Merry Christmas to all

everything is good. the sickness is gone, hockey is good and our friend Sam came over to visit the other day. The Yetis have still not won a game just yet, but we are getting closer for sure. They froze a new rink here in town, so that is pretty sweet. Its been like 45 degrees though, and it is begining to take on swimming pool status.

We skied up at the pass [Teton] the other day. Got a ride to the top, skied down into Idaho, got a ride up the top again, and skied back down to the car waiting for us at the bottom of the Wyoming side. The snow wasn't epic by any means, but most of it was un tracked, and as we all know, there isn't a whole lot that can compare to fresh turns in the pow.

Happy Holidays.

summer already?

I think winter is just about here...temps didnt get above 0 for like a week and a half, the creek was frozen over and it was just damn cold. well the creek unfroze a few days back and since then we have had nonstop snow flurrys. the total accumulation has prolly been around a foot or so. It's been windy as all hell so some spots have only an inch or so, while others have waist high drifts. I've been sick all weekend, I'll spare you the details, but I finnally feel like the worst is over. I missed my game last night due to the sickness. Word on the street is we got our butts kicked again. The Yetis are about to go on a winning streak though, I can feel it. I havnt done a whole lot other than work lately. Not really any outside activities just due to weather and work. working on some winter activites though- i'll keep you posted.

turkeys yams, and nothing but blue skys

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I started the day off with a paddle down flat creek through town and taking out at the house. After 5 minutes of being in the river there was ice all over my dry top. It was a nice float with snow all around. A bit on the chilly side though. We had some folks over to dinner and had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving day, due to work constraints the following morning, I was in bed by 10pm. But it was a great time with some good friends and we havent eaten anything except thanksgiving since.

Hockey tonite! Maybe acouple laps on the Greys river tommarow?

hello...are you there?, yeah, I'm right here, are you here too?

is anyone still out there? if you are, you might be curious as to the happenings around jackson. well, shortly after my last post, about a week as I recall, after sleeping in an ice cave on wheels, litterally waking up to frozen condensation on all the windows around I moved into a palace on the hill. Were talking the backyard is a mountain, the creek runs in the front, and an award winning view off in the distance towards idaho. The creek is big enough to fish in, even kayak,-with a few class II manmade diversions through town. A private drive complete with a wooden bridge and a steep hill up to the house. 10, 12% grade? it has been skateboarded as well as snowskated and provides entertainment no matter the weather. a big garage doubles as a tuning room and one day to be indoor skate facility. We skied over on Togowotee pass the other day. Nothing crazy sick, but we made some nice turns. I have been playing a fair bit of hockey, managing to snag a spot on one of the rec league teams. The Yetis' are currently 0-2 but next sunday we are comming back with a fighting fury not to be matched by those who stand in our way. other than all that, we spent a few days getting firewood and working and just keepin on keepin on. its almost winter time out here. snow and ice on the roads and in the hills and any day now it'll be here. Driving around with all my possessions in my home is alot more comforting than driving through town with them in the back and my boat on the roof. And I have grown quite acustomed to hot water showers. Oh I forgot to mention, I have been experimenting with myself pretending to be a baker, and the results are begining to show improvement. We are having a couple folks over for thanksgiving so that should be a nice time. *do not consider this an invitation* **If in fact there is even anyone reading all this long winded nonsense. ** Rex your invited. Bring ski's.

and since we've got no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

well for those of you following the race between the snow and me getting a home...the snow won. it hasn't really stuck in town, but it's been snowy all day long, and I'm sure when the clouds clear they will reveal a blanket of white up in the hills. its ok though, the mountains look better with snow on them anyway. Just yesterday we were on the banks of the river, no shirts, sun on our backs, and now look at it. Wet and cold, and snowy, and we haven't even made it out of September yet.

80 degrees and sunny

Well here we are like a week shy of October and I'm still homless. There talking of snow next week. Oh shit right? haha. Well I am getting close to finding a place, I can feel it. I have been working full time and paddling just as much so life is great. Burrito is still grinding away all sicky like. We demo'd an 09 and a 010 allstar. Or maybe superstars, I don't even know- but they were enormous boats and, honestly, it cramped my style. The results from the slalom came back. Lets just say that I should probably stick to what I'm good at and leave that racing nonsense for someone else.

We boated the Narrows the other day. I had never been downriver of Sheep Gulch and it we had heard rumors of a big wave collomonly refered to as BFG or Big Friendly Giant. It was a nice float because there was some minor drops in elevation and the river pinches to be 10ft wide in a certain section. As far as BFG, were not sure what we found. A few nice on the fly waves and holes- none of any considerable size or quality, and 1 thing, I'm not even quite sure what to call it. I guess technically it is a wave, but it sucks out from below river level all gnarly like.. Surfers left is like a breaking bowly green thing trying to gobble you up, and surfers right is more of a wave with a pile on top, but it wants to push you far right off the wave. I droped into the green bowly part of the feature and felt myself get eaten up and not resurface on the face of the wave for maybe as long as 3 or 4 seconds. Then after a short surf I got pushed off the wave to the right. I hiked it once, but that was all it was worth. Maybe at other flows? The float itself was great though. A nice deep narrow canyon with super clear jade green water, combined with a nice day and the afternoon sun and even the flatwater was a good time.

Burrito was soo good the other day. The flow was probably like 3700cfs and you could get on top of the pile, and bounces and it was way retentive and just very condusive for doing cool things in a kayak.

and the Burkes...
So the last time I see this girl was back in VB. Then she shows up here in town the other day with her whole family in tow. These people took me into thier lives and thier home during thier time here giving me food and showers and even a bed to sleep in. It was a bit crazy at times, but these folks were so nice to me, and did thier very best to try and clean me up best they could. At somepoint even my laundry got done and was folded waiting for me. Before they left they gave me a pair of cowboy boots, a brand new button down shirt, and a new filled growler and sent me on my way. Thanks for everything guys.

aspens are red, the mountains are blue...

Well guys, I have a job, it's not the most glamorous, but it is something for now. I am working on a second, and if that works out, I might be alright afterall.
Matt and I have been surfing burrito still, it's still really good, but today there was a slalom race out on the Greys river. The best 2 runs of 3. We each did alright, my first run was the fastest by 6 seconds, but we don't know our places because all 3 judges had to converse and scores had to be tallied, and now that some of us have jobs and responsibilites, we did not have time to sit riverside and drink beers and wait for the results.
Everything is good, and the race is on for a house before the snow begins to fall. The tree's have begun to turn red so it shouldn't be too long now. It is going to be close for sure.

and the aloe vera plant pays the consequence for another night of foolishness

And once again, I find myself waking up on our friend Matts' couch. Spare ribs, Happy hour G&T's, a bottle of wine, and a few too many beers were the culprit this time. The damage..plants just lying on the floor without pots, all of the dishes are dirty, food is baked onto the top of the stove, dirt all over the floor, bottles rolling around the apartment. The cleanest place is the fridge- and thats only because this kid ate all the food in there. Oh and the midnight pesto pasta mission. Can't forget that. All wrapped up with a vhs showing of Tombstone.- But that was only after we got the motivation to take the kayak movie out after it's third repeat showing. Even though the opening shots of Snug dropping the 65 ft big guy at mesa are pretty sicky.

Rachel and Zander came down for a visit this weekend and they camped out for acouple days. We got the good campspot twice and I think they had an enjoyable time living life outside. As always it is great to see those two and catch up. Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later when I see them again.

