I’ve been waiting for about 2 months for our local playspot, Spencer’s Hole, to come in. Last year it was there by 15 th May, but the high snow pack this year has delayed it’s arrival. Its tantilisingly close to to good levels (<1300 CFS) and we are headed there tonight to check it out. Fingers crossed its in!
The White Salmon River offers up some of the best creeking in the PacNW. This weekend kayakers from all over the country will descend on it’s chilly class V waters for the 2008 Gorge Games. The extreme race will take place from Bobs Falls to Double Drop, and WILL include Big Bro. I have no intention of doing the extreme race; I’m certainly not a good enough boater for that. But it will be fun to watch and cheer on the competitors, especially the kick-ass ladies competing!
Photo by EJ Etherington: Double drop at low flows
The boater-X will be on the Maytag Rapid, just below BZ. I do fancy doing that….stay tuned for piccies and maybe some video; carnage guaranteed.
Given the 95 + degree weather in Corn-valley/Corvegas (i.e. Corvallis), the River was calling us. Sunday, EJ, Mikenzie and I headed out on the Niagara Section of the North Santiam. At this flow (1550 CFS at Niagara), it’s mostly a class II, III, with one IV rapid. None of us ran the IV rapid- it was looking weird at this flow. However, there were several opportunities to play. EJ spent time teaching Mikenzie and I how to split wheel at a spot, river right, below Niagara. It wasn’t possible to get more than two ends of a cartwheel at this spot.
Photos (L to R): EJ on lower part of the Narrows; EJ splits; Mikenzie cartwheels
This run was a fun way to get cool, without the need for air-co! It also felt good to actaully run a river and not just park and play- I’m getting way too laszy in my old age!
I’d never fished from a canoe prior to last weekend. Greg and I paddled it out for a few hours on Saturday. The wind was fairly strong and we managed to make it to the north side of the lake without doing much paddling. Fishing in that location was less than optimum so we headed to south lake, tied up to a tree and I temped the fishes with “Powerbait”,; Greg opted for a worm. While fishing, we could hear someone playing violin. Although lovely for us, I’m blaming the violin music for putting off the fish :-). Either that or the fish in Siltcoos Lake are too intelligent to succumb to the draw of Powerbait. Actually Powerbait is pretty bling, with it’s glittery goodness. Alas, after about 4 hours with no more than a nibble on Gregs worm, we called it quits and headed back to camp. Josie and Toby headed out in the canoe and Erin fished from the bank with similar success rate. Time to head back to camp and light up the fire.
Photos (L to R). Greg, sternside; Erin casting; Toby and Josie in the Canoe
The closest we got to any fish were spotting the rainbow trout minnows. As the saying goes, “a bad days fishing is better than a good day at work”. I do enjoy my job though!
Last Friday I headed out to the coast loaded with kayak, camping and fishing gear for a weekend at Siltcoos Lake, Florenece, OR. I didn’t quite take the route I planned. I was driving the HWY 34 and some 50 miles from my destination, I felt my car’s steering stiffen. I managed to pull into the roadside and noticed my oil temp was high. Having had car engines blow up on me in the past, I opted for a tow. No cell reception saw me knocking on a random home in the neighborhood asking to use the phone. The owner was a hunter and we spent time chatting about Oregon wildlife. He showed me his varied taxidermy animal collection that boasted black bears, dear, ducks, a bobcat and most impressive, a mountain lion, caught near the Alsea. Boy, I never want to encounter one of those at close range! The kindness of Oregonians never ceases to amaze me. Can you believe, while i waited for the tow truck, my new friend served me Black Bear Stew. Now thats something a bedraggled, broken-down Kate wouldn’t be offered in the UK.
Photos (L to R): Siltcoos Lake, OR; PBR/food chest; Loaded canoe and Toby
The kindness continued with my friend Jesse picking me up in Corvallis and driving me to the coast, to hitch a ride with Erin and Toby. Toby and I paddled the canoe to our campsite, about 1 mile away and Erin opted for the two mile hike in . We took a small detour to the center of the lake, but hey, all good exercise. And we had a chest of Peebers- but we stayed under the limit, Mr Ocifer, honest.
theDave kindly sent me a video from one of my rides on Grannies Wave on the Wenatchee. It’s a fun and bouncy ride. I loved making Grannies my home for a weekend, mainly because of the people I met there. This video was shot at about 6,000 CFS. Stay tuned for a summary video from two weekends of play.
Photo: Me on Grannies- photo credit to the Virostek Family
I thought that 2.8 ft at 16 seconds would give up good surf at agate. Although it sounds small, simialar conditions last week offered up double overhead for my friend Dale. One thing i didn’t consider was the southern swell. Waves were rebounding with force off the headland causing messy surf. Peaks were random and unpredictable and faces ranged 4-6 ft. I was dying to try out my new outfitting in my surfboat. I had some fun rides, getting in some bottom and top turns. Hearing the fins hum was cool and i was enjoying the speed compared to my playboat. However, I chose the wrong location to paddle out and I payed the price in closeout, shallow beach break- a fairly nasty place to flip, as Pete explained in a previous post. Alas, I joined the Agate Beach swim team. I was in 2-3 ft of water, and had 2 choices, roll the fastest I’ve ever rolled or swim and swim immediately, before the wave recedes and I eat a sand sandwich. Due to the nature of my surf boat, I chose the later. In 4 years of kayak surfing, I’ve only swum once before. Last night I had my arse handed to me. And the waves munched one of the foot tunnel outfittings that I’d lovingly sculpted the night before. At least it worked fine for, well, 6 waves. Humbled and ego bruised, I think I’ll take my playboat out next time.
Outfitting a surf boat is not for the faint hearted. It’s taken sweat, toil, an electric carving knife and rubber cement. Finally, after a year of experimentation, the boat is feeling snug in key places: (1) back, (2) butt, (3) thighs and (4) feet. How did I do it? For (1) I ‘fess up- I cheated- Brian @Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe (ACKC) installed the back band for me. For (2) I also cheated by buying a foam seat from ACKC. It had some hip pads that I glued to some sculpted foam that I previously glued into the boat. (3) Had me begging ACKC for some old dancer thigh braces. I chopped ‘em up and drilled some holes (yes, girls can use power tools) and after some cursing and additional foam additions they fit well. In addition I installed a Jackson happy “ram your thighs into the thigh braces” inflatable-bag-thing, which works really well. Finally, for (4) I spent many a midnight hour sculpting foam with an electric carving knife. I think i found the perfect fit in the form of feet “tunnels”. It feels good, now I just have to actually paddle with it to test it out.
