Pacific Northwest Boater

Little Washougal River

2011-01-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

Little Washougal River from Ryan C on Vimeo.

Middle Santiam: The Concussion run.

2007-09-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

With all the water out of our rivers and into the ocean, Eric Arlington, Chris Arnold, Gary Truyens, and myself headed down to the M Santiam for some dam released action. The gauge indicated that they were releasing around 2100cfs everyday around 1:00pm. We got to the river around 3:00pm, and it was flowing. The gate to the dam was closed, so we had about a quarter mile hike in.

(gearing up at the gate.)

(The hike.)

When we got to what we thought was the put-in, the gate was locked with a "no trespassing" sign. There was, however, a trail just outside the gate that led to the river without having to trespass.

(Locked gates can suck.)

The run starts off pretty mellow, and gradually increases in difficulty the further downstream you travel. There were some fun playspots up to Swiss Cheese.

(Eric on the first decent play wave.)
(Chris drops in.)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Swiss Cheese or Scrawleys Wall; and the pictures I snapped of Concussion do not do it any justice. I found out about this run while parusing Oregonkayaking.net, and subsequently knew about the extremely dangerous sieve in the middle of this drop. We scouted the nasty sieve, and then ran the rapid without problems. This was a really, really fun rapid that had some huge waves and holes in it. At the bottom of the rapid was an awesome wave with decent eddy service. We played on this wave for about an hour.

(Concussion from downstream. You can see the boulder pile that creates the sieve in the middle of the river.)

( Gary, Eric, and Chris eddied out at the bottom of Concussion, getting ready to surf it up.)
(Eric.)

(Chris.)
(Eric.)

(Gary.)

(Chris.)
(Myself.)

(Chris.)

(Chris trying to loop; which he almost did. It was almost retentive enough to do so. Maybe if we were better playboaters!)

Although this run is short (2 miles), it was well worth the drive from PDX. You can do laps, and it's a relatively easy bike shuttle. You can also extend the run by spending some time on the huge waves that litter this run. I'd say this is the best low-water, summer option we have right now.

Oregon Coast

2007-09-10T16:06:00.001-07:00

This weekend Sara and I ended up heading out to the Oregon Coast. We met up with Brian Rudd, and headed to Indian beach. The surf wasn't the best I've ever been in, but it's always fun. Sara got some shots off, so I figured I'd post 'em up. I demoed a sick surf kayak made by Valley from Alder Creek. Unfortunately, the camera didn't make it out until later in the day. If you're a surf veteran, and haven't checked one out, talk the the folks at Alder Creek. They'll hook you up.

(Sara took this killer shot)

(Brian gets on it)

(Myself working on a blunt)

(Rudd on one of the bigger ones of the day)

(The view at Indian)

I love hitting the surf. I actually spend more time with my playboat in the surf than on the river. If you are a boater who lives in the area, and haven't been in the surf yet, check it out. Its a lot of fun! All you need is a strong roll, a tight fitting skirt, and good judgement. The ocean however, definately demands respect. Rip currents, cold water, and powerful hydraulics can easily make for a bad day in the surf. Always wear a lifejacket and helmet, and never boat alone. The Oregon Coast is a beautiful place to spend a day when everything else is all dried up.

I-DA-HO!

2007-09-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, I finally made my first trip to Idaho. I was fortunate enough to meet up with ex-Boise-local Erik Larsen and the "Boise Boaters" crew, and head up highway 55 to the Payette drainage.

(Sara and I saw this crazy looking rainstorm just outside of Pendleton)

(Ya! Idaho!)
We got in Friday night, met up with Erik and his friend Kelli Pavelko, and set up camp at the Alder Creek camp site. The campsite was awesome, and by Saturday night, it was loaded to the gills with boaters. Chris Arnold and Eric Arlington got in super late On Saturday night. Erik, Kelli, Chris, Eric, and myself met up with a huge groups of Boise locals and headed up to do the SF Payette Canyon section. It was an awesome twelve mile class III-IV (V) run, with warm water, great scenery, awesome playspots, and one huge and scary drop: Big Falls. Big Falls drops about thirty feet in four or five steps through monsterous holes. When we got out to portage Big Falls, we heard that someone had decided to run it. We watched some dude totally clean the whole thing. It was impressive. Unfortunately, I decided not to bring the camera that day, and ended up with no shots. On Sunday, we headed down to run the Staircase section on the SF Payette. The Staircase section is another quality run on the SF. After the SF, the plan was to head up and run the NF Payette. We hooked up with local Mike Copeland (who runs the Boise Boaters yahoo! group) to lead us down. Now I haven't had the chance to paddle much big water, and I was really nervous about paddling this river. Just a week before, a NF veteran paddler of ten years drowned on the upper section, and I'd definately heard horror stories from this river. We made a plan to run the lower five section. On the scout, Eric Arlington and I decided to play it cool and stick to the warm-up.