On the other front, I got myself a job. It's only acouple hours for the time being, but I am close to having a second job that could turn into a fulltime job, so we will see how it all works out.

According to Matt (he just got up) the kitchen is "really f#@$*$! frieghtning", and he's not sure if it's been this bad before. Closer inspection reveals- broken glass, cheese on the floor, puddles of the dogs water, noodles stuck in the carpet, butter all over the counter, and yet more plants on the ground without pots. Run of the mill monday evening I suppose.

Burrito is really good right now, loops, cartwheels, helix's, and acouple big attempts at aerial back pan-ams. 3810 cfs...I thought Kevin was guiding this raft down, so I got in Burrito to block his way as we always do, waited and waited, threw a backstab expecting to get blown off the wave and miss the raft, but I stuck it, and had time for a cartwheel before the raft full of paying clients hammered into the wave. Well needless to mention, the raft did not stop and I narrowly escaped taking it and it's clients directly on the head. I was able to just barely make the eddy on the far bank. Turns out it wasn't Kevin afterall. But a whole group of tourists got an up close and personal experience of freestyle kayaking in Jackson.

According to Matt (he just got up) the kitchen is "really f#@$*$! frieghtning", and he's not sure if it's been this bad before. Closer inspection reveals- broken glass, cheese on the floor, puddles of the dogs water, noodles stuck in the carpet, butter all over the counter, and yet more plants on the ground without pots. Run of the mill monday evening I suppose.

support your local comedian

Still going strong here in Jackson. I have been housesitting for the past week but now am back to the woods. Things are going well. Been doing my share of fishing and in turn have been eating a fair amount of trout. Been boating pretty much every day. The water levels spiked just as Burrito was getting good, but the levels have receeded a bit and now surfing is tons of fun. Nice retentive hole/wave type deal. Other than that, everything is pretty much dandy. I saw Zander and Gabe the other day on thier way to and from Dubios. Always nice to see those guys and catch up a little bit.

Oh to all of you who didn't know, my good buddy, and long time sushi pal, Ben 'Cinco' de Marco had his first standup routine in Missoula. Anyway, after a shows worth of heckaling, Ben offends this guy and his two girlfriends so much that they get up and storm out of the theatre. Well, apparently the dude doesn't quite feel like he got his moneys worth so he sneaks back in, creeps behind the curtain, and decides to let our dear friend Ben know just exactly how he feels. Check out the link to see the 28 seconds that follow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23-Nbu0KqtM
Following the video, the dude gets pummled back stage and later picked up by the cops a half mile down the street. No comedians were hurt during filming.

As far as news from the right coast, my old roomate Ryan scored a pic in the paper during the swell that Hurricane Bill just sent up to New York. Check out the link http://www.newsday.com/long-island/surfers-tear-up-massive-waves-in-long-beach-montauk-gilgo-1.1389208?image=5

Well I've made my dinner, taken my shower and sat around in the AC for awhile now. I should probably get going before Matt gets home from work to realize I've been hanging out in his house all day long. Until next time, toodles.

surfing spicey mexican food

I'm sitting up at camp, I got the tarp set up, the fire going, and dinner digesting, and I look out into the darkness, and what do I see? Snow! In August. You have got to be kidding me right? Well guys, I'm not kidding, and I guess Mother Nature is just setting the tone for what is to come. I thought it was just a cold snap, and thats what they said, but now I am begining to think they were wrong, and it is something different. Something more like...Winter.

Anywho I have been still catching these little tiny rinky dink fish, and it is getting old. I can see the fish I want to catch , there just below the surface mocking me- usually 3 or 4 at a time. They just sit there, watching my fly float by, and it would appear they are more content eating scum off the rocks than my delicious tasting dry fly.

Burrito and Enchilada are great waves right now, I hear they get better- but regardless it is a great spot to park and play and it really isn't that far of a drive to go get my kayak fix. Everyone has been surfing Burrito, but what they don't know- (I'm pretty sure those people don't read this) is that Enchilada is where it is at. Faster and more retentive than Burrito, I don't understand why people line up at Burrito and Enchilada (just to the right) goes unsurfed.

Matt made us a feast last night. We got back from boating, went to the store and 6 courses later we were in the deepest realms of our food comas. Guac and chips, bone marrow on toast, cabbage with pickled carrots, radishes with salt and salad, green chili pork, ribs, cornbread, a huge prime cut of beef, and a growler full of pale ale. There may have been more, but with such a tasty menu and the sheer quantity of food, those details are lost forever. Unable to move I was forced to sleep on his couch. Which is where I am now, getting closer to being able to leave under my own power.

cowboys and probably indians too!

I'm driving down the road, went to make an ordinary stop at the intersection and just like that my brake peddle sunk to the floor. I was able to make a sketchy right turn downshifting to saftey. I found a nice spot by the park and I packed up a bag and my boat and got a ride to Matts house. I was able to sleep on the couch there for a night or two and then his buddys came up from Colorado and the 6 of us set off to Cody on an adventure.

We got in about sunset and had a relativly quick run on the Shosone. Nice fun ledgy 2-4 ft drops above the power plant and a few super fun rappids below it. A little further than halfway, half the group took out as darkness set upon the canyon, and the other half of us raced on to the take out encountering acouple super fun read and run tight creeky drops half in the dark. We camped and ran Crandal Creek the following morning. Super fun run. Manky mank fest for sure. Tight drops, low volume, and a handful of really fun read and run drops. Managed to get a boat un-pinned from the middle of the river twice, a paddle recovery in the middle of a bony drop, and one of the crew swam through a sieve. Afterwards we loaded up both trucks with the 8 boats and made the journey back through Yellowstone and got back to town a little after dark. Both stretches of river were amazingly beautiful though, and the tight box canyons are a welcomed change from the Snake daily.

I bummed around Stillson boat launch for a day swimming and fishing and Kevin and I fixed the truck up right and now I am back in buisness. Tried my luck camping there again last night and Sherriff ran me out at 4:20 this morning with his flashlight in my eyes. I moved and got to another camp site a little while later and I went to sleep hearing somone bang a drum off in the distance. A little eery going to sleep to. Surfed Burrito and Enchilada today. I keep hearing how good Burrito gets and everyone was surfing that, but I had more fun on Enchilada immediatly to river left. It's like a little whitewater park though being able to go back and forth from them all.

catching fish like it's my damn job...I guess it is kind of like my job...in a way

I gathered up my coins, went to coinstar, and then spent my last 11 dollars on a jug of water and fuel for the truck. Lucky for me I got paid the next day. I am not housesitting any longer, but a few dollars wealthier, so I invested in a fishing liscense and some poptarts and took to the forest again. I have caught acouple fish, and eaten better since. I moved my stuff that I wasn't using into Rachels house in Dubious and now I don't have to move all this crap around everytime it's time to go to sleep. The moon is full again, that marks a month of me living here in Jackson. But I am meeting people and begining to figure out how this town works, so between that, and the fishing, and the kayaking, and dropping some gear, life is great. All I need now is another job and a house and I'll be set. And maybe a dog. I miss dogsitting Bella. She is a good dog and I would like one of my own! I see the drawbacks though, so for now it is still incredibly irresponsible for me to have one, so I suppose I can refrain for just a little while longer.

