay’s blog and recent update:
West trip was great, Colorado to judge and help organize Vail and judge Lyons but also boated Homestake/Gilman, S. St. Vrain, Bailys at 350 before heading out to WA for Tracy Clapp and Jay Kinkaid’s weddings. Paddle McKenzie River and biked on the incredible McKenzie Trail before heading north for Green Truss on the way to Skookemchuck. Finally got the All-star on the water! Headed for Hood River afterwards for Green Truss laps and a run on Little White at 2.2 - low but still great. Also ran the Wind for the first time - Shepard’s falls is really cool. While in the area, I got to bike ride the Lewis Trail as well as the bottom of Post Canyon as well as kite-board with Dan Gavere! Kite boarding is scary fun, and I’m hoping to do some more of it either this winter or next summer. I got to spend the 4th of July in Hood river and wow- best fireworks show I’ve ever seen. Flow and I made the long trip back in 3 days then enjoyed a well-deserved weekend here in Rock Island on the lake. Maybe I can add photos here ?.. next time.
First post, unfortunately, has little to do with kayaking. Out in Washington for Tracy Clapp’s wedding to Aubrey Rosenthal and surfing Seattle and touring with Agua Verde on the side. Now in Portland, visiting Jed Weingarten and ran into Willie Kern as well.
Enjoyed a personalized slide show of their recent China, Tibet, and Bhutan travels this morning … incredible. They did this one 180 mile canyon with Eric Southwick that looks totally astounding. Get the combo of Jed’s slides with Willie’s knowledge of geography, geology, and cartography and some strong coffee … makes for one fine morning.
Off to Hood to see Dan Gavere and hopefully boat a day before we all head to Eugene OR for Jay Kinkaid and Lisa Becksted’s wedding. Salmon Gorge? Hope so.
From Hawthorne St…
Clay
Welcome to Worldkayakblogs.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!