(Scouting the NF)

As we got to the put-in, I started to get really nervous. Sara later said that she'd never seen that look in my eyes. Whether we were NF vet's or virgins, the tension was in the air.

(Eric Arlington putting on)

(Erik Larsen: "NF have many big holes!")

(Me nervous, and Sara calming me down)

(Houndstooth)

(Myself taking the boof line at Hound's)

(Eric Arlington at Hound's)

(Chris Arnold takes the main line at Hound's)

(Erik "sack-up" Larsen, aka "Uncle Lar-Lar" boofing it up at Hound's)

After Houndstooth, I started getting in to the swing of things on the NF; which is very different than the tight, technical creeking we have in Portland. At this point, the river became a lot of big and pushy fun!

(Chris Arnold somewhere in Otter)

I don't know if there are any named rapids between Houndstooth and Otter, but we cruised through what seemed like a mile-long, continuous rapid, and got to Otter. Mike told us the lines, and we headed though Otter. Halfway through, we eddied out on the left after a huge hole, and then ferried across to the river right. Mike said this was the "Scary Ferry".

(The group, minus our leader, Mike Copeland, halfway through Otter)

(Erik Larsen at the "Scary Ferry")

(Eric Arlington at the "Scary Ferry")

(Myself at the "Scary Ferry")

(Eddied out at the bottom of Otter)

(Chris Arnold in Juicer)

(Erik Larsen in Juicer)

(The crew finishes off Juicer)

(Looking upstream at Crunch)

(Mike Copeland, Chris Arnold, and Erik Larsen at the top of Crunch)

(Mike Copeland gets ready to punch one of many, many holes at Crunch)

(Chris Arnold at Crunch)

(Erik Larsen at Crunch)

(Looking downstream of Crunch)

All in all, Idaho was f-ing amazing, and I can't wait to go back. A special thanks to Erik Larsen for inviting us PDXer's out... To Kelli for taking pictures... To Mike Copeland for leading us down... To Ben, Mike and Cathy, Jim, and Phil, for being super friendly and giving good beta. Hit me up if you guys ever come out to PDX.

(Lasty, I'd like to give a big F-you to the obnoxious 1:00am guitar player for not letting me get any sleep! I'll find you SUCKA!!!!! Just Joking, I'm not really THAT pissed.)

Cascade River

2007-08-11T16:14:00.001-07:00

On August 3, in an attempt to escape the low water blues we were suffering in SW Washington, Chris Arnold, Gary Truyens, Eric Arlington, and myself headed up to the North Cascades to run the Cascade river. We got in late Friday night expecting to have to overpay to stay in a National Forest campground. Much to our surprise, we found the "Rainy River Campground", and paid only five dollars per night! An added bonus of the campground is that it's right on the river. As we drove up the road Saturday morning, we passed a pullout that overlooks the river right above Bridge Drop.

(Looking deep into the Cascade river gorge.)

(Bridge Drop from above at the "high rise" scout.)

After checking out Bridge Drop, we headed to Marble Creek Campground. I talked with the camp host on my way in to see if there was somewhere I could park without having to pay the day use fee. He let me know about an old boat launch right before camp #9 that they let river runners park at for free.

(The put in.)

At the put in, the river lazily meanders around a few bends for about a half mile or so. After a left bend, the first horizon line presesnts itself, signifying the start of Starts With a Bang (SWAB). Chris probed the drop without difficulty, and everyone followed without issue. We ran the entire 1/3 mile long rapid along the right side. We ran the entry drop on the left on our second trip down, and it was a bit cleaner.