The river is pretty low, and that one big long stretch of flatwater above Kahuna is only getting longer, but there is still good play to be had. Kahuna down is the best for sure, but it just makes for such a quick run if you only do that. I invested in this book they call the Bible. Not like the Jesus Christ Superstars Bible, but like, I really want to go kayaking and all of the rivers here are dried up, where should I go? type of Bible. 500 wonderful waterproof pages of whitewater goodness! And badness for that matter. But either way it is very informative and I like it alot.

Tuanes Mop

The photos from lower Mesa have arrived.

Well, not a whole lot has been going on this week. Still housesitting, teaching the dog tricks and going for walks. Boated today, the Snake is ok, but I found a throw bag floating down river, and having an extra rescue rope around is never is a bad thing, so I'm stoked on that. I move back into the woods on monday, and I'm not sure how well I am going to adjust to that, but in the meantime, I get to eat all my food that needs refrigerated, so frozen pizza and elk steak for dinner tonite!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Pretty awe inspiring place even if you don't throw yourself off the edge


Lower Mesa Falls

I found these pictures on the internet (we only had one camera and more pics are on the way), but for now you can get a feel for what were talking about here.

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you and hope you had a great day!

So I get a call from Matt on Monday morning asking if I want to tag a long with a group of people that are going to run lower Mesa Falls. I have never ever heard of Lower Mesa Falls before in my life, but it sounds cool, so I commit to the trip. I got online and googled it, and what I saw horrified me. It was a kayaker plunging off the top drop of this two tiered beast of a waterfall. So whatever, we get up the next morning, load up the cars with 6 boats and all of the gear and people neccessary to paddle them. We make the 2 hour haul up into Ashton, and finnally find the overlook of the falls. We walk out to the viewing area, and I see what I have been fearing all morning. A HUGE F*%^*^% waterfall roaring off in the distance!! The mist is higher than the falls, and it is soooo much bigger than it looked on youtube. We park the cars, hike the boats the mile and a half to the river. As we got to the rim of the canyon, we were met with a fairly challenging cliff. So we scaled down and roped the boats up, and somehow everyone and thier gear got down without a hitch.

We eventually made it to the river and got set up. We had the camera up on the rocks to get a good shot of the big drop, saftey after the first drop (not like it would do a damn thing), a saftey boater at the bottom, and me up top getting a first hand account of the horror that was about to take place.

Matt drops the first drop clean, in perfect position for the next one, and dissapears off the horizon. Just a couple really long seconds later, I hear the hoots and hollers downstream. He gets back up top beaming.

Someone asked who was going to go next, and before I knew it the words came out of my mouth saying I'll go. I instantly found myself wondering why I did that. Somehow I managed get myself into my boat, and my boat sitting on top of that little triangle rock in the eddy mere feet from the ledge. Spray in the face, the thundering of the falls, let me tell you, it was as scared as I have been in a long time, and every second of it was awsome. I droped the first drop and nailed it, hit my second line (as well as acouple rocks) and managed to flip upside down and take the remander of the big drop in that position. Lost the paddle on impact and swam. Made it to shore with boat and paddle in hand. I ran it a second time, had a much better line! Had a booty beer for pennance.

Ian from Kentuky went next with a solid top drop, and a super sick line off the right rooster tail. Boofed it clean!

Kevin followed, good first drop, went way left off the second drop, landed flat and suffered a nice little compression as well as putting a few holes in his tounge with his teeth. Maybe a mouthguard next time buddy?

Charlie was next, he stuck his first drop sick, went off the second looking great, buried himself at the bottom, and swam up with a broken paddle.

The sign at the viewing area says the falls are 65 feet. I have heard it is not quite that big, but give or take a few feet, and it is still alot of elevation in not a whole lot of time.

My camera is broken for the time being, so thats why I've been sluggish in the photo department. Kevin took a few shots of lower Mesa so when I recieve his email, I will post them up on here.

frozen pizza, flat screens, and a great dane named bella

View from camp last night

My house on the hill

Well guys...I am indoors! At least for now. I am housesitting for the next week and I plan to take full advantage of the hot water, and refrigeration, and ac, and a bed, and clean clothes and no mosquitos, and not having to cook my food over a campfire, and all of the other amentities that normal folks not living in the forest get to experience on a daily basis. The first thing I did when I got here today (after driving around for an hour trying to find the house) was take a shave, and a hot shower and it was amazing! I sat down with the hot water all the way turned up and enjoyed every second of it. I'm watching Independence Day right now on a huge flat screen, sitting in the ac having a great time. Unfortunatly, I droped my bottle of whiskey on the driveway, I was unable to find a straw and was forced to stand there watching my whiskey pool up on the pavement. I am reminded of my mistake everytime I walk out to the truck now, because the driveway reeks of Evan Williams.


So I was kayaking the Snake the other day and out of nowhere this plane comes screaming through the canyon like 100ft off the deck. Litterally just above my head and it was awsome. It was one of those stunt planes, and it was badass for sure. I've been alternating my paddling between the Gros Ventre, Greys, and the Snake river, the GV and Greys are drying up quick but theres still fun to be had. The hole Taco is still sick, and Big Kahuna is begining to come in, both are easily accessed with trails from the road down to the water, so that is great news in the park and play department.


I met some people the other day, mostly east coast kids working on this ranch. I ended up going to the carnival with them, had a few beers, and a good time. The rides were a little intense for me, but I worked up enough courage for the ferris wheel and although short, it was a good view. They had this demolition derby deal thing, but the cars just race around a dirt track in a figure 8 trying to not smash into each other crossing through the middle. It's things like that, which give me hope for the Pathfinder later on down the line. Which by the way sustained another injury the other day. The muffler pipe is now disconnected from the muffler. I gave my mechanic up in Missoula a jingle and asked him what he thought. He told me just what I wanted to hear and the truck is going to be just fine afterall.

It just started to pour down buckets of rain, were talking thunder, lightning, the whole deal, and the yard is flooding, but I am glad that Mother Nature was able to cut me a little slack and wait for me to find a place to sleep dry before unleashing her wrath.

Everything is great, come on out for a visit and see for yourself.

you call that a knife? Now this is a knife!

I forgot to tell you guys that I found a big buck knife the other day, just laying on the ground. Custom handle, good blade, a bit intimidating and it even has a leather sheath to stick it in. It spreads peanut butter, cuts rope, and I even gave a couple throws towards a tree, and it has good balance to it. A great find all the way around. I camped out on Greys again, went fishing in this huge hole a little ways downstream of snaggle tooth. I could see the fish, but I just couldn't catch them. Lucky enough some guys were fishing and they caught acouple, and gave me one to fry up for dinner. I think I'm going to change tactics now...I made a little fishing contraption like they use down in costa rica and I stuck a hook and a worm on it, and my first cast I got a bite. I only dug up one worm, so it was shortlived, but it was a good lesson. When fishing for food, use a worm and a hook, and leave fly fishing to be figured out when dinner isn't on the line.

I boated the Snake daily yesterday, had my fill playing around in Taco and had an easy shuttle back to the truck. Thinking about the Gros Ventre this afternoon...Maybe more worm fishing too! I start housesitting Saturday, so I only have another 2 days before I can clean out the truck. Rachel said I can stash some stuff in her garage in Dubois so between getting a good cleaning and droping a little weight, I'm going to have a happy truck here pretty quick. Everything is good.

we can't have it all...or can we?

I caught my first fish here in Wyoming...But not if fish and game are asking. If there asking, I haven't fished since I've been here. I was up this little creek, (the same little creek where I hooked myself in the eyelid) fishing this little hole, and end up pulling a little Brown Trout out. Didn't eat it, but I crossed over a barrier in the fly fishing world for sure. The weather has been beautiful during the day, and cool and clear at night (perfect for sleeping mosquito free).

So I'm applying for jobs and all that..and on the applications they want an address. (Go figure..) So I go to the Post Office to get a PO Box and they tell me I need an address for that too... Still trying to figure this one out, but my best idea so far is to go to the homeless shelter and see if I can use thier address. I am having some pride issues with that, so we will see how it turns out. Any thoughts??

Ok, so it wasn't a life changing experience or anything, but it's a good story and I'm going to do my best to tell you about it. Friday afternoon I am napping in my hammock in a nice spot, in between 2 trees right on the river. I hear voices and look up to see a kayak, a canoe, and a raft float by. We exchange greetings and they continue down the river. That was all the motivation that I needed. So I packed up camp and set off to drive down the street to run the lower Gros Ventre. I drop my boat off, run my shuttle, and then get picked up by a suburban full of girls, get droped at the put in, and paddle the run bymyself. The water is sooo much lower than the last time I ran it. Anyway, I have a good run, debating whether or not to go again, decide not too and I take my gear off. About that time a caravan of rafters, canoeers, and a kayaker shows up. The same people I saw floating from my hammock. So I get my gear back on, hitch a ride up, and end up doing 2 more laps with these people. Were having beers in the warm springs afterwards and this dude in a Breedlove guitar tour bus shows up. (A bit out of place in the wilderness if you ask me) Anyway, we introduce ourselves and start talking. A bison comes to soak in the warm springs, so we called it good and move to the parking lot for another beer. Eventually Somer (the raft chick) heads back towards town and the rest of us set off to go make camp. So with Phil and Thad from Utah, and Brandon in the tour bus in tow, we set off to find a spot to accomidate a 50 ft fully loaded tour bus full of thousand dollar guitars. It doesnt take long to find a good camp site, and we get dinner going and were just hanging out over a few beers...well that turns to whiskey and before long its 2am and time for bed.

The next morning we wake up and go meet up with Somer and her friend, and we get Brandon all geared up and shove the boat off down the creek. We have a good run, and then go to meet Phil and Thads' friend. We get Brandon geared up and stick him in a kayak this time and try to teach him how to roll. We do the snake daily run and it turns into an all day ordeal. I mean, were talking complete junkshow! Between the booze, the inexperience and the messing around, we spent most of the day chasing down runaway canoes and kayaks. This hydrolic they call Taco is in now, and it is awsome. Just a munching, retentive, almost 0 consequence, half river wide hydrolic. So Phil paddles his canoe in for the surf. Quickly gets gobbled up and he's out of his boat, just getting worked in the hole. I paddle into the hole to try and help. So here I am side surfing this hole, Phils canoe is just getting recirculated back in the hole and Phil is taking a decent beating, comming up long enough for a breath and getting sucked back under. So I'm in the hole in my kayak, holding on to Phils canoe (not real sure of how to fix this problem), Phil is getting thrashed appearing for a half second at a time, and then all of a sudden he's gone, and he is not comming back up... I start thinking that he's screwed and I'm going to have to go for a swim to go find him in the whitewash, but then he gets spit out downstream. Anyway, Phil is safe but his 11 ft boat is still stuck in the hole, with me holding on for dear life trying not to flip my own kayak over in the process. Eventually the canoe and I get worked free and everyone has a good laugh on the bank. Somer decides to give it a shot in her raft with Brandon. Those two get worked for a while too, but there ok. I surf the hole with another kayaker for a bit and then we continue down stream. We stoped for a bit in a big eddy and I tried paddling and rolling one of the 2 whitewater canoes. I can paddle just fine...it's the rolling back over that is tricky. It doesn't make much sense to me why someone would canoe when they could kayak (especially with the drawbacks of a canoe, but whatever, to each his own. We end up meeting another raft full of people floating down and they feed us more booze and eventually end up giving us a ride back to the trucks. That night, Somer, Phil, Thad, thier Buddy from Utah, Brandon in the tour bus, and me all camp out along the Greys. We all dig around in our food boxes and come up with an excellent dinner. (desert was a trout Brandon caught minutes prior). I cleared the 10 guitars out of Brandons shower in the bus, and he let me take my first hot shower in 3 weeks. Slammed a pbr mid shower and got out feeling like a million bucks. The rest of the evening was spent by the river, hanging around the fire, under the stars, in great company, and listening to Phil and his buddy playing music on 2 of Brandons 50 something guitars. After a long day on the river, it was a close to perfect ending. Brandon traded Thad a guitar for a kayak and it was a great trade all the way around. Brandon is hooked! Since technically he is supposed to be touring around publicizing Breedlove Guitars not bumming around with a bunch of boaters, he had to take off yesterday, but we talked him into staying and showing up in Idaho late, and he left early this morning before the sun. When the rest of us woke up this morning, we made some coffee and ran Greys again. Everyone had messeges on thier phones from thier jobs (being monday morning and all) and everyone decided it would be best to head back home and back to thier jobs.

It was a great weekend with a great crew of people and the plan is to all hang out again soon. It was pretty hilarious by the end of it. 1 car, 2 trucks, my pathfinder, and a 50 ft tour bus with all the ammentities driving around the wilderness looking for campsites and whitewater. Its pretty cool how no one knew each other prior, everyone was just doing thier own thing, and somehow we all managed to meet up and have an amazing weekend. We are all going to stay in touch and with any luck go boat with each other again in the near future. Plans are already underway.

Happy Birthday Truck!

Well guys, she made it! The big 184,000. She's traveled across the country , up and down, back and forth,this way and that way, up the mountains, through the rivers, and truly through the woods. She has got the wounds to prove it, but she is a great truck with tons of fight left in her.

In other news, Lunchcounter has been out of control for the last week. I have been switching back and forth between board and boat, and having a blast either way. There have been more surfers as the flow has droped, and it's too low for kayaking now, but it was sooo good while it lasted. I showed up ready to jump in my kayak and surf yesterday, met Russel from Utah and decided to paddle the run instead. Surfed when we floated down but just kept getting blown off the back. No pile, just a big green wave. After we ran the shuttle though, I cam back and surfed it with the board and had a few good waves. The run seems like it will improve with a little less water, but as far as Lunchcounter goes, not again until next year!

I have been camping out up in Curtis Canyon. Took a bath in the creek last night. In this dammed up pool. Was numbingly cold, but extremely refreshing after I had my sweats on. Bought some chicken from the store and grilled that up, and it was a nice change of diet. I also bought a tupperware thing the other day, and now I can save leftovers, which is nice not having to eat everything I cook right away. Had a whiskey and fell asleep in the hammock by the fire under a clear night sky.