(The entry rapid on SWAB.) (Myself running right.)
(Gary dropping in to the first of many holes on the Cascade)
(Chris about 1/3 of the way through SWAB.)

(Eric in SWAB.)

After SWAB, the river pools very briefly before entering Bridge Drop. The drop is named due to a bridge that fell into the river during a high water event:(http://http//www.chrisj.winisp.net/bridge/default.htm). The debris has since been removed from the main channel in the river, however, there is still evidence of the bridge on river right. It is marked by a large house sized boulder on the river right. The entry to this rapid has a very large, nearly river wide hole that appears to be backed up by some submerged boulders. It looked as though it could be possible to sneak it on the far left or right. All four of us didn't feel it was worth getting thrashed in, and decided to walk it. We portaged along the debris pile, and put in downstream of the boulder. After the entry hole, there is a long boulder garden with clean routes down the left or right. The left has some big holes, but more water; while the right is a more manky sneak line. We all ran the right without problems.

(Myself just above the entry to Bridge Drop.)

(Eric heading towards Bridge Drop. The large boulder on the right signifies the menacing hole and old bridge debris.)

(Gary heading towards Bridge Drop. The pullout above the river that allows a "high rise" scout of the drop can just barley be seen in the upper right side of this photo.)

(The entry hole to Bridge Drop.)

(The view of Bridge Drop after the gnarly hole.)

(Chris and Eric checking out the bottom of Bridge Drop.)

(Chris heading into the lower half of Bridge Drop.)

After Bridge Drop, the river contains continuous class IV-IV+ water that was comparable to Initiation on the Upper Wind. This was a really fun section of the river. We bombed down, boat scouting everything. After this mile of river, the next big horizon line signals Premium. We all ran this rapid without incident the first day. I took a bit of a beating the second day as I flipped halfway through the rapid, banging my head on the boulders at the bottom. Lucky for me, the hole was pretty flushy, and rodeo creekin' was not on the menu.

(Premium.)

(Chris firing up Premium.)

(Gary checking the retentiveness of the left side.)

(Eric just killing it.)

(Myself at the bottom hole. At higher water, this hole probably gets pretty sticky.)
Immediately following Premium is Monster. This obvious horizon line starts with a river wide hole. After the hole, the second part of Monster enters a narrow chute that has boulder backed holes guarding the left side, a boof in the center, or violent hydraulics on the right. Then the river cascades through a big boulder garden with a clean but pushy chute on the right, or a manky sneak on the left. No one really liked this one due to the thin line on the second part of the drop. Had the boof line been in, I think we would have fired it up.

(Monster from the bottom.)

After Monster the river pools up, and Irene Creek enters from the left, offering a perfect place to eat lunch and soak in the beauty of the falls.

(Eric and Gary grabbing a bite.)

(The falls on Irene Creek.)

After Irene Creek, there is another super fun "Upper Wind like" set of boulder gardens that continue for about a mile. Then there is a large rock wall that gorges up on the river right that signifies Shark's Tooth. This rapid will definately go, but it is manky and pinny. Eric was the only one to run it both days. On the second day everyone decided to give it a go, and we ended up with a pin. Although not all that difficult, take the time to look at this one to see if it's to your liking.

(The wall at Sharks Tooth.)

(Sharks Tooth.)

(Eric probing Sharks Tooth.)

After Sharks Tooth, the river goes through some more really fun IV-IV+ for about two miles before it finally tapers out to class II. The first day, we took out at Rainy River campground. This resulted in a long class II paddle out. A better option is to look for a pullout about 2 miles up the road from Rainy River Campground, and find the trail that leads down to the river. There is a small concrete structure at river level that marks it. We ran the river at about 950 cfs, and I think a little more water would have really cleaned up some of the manky parts. All in all, the Cascaed turned out to be a beautiful and amazing river!

(ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY CHRIS ARNOLD, GARY TRUYENS, ERIC ARLINTGTON, OR MYSELF.)

Truss.

2007-08-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

So I finally got to get down the Truss, and was lucky enought to have Ryan Morgan there to take more excellent pictures. Thanks Ryan!

(Myself on my second run down BigBro)

Random Shots.

2007-07-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

So here a a few highlights of the local area boating done this spring. I had the opportunity to take a lot of great trips with a lot of great people this season, unfortunately, the camera didn't quite make its way out of the case enough. Oh well, maybe next season.