Not sure whats in store for the weekend, but at the very least it's time I figure out how to catch a fish. I saw some guys sticking thier hands down in the river rocks trying to pull fish out, apparently they got some earlier, but I did'nt see it. But it's something to think about!

sittin in a boat in a hole in the water in the river

So the wave they call "lunchcounter" is so sick right now for surfing. Apparently it's the first river wave to be surfed with surfboard in the good ol' US of A. Don't know about that, but it's good for sure. Nice soft right handed shoulder to carve up on, and a good steep face with a retentive pile on top. They had a pro flowrider dude surfing on Saturday. He was killing it for sure, but they were filming for research of the waves' hydro dynamics for future flowboard design. It was a beautiful day, girls on the rocks, tons of people watching, a good flow to the river and fun to be had by all. I started in my kayak and moved back in forth between my board and boat. I fair better in my boat though...for sure. Those other guys on boards are sick and most of them have the wave dialed. That night I'm camping up the Grey River, going to bed, brushing my teeth, looking around the darkness with my headlamp, and I see a pair of eyes looking right back at me. I banged a pot with a rock, threw logs, threw rocks, got in my truck with my brights on and tried to chase it off, and the thing jus goes a bit further back into the forest, but I can still see the two yellow eyes glowing back at me from the beam of my headlamp....I got in the truck and locked the doors...It was gone in the morning.



Yesterday was spent surfing and kayaking and I camped up Curtis Canyon again (it's got cell service), made chili dogs and went to sleep to a beautiful sunset behind the Tetons. A few hours later I awoke to thunder and lightning, and hail, and rain, and wind, and I was concived that this one tree was going to fall for sure, and smash my little truck into a million pieces. Through the rain soaked windows, I saw the lights of the tenters a little ways down the hill scrambling for thier cars. Looked like a bunch of little fireflys buzzing around the nighttime sky. Awoke this morning to a few downed branches but no real damage, or sign of the tenters.


Thats pretty much all for now, but don't worry, we'll talk soon.

I take my showers in the river, how about you?

My last week has been spent up in the Gros Ventre Wilderness exploring, fishing, and trying to keep my truck from getting bogged down in a mud pit 30 miles from the closest paved road. I have been pushing the limits of the old Pathfinder almost on a daily basis. Hill climbs, river crossings, mud pits, pot holes from hell, or axle bending trenches, we do it all with style. She is a great truck, and truly an off road machine. The plants on the dashboard have ended up on the ground so much that I would probably be better off repotting them on the floor of the truck. I have sacraficed the yet to sprout lemon seeds for the bennefit of more soil for the cucumber plant.(Which is flowering and needs to be pollinated...and planted). So now it's just the cucumber plant, the cactus, and a few more lemon seeds that I'm trying in a new pot that I've invented not to spill. Hows that for responsibility? I have also had some questions regarding my personal hygene. Well, I will have you know, it is probably better now than it was before. I jump in the creek to get wet, lather up all nice and naked like and then jump back in to rinse off. It feels like a billion needles stabbing you all over the place all at the same time jumping into those icy cold creeks, but after the feeling comes back over your body you feel like a million bucks. The soapy clean smell is also a nice change from camp fire, but it only last a few minutes before the fire steals it right away again. Other than the plants, the truck, and my personal hygene, things are good, I have found a couple really sweet spots to camp out along the river and been learning how to fish.

So about that fishing...The other day I camped along the river, and there was a little creek that sounded like it may be kayakable so I got in my boat, grabbed the fishing rod and ferried across the swift current to the other side. I scouted the rappid (class V+/unrunnable), and scrambled up the rock walls and jumped from rock to rock just to continue upstream. Anyway, I'm up this little tiny creek, decide that it is a good place to do some fishing. Rig up my rod and throw a few casts. Just a few moments later I threw a cast, and next thing you know I see the fly comming right for my head. My first thought is that my reaction was too late, the hook is going to get me right in the face. Second thought was, I wonder where the fly is, because I didn't feel it hook on anything. I quickly come to the conclusion that the caddis fly that I had just tied on my leader is now in past the barb and I am rocking a new eye lid piercing. I put my hand under my eye waiting for the blood...No blood, thats a good sign...Then I wait for the blindness, but I can still see. Thats also good news. I look around, realizing that I am litterally in the middle of nowhere, out in the back woods of Wyoming. There is no one to help, I have to do this myself. I cut the leader (trying to save as much line as possible for future fishing), hike back down the creek, scramble back down the rock walls, jump rock to rock back down the unrunnable rappid, into my kayak, ferry back across the creek in my kayak, manage to make it back to my truck and get a good look in the mirror. It wasn't good! Sure enough the caddis was hooked through my eye lid. I knew I had a pair of wire cutters...but where? My whole life is in the back of my truck, how am I going to find this little pair of snips. After looking everywhere they could be I began to loose hope. I'm thinking...Shit, I am going to have to drive into town just to find someone with a pair of snips, but just then I realize where they are. They're right in the side pocket of my pack (in case I needed them for just such an emergency). So I set my little compass mirror up on my dashboard in the fading evening light, pry my eyelid open with my knuckles, hold the tweasers with one hand, and with the blurry vision of an eye with a caddis fly hooked in it, I snip the hook blindly trusting in the universe to not let me cut my eye lid right open. I eventually am able to push the barb through the other side and extract the hook with my trusty tweasers. I tried to record the surgery with my camera, but since this incident, it has ceased working. If I can recover any of the footage you will be the first to see. Hindsight suggests maybe sunglasses are a good idea. It makes me sick to think of how close I came to being blind in that eye. Were talking fractions of an inch. Chalk it up to experience though. Fishing...go figure.

Other than that, boated a little creek, fun but fast, did it twice. Been doing a fair amount of hiking, and just refining my camping skills. I was hiking along a game trail and found a nice steamy pile of bear shit a little close for comfort to my campsite. No tracks or bear sightings just yet though. Since Scott shot the bear mace off in the trunk a few weeks back, another can may be a good purchase. In other news, I got a part time job, which is good news for my survival, and this wave called Lunchcounter is running good, which is good news for my kayaking, so for now, the woods of Wyoming are nothing but fun.

So I have been recieving alot of questions as to when are we going to hear more about this Jesse Reuter guy. Well, the whole story would take months, maybe even years, but for now just know that he is my friend and mentor. When I am in a tough spot, our friend Jesse always has words of wisdom for me, and he offers me nothing but encouragment and guidence to continue my daily, boring, monotanus life. To sign up for him to mentor you, and guide you through your daily life, please direct emails to kane726@comcast.net. Hurry though, he is only accepting applicants on a limited time basis and in order to reserve your mentoree position you must act soon.

As always, keep checking back for updates, for now it's back to the forest.

wait, so does a bear shit in the woods?

Well I made it into Jackson friday morning. Had a surf on the play wave, and then went into town to get a job. Everyday since has consisted of about the same thing. I am living outside, out of the back of my truck, and the amusing thing is that most of the people I have met here, are, or have done the same thing. Everyone is super cool, and I have alot in common with the average person here.

The outdoors is right at my fingertips, or under them depending on how close you look, but the weather is great, and times are good. Everytime I turn around I see something new. A huge snow covered peak, a sheer cliff face, an enormous lush green valley, a little creek, or some critter walking through my camp. The Tetons are such an impressing mountain range and everytime I gave to the north I am left in awe of the amazing mountains.

In case you're wondering, I alternate my sleeping between the back of my truck and my hammock. Both are surprisingly comfortable. I have a whole box of food that I've managed to keep from the Bears and Mountain Lions, and I am begining to figure out this whole camping thing. The dude at Sports Authority sharpened up my axe right nice on thier grinder at the store, so that makes my life a lot easier come time to set up camp.

Basically, life is great, I am living everything outdoors, but it's a nice time of year for it, meeting all sorts of new folks, and trying to get my ass a job. I am thanful for a good life and with where I'm at.

Feel free to come visit, bring your own hammock.

Surf Wyoming!

Well folks, thats all she wrote down here in Santa Fe. The margaritas are going on hold, time to break out some whiskey! Next stop, Jackson Wyoming! Wish me luck. I'll let you know how it works out when it works out.

scorpions, cacti, and jesse reuter. but soon enough it'll be grizzly bears, mountain lions, and even a wolf or two

Jesse Rueter

just a nice New Mexican evening

I'm still housesitting, haven't really done anything for the last week. Watered the plants, fed the dog, paddled twice, and gotten almost hourly East Coast updates from my friend Jesse Reuter (You'll hear more about him later). Anyway, I am begining to freak out! With a bit of luck, and maybe acouple more margaritas, I'll be able to hold out just a little while longer. Come Wednesday I am packing up the old Pathfinder once again, and moving north. This time to Jackson, Wyoming. I have only driven through. I mean we spent a night there, but that doesn't really count. I don't know anyone, no job, no place to live, not really sure what to expect, but for some reason or another I have alot of confidence in this move. There seems to be alot of nice people, and alot of opportunity for a person such as me. I know it will all work out for the best. And if it doesn't, Ill be living in my truck down by the river. Learning how to fish!

In other news, I should of gone on a Box trip with this guy I've seen a few times on the river. Instead I had a lazy, rainy, pancake filled sunday morning. Then I went up and did a lap on the play run, had a good time. The river shot up close to 1000 cfs since I was on it acouple days ago. The play wave was sick, now it's good, but the eddy service is a bit blown out, and it gets old quick trying to get back upstream. The rest of the run is good, tons of rafters, but it's entertaining. Slam a Tecate mid float, just before the fun, and then go have a good time.

coming full circle

Mapquest says 4,055 miles with 70:30 worth of driving in the last month. In reality, both of those numbers are greatly increased when you figure in our time spent driving the wrong way, or driving towards rivers which didn't parallel the highway. But either way you look at it, it was a long freaking way to go surfing.

We raised just over 100 dollars to bennefit Cystic Fibrosis. Due to the small amount, we did not split the donation, it is just as we recieved it. I would like to thank those at the Albequrque CF chapter for all of thier help, cooporation, and the box of literature and schwag to hand out.

I parted ways with Scott back on Tuesday and I headed north to see Chewy. After a night in Boulder I said my goodbyes and began the trek towards Santa Fe. I stopped in Pagosa Springs to surf their wave, but much to my disappointment, with the dramatic decrease in water levels, the wave quality decreased equally. I did not even get out of the truck. I camped along the Piedra river maybe hoping the creek I had looked at previously was still runnable. It was not, so I went fishing. Camped out, and left the next morning. I stopped along the way to do a couple laps on the Racecourse section of the Rio Grande, it was low, but still entertaining. I am now house/dog sitting until July 1, at which point my schedule opens up...Completely. And I will be lost out west all over again!

over the river and through the woods

We woke up this morning from our warm, dry, comfortable hotel beds, hung out longer than we should have, watched some TV, ate some bagels with cream cheese and then hit the road. On a tip from the raft shop, we found a nice play wave right off of the highway just out of town. It is a nice wave, good size pile with a nice shoulder, a bit easy to get flushed if your not paying attention, but loads of fun. After we each had our fill, we packed up. Drove a few miles down the street and found the put in for a nice stretch of water on the Snake. We unloaded the boats, all the gear, and realized Scott left his waterproof camera on the hood of the car way back at the wave. He speeds off down the road and leaves me and all the gear in his dust. I set some stuff out to dry, rolled my boat upside down for a bed, grabbed my life jacket for a pillow, layed down and took a nap. A few minutes later I awake to Scott's shouts of joy speeding down the road coming towards me. I guess what happened was, 6 miles after the wave, going 65mph the camera slid off of the hood of the car, onto the side of the road. After 45 minutes worth of close calls somehow the camera found its way just off of the pavement in a patch of grass and somehow, driving down the road at 65, Scott managed to spot the little camera , busted a U and went to check it out. After closer inspection, despite a couple scratches to the case, everything is completely fine. So anyway, we unload the rest of the gear, Scott drives the car down to the take out to run shuttle, and I lay back down to enjoy the morning sunshine on my skin. Eventually we get on the river, have a nice little run through some big wave trains and a couple play spots. Packed up the car once again, and continued on our way.

We made it to Steamboat, settled into Scotts friends mountain house. The place is sick. We went for a walk, did some time in the pool, now we are sitting in super comfy couches watching TV. We went and saw the C hole, and it looks awsome. Tommarrow is going to be a busy day, but the plan is to go skate some hills early, maybe run this little creek, go hit the 4 playspots downtown and then either run another creek or just hit the road. Next stop on the list is back in Denver.

subway, slurpee's, and salmon burritos

We drove north to Pacific City and once again found no waves. We waited, hiked around to the sea caves, had acouple beers at the brewery, and then drug our boats up the huge sand dunes and slid back down. From there we drove west through Portland, and ended up a little ways east of P-Town. Camped along the river next to some fishermen, chopped some wood, made a fire, and had a good time. The next morning we were confronted by a ranger and she informed us that we had been breaking pretty much every rule we could have. There is a fire ban, she kind of called us out on not leaving money in the donation box, told us we were supposed to have river permits, and let us go anyway because she was a nice lady. We paddled, went into town to get cash and leave a donation at the Ranger Station and then hit the road. We crossed through Oregon, into the bottom corner of Washington and into Idaho by nightfall. Found a campground in Hells Gate Canyon. Camped for the evening, had some hot showers, and the next day made the push into Missoula. Paddled the Lochsa on the way and it was really good.

Made it into Missoula, set up base camp at Scotts sisters house. From there we met up with a bunch of good friends, paddled the wave, and the Gorge, did sushi and got to see a ton of people that I enjoy hanging out with. And Scott developed an addiction to Salmon Burritos. The wave is good, the Gorge is huge and blown out at 2200. Stayed 3 days in Zoo Town and then made it south about as far as the Wyoming border. Jen, thanks so much for letting us crash at your place, we had a great time and look forward to returning to Missoula.

Met up with Will, Tucker and the rest of the Flying Pig crew in Gardiner Mt. Played some wiffle ball, slept under the stars, paddled a good chunk of the Yellowstone, did the downtown thing for game 7 of the cup, and just had a really good time with a really good crew of people. You can check out the company at http://flyingpigrafting.com/ . Guys, thanks alot for the beds to crash on, we both apprechiate all of the hospitality.

We left MT today, drove through Yellowstone NP and saw some really cool sights. Within the first hour we had gone for a hike to see mineral springs, saw an enormous Bison a mere couple feet from the car, saw a Wolf trotting along the edge of the forest, and got into a brief roadside confrontation with this woman from Minnisota. We stoped at Old Faithful, waited...waited...and then saw her erupt. To be honest the 3 or 4 geysers surrounding Old Faithful were all going off prior and I think that was cooler than the Old Girl herself. Stoped at the ranger station to inquire about why you can hike, and climb, and fish, and do all sorts of other things in the park, but you cannot kayak. "Congress says so, and if you do, you are going to lose your boats" was the answer we recieved and for the time being that works for me. Its a tough pill to swallow considering the road follows the river and along some portions it is everything we can do to not quickly untie the boats, get into the river and go drop off some stuff.