The following sequences of Lava Falls were taken by Eric Arlington.

The day these pictures were taken, I hadn't really planned on running the falls. I jokingly said to Luke, "I'll run it if you go first". Two seconds later, Luke walked up to his boat and decided to give 'er!

Luke Neal probin' it.

After Luke cleaned the drop, I knew I couldn't walk it.

Myself.

Where'd he go?

The next set of shots were taken on upper Trout Creek by Ryan Morgan. You can get the full trip report on his page. All I can say is that it was an epic day!

Tyree Wilde Charges down the steep stuff.

Myself, same drop.

Myself, on the last rapid out of the canyon.

Thanks for the shots fellas!

Lower Wind River.

2007-06-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, summer time flows are oficially here in SW Washington, and most of our rivers are pretty much dried up. There is, however, some good news: Shipherd's Falls is coming in!

The drive into the Gorge.

Overlooking the Gorge from Cape Horn.
As you can see, the gauge rock is completely exposed.
Brian Rudd demonstrates his riverside pre-run warm up routine.
Tyree Wilde somewhere near the beginning of High Bridge rapid.

Brian Rudd, same drop.
Near the middle of High Bridge rapid is a nearly riverwide ledge. At this flow, there isn't really a hole. At higher water, however, this ledge apparently gets pretty sticky.
Brian Rudd, same drop.

Below High Bridge rapid is a cool little gorge that I call the Pirate Cove. The confluence of Panther Creek is just at the end of this picture where the river bends right.

After the confluence of Panther creek, there are some fun class II-III drops. Then there is the ledge in this photo which occurs about 200 yards above the Flume.

Tyree Wilde on the ledge above the Flume.

The top half of the Flume. The ledge from the previous picture is barely visible in this photo.

The bottom half of the Flume.
Myself, halfway through the Flume.
The flume from downstream.
After the Flume, there is a class III drop that starts off with a sloping tounge that drives straight into a hole that tends to give a lot of paddlers tailstands. Immediate following this drop is Beyond Limits, which is marked by a fish ladder on the left. According to the guidebook, this class VI waterfall slams onto a rocky keeper. We've run it many times at low water, when the hole becomes more managable. At high water, it is an uphill paddle over the boil line even if you do clear the bottom hole. Approach this drop with caution.

Beyond Limits.

After Beyond Limits, there is a fun class III-III+ boogie section. A footbridge above the river marks the approach of Shipherd's Falls. Shipherd's consists of two vertical drops, one slide, and a weir drop. There is a class III drop above the fish ladder at the falls that should be approached with caution. If there were a swim here, it would be very easy for someone to get sucked into the fish ladder.

Drop 1.
Drop 2.
Drop 3.
Looking upstream at Shipherd's Falls.
Brian Rudd and Tyree Wilde look at the dam at the bottom and discuss their options.

At this flow, it looks like it needs to come down just a little bit more before the falls are easily managable.
When you can't run the falls, the only option is to jump off.
Brian Rudd tosses his boat over.

Brian Rudd swims to shore.

After the falls, there is a hot springs that is pretty nice. It has been know to contain nude folks from time to time!

A little ways beyond the hotsprings is some new wood. At this level, it was easily paddled over, but come next winter it may be more of a hazard.

So, How was your run Brian?

Upper Wind.

2007-05-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

Brian Rudd, Ryan Rodgers, and myself ended up running the Upper Wind today. The gauge rock just barely had water running through the horns, and looked good to go. It was a bit boney in places, but all in all, it was a good day. We boat scouted everything but Ram's Horn and Climax, so the pics are a bit limited.

The put-in

Ram's Horn

Scouting the horn

The author fires it up

Rudd gets it done in his Magnum demo. (Rudd sold his WaveSport, and is now just a Cock without the Diesel!)

Rodgers styles the Horn on his first trip down the river, and goes deep in the first hole.

SWEET!
Climax

The author takes the auto-boof

Rodgers, still styling the run

Rudd

Another awesome day on the Wind!

NorCal Spring Break updates.

2007-04-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

So I finally got around to updating the NorCal posts, and I posted the Salmon trip; but for some reason the blog decided to archive in March rather than April. If you'd like to check it out, look under the previous posts link to the right of the page. In the meantime, keep watching out for the NF Cal Salmon post!