We got into Jackson Hole Wyoming this evening, had acouple cocktails, got burritos, went to go see a movie, did some shopping and ended up with margarita makings, got a hotel for the night and now it is almost bedtime. It is pouring down rain, windy, and cold, and it just seems like a better option for the night to be inside. We are going to paddle the Snake tommarrow and then continue into Steamboat Springs Colorado. We'll let you know how it goes.

In the land of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Bannana Slugs, and acouple really big trees!

We camped in Redwood NP 2 nights ago, got a good campsite, shared some beers with the guy across the street, and basically went to sleep in awe of the huge, gigantic ass trees right outside of our tents. It is a magical place as far as forests goes, and to be honest, if I were a bigfoot, it is for sure where I would live-no doubt about it.

Scott and I spent last night in Eugene with his buddy Larry. We went out, had a good time, got to hear acouple bands play, got up this morning, grabbed a burrito and hit the road. Much thanks to Larry and his housemates, we had a great time, and really apprechiate the indoor accomodations. Before we left though, Scott was packing the car, and shut the door on our can of Bear Spray, and consequently the can began leaking Bear Mace. Thanks to his quick reactions, the damage was minimal. However enough managed to leak out to cause any passing pedestrians to cough and quickly vacate the area. We aired out the trunk, cleaned up the mess, and disposed of the can. No further damage was done. Were comming up into Bear country though, so lets hope for the best now that we are lacking protection. I bought an axe the other day, and I am confident in my swinging abilities, so we should be ok as far as bears are concerned.

We have been stoping for surf checks all along the coast, and have found nothing. Like, we're talking nothing, both of us have been wave starved for so long and all we want to do is get in the water and surf, and there are no waves. That is how it goes sometimes though. I'm sure as soon as we leave the coast the swell will pick up. In the meantime we have been paddling where we can, the middle fork of the Smith in Nor Cal was inside of the Redwood forest so we decided to run it. We underestimated the river just a bit, and we were pleasantly surprised with the class IV stretch of pool drops and the translucent blue water. In some parts the river looked to be at least 30 feet deep, and you can see every stone on the bottom. The fish swimming around, the sunken trees, the whole deal. In all reality, it was probably more like 50 or 60 feet deep. Just totally out of control as far as water clarity and color is concerned. It is a beautiful tight canyon with bony drops, technical moves, and stunning scenery...and we had it all to ourselves. Zero complaints!

Now we are about a mile south of Newport Oregon. We found a good campground on the beach, and turns out it was Oregon State Park day or something, and we got to camp for free. Chopped wood on the beach, and have a nice fire now, with an electrical plug, wifi, and free hot showers just around the corner. All things considered, were sitting pretty.

Our goal for tommarow is to find waves. After that we will mosey towards Portland where we will begin our journey inland. Don't worry though, we'll let you know how it all works out.

the petting zoo

So we left San Diego and got a recomnedation to check out this campground called Jalama. We ended up staying 3 days. The surf there was the best we have seen thus far. While we were surfing, Dolphins were swimming through the lineup and Whales were breaching further out to sea. Back at the campsite Scott befriended 3 species of birds, and a little ground squirrell. The two became such good friends that the little bugger climbed into the car and helped himself to the bag of trailmix. We were able to salvalge most of the bag and decided to keep the car shut from then on. It was a great spot to camp, right on the beach, right in front of where we were surfing and it was awsome to go to sleep hearing the surf, and wake up seeing clean lines roll in from the horizon. We left Jalama yesterday, camped last night in podunk, and now we are using wifi in Humbolt. We made every wrong turn along the way and somehow ended up here after a days worth of driving the narrow windy pacific roads. We stoped at a few places along the way for surf checks, but could not justify the crumbly waves against the cold water. Tonite we will camp around Eureka and tommarow with any luck make it to the Trinity River and find a good section to paddle.

leaving san diego

Before we left town this morning we met up with my good buddys Mario and David and spent a few hours driving around getting the surfers tour of San Diego. I also layed eyes on my dream surfboard, and I'm not sure I can live without it. The problem is, it costs waaay too much money...We'll have to wait and see how this one works out.

Again, thank you Jordan for letting us crash at your place, you showed us a good time, and we truly apprechiate it.

Mario and Dave, thanks for the tour, and all of the new gear. The CD is great and we enjoyed the new tunes. Check out Daves band at http://www.myspace.com/pauhana

We made it north a few hours, Ventura for those of you following our course. We tried and tried and tried to find some campsites, and everything is booked up...the waves are still slop, and we ended up paying far too much for a hotel room at motel 6. We are warm, dry, off the road, out of the car, and each have a bed to sleep in tonite, so we are doing pretty well all things considered. Tommarow is a new day, maybe some rideable waves and a place to camp.

Scott wants me to add that the other day I squeezed a fair amount of icy hot in my mouth thinking it was toothpaste. I very quickly realized it was not!

the sand of iego

So after almost 2 full days of driving we made it to the coast. San Diego to be exact. We drove over the rivers, through the woods, atop the mountains and finnally across the freakin Mohave desert to find 1-2ft onshore knee high slop. It looks like there are no waves in sight either. We stayed with a friend from VWC in her downtown apartment, went out, partied and had a good time all big city style. We may stay another day here in town, but the rain and crummy waves have our sights set north. On to greener pastures as they say...and maybe a few less people. Until then, pray for surf.

Yesterday we paddled the Rockwood Canyon, and we had a close call with Scott. He had dropped into one of the bigger rapids in the tight canyon, and flipped as he came out of a nasty hydrolic, got pushed up against the canyon wall and after repeated roll attempts getting slammed into a rock wall facing directly upstream he was forced to swim. I scrambled up the side of a jutting rock ledge with the throwbag but he was already swimming in the eddy. He couldn't hold onto his boat with the current pushing against a totally submerged cockpit and his boat got ripped downstream. Our good buddy Danny was in the lead and aware of Scott's submerged boat floating downstream so he was the only person in position to save the boat. Meanwhile I got a throwbag to Scott on the opposite side of the river and was able to pull him into the same eddy I had caught. Not knowing if Danny was able to save the boat or not we devised a plan. Scott needed to climb up the vertical rock wall and follow the railroad tracks back downriver to a vantage point of the river where the three of us could further assess the situation. Down river Danny had retrieved the boat, and the two of us waited for Scott to come into view. Scott was forced to climb back down the steep slope to the river. From there we threw him a throwbag and began to pull him across the fast moving current. The bag got wrapped around my leg and I could not hold the weight against the powerful current and got pulled off the rock ledge into the river like an Alaskan Crab fisherman. The throwbag was headed downriver with Scott on the far end. He made it back across and was reunited with his runaway kayak with plenty of time to finish the run. The both of us agree it was a great stretch of river and well worth the possible trespassing charges we could have received from the railroad company. We also agreed it was a valuable practice session for swift water rescue. On the way back into town we went spelunking in a Cave off of the highway and then further down the road, jumped off of this massive bridge into the same river we were boating prior.

Today we left Durango, spent a few hours in Farmington surfing their park, and now camping at a KOA with the luxury of Wifi. Tomorrow we are going to make our push into California. San Diego is first on the list. The trip is sick so far, it is so great to meet tons of new people and kayak all of these different rivers.

North Fork - Foxton/Arkansas - Brown's Canyon

The first day outside of the Denver area proved to be a fun run down the Foxton strech of the North Fork. It was a technical route with lots of traversing as we found our way through the upper rock garden. The middle stretch continted a fair amount of flat water before the the drops picked back up at the end. We found and awesome play hole towards the bottom in which Elliot and my bro Woody shredded. It was a fun stretch of river, and always fun to pladdle with some other companions so we appreciate Woody and Nate joining us for the trip. After spending the night outside Hartsel at Colin Medved's parents property, where we were completely spoiled, we ran Brown's Canyon of the Arkansas River. It was great having Colin alongside us in the river. He is an extremely knowledgable river guide and has lots of expereince on this section. Brown's was quite different from Clear Creek and Foxton with a much greater flow and bigger holes and wave trains. Elliot found good play throughout the river, and tackled the biggest hole head on. I found my favorite part to be the small rock jump about midway down the stretch. Once again it was great to have good company on the river, but we could have done with out all the commercial rafts. We later learned that this is the most commercialy rafted stretch of river in the world, and paddle fest only made matters more hectic. Our gear from Level 6 is sick. It is awsome to be able to lose the wetsuits and paddle dry. Headed towards Durango, stay tuned! Scott.

i just want to do hood rat things with my friends...

so i got up to denver on wed. since then, weve paddled the confluence, clear creek, golden playpark and today union playpark. the confluence was dirty and small... clear creek was humbling...i got jammed up in this little 3,4ft tight slot drop. got pushed into an undercut wall, and long story short went for a swim. scott ran into a rattlesnake on the trail, broke his paddle, and went for a quick dip in the creek too. afterwards we hit the golden playpark, had a good time and went back to denver. union playpark was decent, the flow was up and the water warm...big plans on the horizon. leaving denver tommarow. good times in colorado.

Pagosa Springs

still paddling a ton, boated the taos box acouple days ago with some guys from arizonza, river was up, and was alot of fun. yesterday I left santa fe, and found myself in pagosa springs co, and there is a sick play wave right down town so I did that for the better part of the afternoon. Camped at the river last night, and this morning met some guys from the local raft shop and we ran the lower box of the Piedra. Took a differant line through a rock garden which would be more appropriatly named sieve city, got snaged on a strainer, but lucky for me it was the end of the log, and I was able to squeeze my way off. the only damage was a rip to my spray deck, but I am confident I can patch it right up provided I can keep out of the water long enough for it to dry. I paddled the play wave once I got back, and now im sitting in the parking lot stealing wifi. there is a barbaque tonite here in town, so I'll do that,and most likely get up early and head to durango tommarow, unless I get ambitious and feel like going after the bbq. ill keep you all informed, dont worry.

been paddling every day recently. I camped at the river last night. got up and paddled this morning. The river is nice right now, theres a few really good holes to play in, and waves to surf. planning to paddle the box tommarow. we will see how that goes. until then.

talked to scott, the 20th I'm driving up to denver, parking my truck with all my earthly possessions at his house, loading up the boards and boats, and setting off! in other news the river here is still rising, but I think it will begin to level off. the wave is running super fast right now with a foamball on top. there is also a semi glassy wave just above the main wave which offers up some fun frontsurfs.the only problem is eddy service is almost non existant. souse hole at the bottom of the run is just a hydrolic with a massive wall of water seperating you from the takeout. everthing is good, and once again ive begun the process of packing up all of my stuff. seperating whats going, whats staying, and whats going in the garbage. get ready!

Level Up

so everybody say, Thanks Wes! Because of our good friend Wesley, we have a deal with Level Six kayaking. Now we will be able to get some much needed new gear. Thats huge dude, thanks alot! If anyone needs some new gear or apparell check out thier site http://www.levelsixinc.com .In other news, Scott is back in Colorado and we are gearin up and getting ready to hit the road. I have been paddling a ton, the river is at 2 grand right now (before was like 700) and alot of the playspots are getting washed out, but it is creating a whole new set of wave trains and hydrolics. The bad news is, because of alot of eddys washing out, it is a pain in the ass to get good pics and videos. I hope your getting excited, because I am freaking out. The 20th is almost here!!!

So i went paddling last thursday, and set off hitchhiking up the road, and walked every freakin step to the put in. first time ive had to walk all the way. saturday i got a ride from the take out and didnt have to walk a step on the road, so i guess it evens out, but i mean shit, walking the whole way with a boat on your shoulder,in a wetsuit,in the desert sucks. on the other hand,i think paddling season is just about here. the water is rising, turning brown, and logs are starting to float down. the wave is getting big, and the river is begining to take shape. weather has been great, so im figuring on snow here prolly tommarow. but ive been rockin trunks and t shirts with flip flops, and everyone looks at me like im lost. but whatever, its the desert, its all good.

headed up to durango this weekend. thinking of trying to hit the whitewater park in farmington. river is comming up, foot is getting better, weather is getting nice, its time to get wet. bring on the margaritas too!

so what the f is going on with the weather in this crazy state out here in the desert? the wind, oh man the freaking wind. it is always windy here...last night, i opened up the door to get some firewood, and damn near got blown back inside the house. then this morning, i awoke to snow, and wind, and it changed to hail, then rain, then snow, then sunshine, then snow, then clouds, then hail...all day long. just back and forth. the foot is still in the cast, and the anxiety of not being mobile is taking its toll. happy easter!

ok, so the foot is still in the cast, and im begining to think it could be set wrong. we will deal with that problem as it arises. it figures that the weather is finnally nice now that i am virtually laid up. water is low anyway, but it would still be nice to get wet. everything else in the great state of new mexico is solid though, and I am enjoying life here in santa fe. the margaritas arnt bad either.

I paddled thursday morning. Good day on the river. a bit cold, I was only guy out, but was still fun. that afternoon I messed up my ankle and it swelled up to the size of a softball, now i have a half cast and doc says im on crutches for acouple weeks. we'll see how long that lasts though. ill keep you posted.

saturday boating

paddled yesterday, water was a bit chilly, but prolly because it snowed 10 inches the day prior. needless to say the water was up, and it was a great time. new little waves and holes are appearing all over the place and it seems as if paddling season is finnally here. Met 2 new paddlers that gave me a ride. beautiful sunny day on the river.

went up to the ski basin on friday. last snow was over a week ago. and the snow wasn't that good at all, but it was fun to get out and get acouple turns in. calling for some precipitation this week, so thats good news all the way around.

Paddled yesterday. I had to walk further than I ever have trying to run shuttle, but I got a ride the last mile, so it saved a fair amount of pain and suffering on my part. sleeping beauty wave is flowing good. Met three other paddlers on the river, and saw a raft heading down as I was walking. Busy day on the river. Weather is getting nicer, but I feel like winter isnt quite done yet. We will see. Lacrosse was great, only a few guys showed up, but the weather was so nice it was cool to just play in the grass with shorts and no shoes. Scott made a video for youtube, and I think more are on thier way! Check out the link under Our Sponsors.

more boating

paddled today. great weather. walking through the desert in a 3/4 wetsuit and full boating gear was a bit warm though.warm like the inside of a pizza oven. met bruce from los rios and the dude that gave me a ride to the put in. both showed equally kind gestures towards me. another great day boating in new mexico.

typical thursday

got up early today and boated the racecourse section of the rio grande. and then work in the afternoon. great day on the water. sunshine, nice temps, and limited wind. there calling for some snow the next few days so with any luck I'll get a day in up on the mountain. I should have a new camera in the next few days, so I will start getting some pics up. talked to scott and our trip is taking shape. stoked!

Numero uno

It's as good a place as any to start this adventure.