Upper Trout Creek

2007-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

So while I'm waiting for the rest of the Cali pictures from Brian and Erik, (so I can finish the NorCal posts), I figured I'd post a link to Ryan Morgan's "Testing the Waters" blog. Ryan is a talented Molalla boater who runs an awesomely thorough blog. We ran Upper Trout Creek this weekend. The one word that sums up the creek: STEEP. Check it out:

http://molallakayaker.blogspot.com/2007/04/upper-trout-creek.html

Thanks for the epic trip Ryan!

NorCal SPring Break '07. Part 2: The Cal-Salmon

2007-03-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

After our first hellacious day in Cali, we decided to scale down our hunger for tight creeking and head for some big water. I was extremely dehydrated from the day before from the hike and the boozing that we did that night, so I had a screaming headache. Erik was running the show, and suggested that we run the Cal-Salmon. Now before this trip, I'd never really been in any big water. I'd always done mostly creeking. I've seen some Zambize footage, and also the PDX Kayaker films, and let me just say that big water scared the shit out of me. I know that some of you who read this will say that the Cal-Salmon is not big water, and you may be right; but this was the biggest water I'd ever been on, and I was nervous.

(The signs all over the river didn't help my anxiety).

The Cal-Salmon is an amazing river. It's scenery is as unmatched as is it's whitewater. I had looked into the trip before we went, and spent a lot of time parusing www.oregonkayaking.net. Jason Rackley's description of the run was dead on. It's easy to see why this place is so special.

(There are numerous class IV rapids and two class V's on this section of the river).

(We checked the gauge at the take-out, and it seemed to be at a good medium flow around 5').
We put on right at the confluence of the Cal-Salmon and Nordheimer creek. When we got to Nordheimer campground, we were the only ones there, and there were no camping fees because it was so early in the season.

(The put-in).

Unfortunately, we ran so much of the river by boat scouting, that I didn't get the chance to thoroughly document the trip.

(I took this shot of Bloomer Falls from up high on the bank).

After everyone had a successful run through Bloomers, the next major rapid we came to was airplane. Erik had only done this stretch a couple of times, so we got out and took a look. We all thought it was good to go, and we fired it up.

(The author digs for the boof @ airplane).

(The author after a successful run down airplane).

(Brian digs for the boof).

(UH-OH! You'll be happy to know that he rolled up)The next major rapid that we scouted was Cascade Falls. Cascade Falls is a very impressive riverwide set of drops that has quite a lot of variety to it. We chose to run the far left route. (Brian punching right into the lead diagonal wave on cascade).
(The author taking a different approach).

(Halfway through Cascade, and still upright).(Cascade Falls from the bottom)After successful runs through Cascade, we came upon class V Freight Train. Locals consistently run this behemoth in playboats!
(Last Chance is in the background, which leads right into Freight Train).
(Freight Train. Pretty burly).
(It didn't take much time for me to decide how I was going to get through this rapid.... )
(...and there it is).
One of the last rapids on the run is Gaping Maw. This beast is only class IV, but is unportagable due to the nature of the canyon. The Maw is a fairly straightforward rapid except for the fact that there is a gigantic hole midway through the rapid that attracts boaters like bees to honey. (We got some good pics of Brian narrowly missing the Maw.)

(Another great day in NorCal completed!)
After this trip, I've made a promise to myself to come back to this area at least once a year. Jason Rackley said it best, "...if you are a class IV-V boater living in Oregon, Idaho, or Northern California and you haven't run this river, you need to go there... now."

Also, here are a few videos taken during the trip:

Brian @ Cascade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdAVflak10Y

Me @ Cascade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLljhtbWVx4

Erik @ Gaping Maw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2aAj_RzMdY

NorCal Spring Break '07. Part 1: The Clear Creek death march.

2007-03-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break, I got to take a four day trip to NorCal to paddle some California whitewater with my bros Brian Rudd and Erik Larsen. Brian and I met Erik at his home in Ashland on Wednesday night, and early Thursday morning we headed south. The first run on our list was Clear Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River. Erik had been doing some research through guide books and web blogs; most of our info came from the blog "Jefferson State Creeking", an awesome resource for California boating. Erik had been watching the levels and it seemed as though Clear Creek was good to go.

On the way to the put-in, we caught a few glimpses of the creek, which looked awesome. Unfortunately for us, the road to the Clear Creek trailhead was gated, turning our 1 mile hike into about a 4 mile hike. We decided to gear up and hike.

Brian Gives it a go.

The first 2 miles are all road hiking, which went relatively quickly.
Once we got to the trailhead, the hiking became a bit more strenuous due to the lack of trail maintenance.

On the way in, we caught several glimpses of the creek deep down in the canyon. It looked big from way up on the trail, but we figured that if it was bigger when we got in, we could walk the gnarly drops.
The first big rapid we came to was only about a 1/2 mile from the put-in. We gave it a look, and decided to walk it because the lines just looked a bit burly for our class IV boating skills.
The next drop we came to presented a big horizon line. We scouted it and decided to give it a go.

Erik cleans the second drop.

The author taking a different line.

By the time we got to the third drop, about two hours had passed. We quickly realized that we were running short on time, and decided to walk out of the canyon. BIG MISTAKE. It took us nearly four hours to move 500 ft. It was hot, sweaty work through steep unstable slopes and dense thickets of poison oak. The death march from the bottom.
After we got to Nordheimer, we looked at the guide book. Turns out that when we went in to the canyon, the flows were double the high recommended flow, turning class IV drops into big class V. FINAL SCORE: Clear Creek and poison oak 1, Ryan 0! One day, I will be back to Clear Creek for revenge.

Eastern Washington.

2007-03-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to Spokane to see my little sister this weekend. She attends the Inter-Collegiate Nursing College there. I had thought about bringing my play boat, because apparently there are some decent playspots around the area, and Idaho is pretty close. The trip was only a couple of days though, and I thought it would be better to spend time with family rather than kill time playing. I didn't get a chance to check out any of the playspots, but I did get a chance to check out Spokane Falls. Spokane Falls is on the Spokane river right in the heart of downtown. This impressive falls has two major drops on it. The first starts out with a class three lead-in into some of the biggest whitewater I have ever seen. The falls has some huge holes in it that are backed by some submerged ledges. Pretty burly. As far as I know, no one has ever run it in a kayak. The second drop starts with a large weir drop into more gigantic water. It is definately not runnable. Like I said, it was some pretty impressive stuff. It's hard to scale the picture of the falls, but the initial drop near the rock finger is about twenty feet tall!

(Spokane Falls from the footbridge)

(A nursing student in fine form)

(Despite the fact that Eastern Washington as a whole is pretty ugly, Spokane actually has some nice scenery)

Falls Video Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9yZPZ-XnWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrBRna-MrmU

A little play on the Clackamas

2007-03-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

Rudd and I had nothing to do for the day, so we decided to check out the old standby for a session on the Clack. Before the floods of Nov. '06, I'd never actually been to Bob's Hole when it was in. I'd always heard how great a playspot Bob's was, so naturally, I was quite dissappointed when we got there only to find that Bob's was a thrashy and non-retentive hole. Apparrently, the floods have changed Bob's again for the worse. No worries for us though, because Joe Bob's was just barely in, and we managed to make the best of the day. Obviously, the pictures taken this day were not at a prime level for Joe Bob's, but it was still fun.

(A look at Mt. Hood on the way to the Clackamas)
(Cock Diesel throws his weight around)
(Dr. Rudd showing everyone how it's done)
(The author pretending that he can playboat)
(Sidesurf anyone?)(Looks like a cartwheel, only not....)

Jumping on the bandwagon?

2007-03-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. I've given in to creating my own blog. While it may not be as exceptional a blog as some of the other local area boaters' blogs, I figure it will be a good way to get pictures out to all the cool people I've paddled with. Maybe it'll save me some e-mail time as well. In any case,welcome to Pacific Northwest Boater. I'll try to update as often as I can. So, for the first post, I'll dump some pictures of a summer run down the lower Wind.

(Jim Busse charging down the Flume)

(Brian "Cock Diesel" Rudd proving that he is Beyond Limits)

(Alex Fong on the first drop of Shipherds Falls) (Alex Fong on the second drop of Shipherds Falls)

(Alex Fong lining up for the third drop on Shipherds Falls)

(Looking back upstream at Shipherds. AWESOME.)