First two photos by Ben Carter, all other photos shot by Colter Beereboom!

This story is a two weekend extravaganza!

Weekend 1:

It's 9:15 Thursday night, I just got off work, and I'm headed to Ben Carter's house because we have no idea what to do this weekend. I pull up, we grab beers, and we go to the computer to check flows. The original plan was to head to Crested Butte for some OBJ laps, but the flows were tanking. I tell Ben of this mythical place they call North Fork of the Crystal. I had been there the year before and my mind was blown. The North Fork is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado, and my favorite place in the world. In our crew the whole drainage has been dubbed the Enchanted Forest. Ben is little skeptical, but with his wife being out of town he is definitely in for an adventure. I convince Ben that his Tundra will get some unnecessary beating, and that we should just take Ol' Nelly!

Rigged to Flip!

Now contrary to popular belief not only is Ol' Nelly great on the off road it's highway capabilities are unbelievable. This machine can travel up any mountain pass at speeds exceeding 25 MPH. Morning rolls around and we load up the Jeep with 4 boats (2 creekers and 2 playboats), plenty of gear, shovels for snow, and a large dog named Odie.

We're off. We drive down highway 24 and head towards Buena Vista. We stop at good ol' CKS to see an old friend and then dart towards Independence Pass. As we were doing a little sight seeing we come upon a nice local cliff jumping pull out. We jump into the deep mini gorge and then head into Aspen. We stop at Cemetary Road and decide we have to run Slaughterhouse. Great run and you can always depend on locals to give you a ride back to the top. After Slaughterhouse we finally make it to Marble, Colorado. The sun is setting and we're headed up Lead King Basin! We cross the creek and everything is going good until a wrong turn turns everything that was going good into a class 5+ road. We went up Sheep Mountain. This road was covered with snow, wood, and mud. We make it up a respectable amount of this road thinking that this is the way to the NF, but we finally come upon a log in the road that is unmovable. We camp out on the road.

The morning sun comes and we decide to turn around and head out hoping to make it to the NF through the town of Crystal. On our way down Sheep Mountain I realize that I had made a wrong turn and we did a lot of work for no good reason. Our spirits are now high due to the fact that we believe that we're going to finally make it to the Enchanted Forest! We get there and we scout for wood. Everything looks good to go and we have another crew willing to set safety for us! As Ben and I gear up, Pablo Von Huene shows up out of nowhere ready to put on with us. Pablo goes first and we see him disappear around the entrance rock backwards. I look at Ben and say, "Well I guess I'd better go." The first slide goes great, but Pablo is no where to be found. I line up the second slide and boof. I land on my right edge and get throttled. I set up to roll and get completely rejected by the log in the eddy. At this point, I have no doubt where I am. I pop my knees out and reach for something to grab. I can see the tree I'm up against but I can not get my hands on top of it. My kayak hits me in the head and I go under again reaching and climbing up. Finally my head comes up and I'm grabbing onto something stable. My kayak is squeezing me between it and the tree and I'm starting to assess how dangerous the situation is. A rope goes over head and lands next to me, but I have no idea on how to use it. I take a deep breath and try to climb on top of the tree. This is when I realize my skirt is caught. I quickly leave one hand on a solid limb and go under with my face and other hand and get my skirt unhooked. By this time Pablo is out on the tree with me and I climb on top. Glad to be ok. The boat extraction and paddle extraction is easy and the only gear lost was a drain plug.

High water NF is no joke when there is a log in the eddy on the right. If there was no log the drop would be relatively inconsequential. Ben ran the last two drops solo, and Pablo and I waited to be safety on the log for the next crew. The next crew does great with no hang ups. I get out and run a redemption lap in which I ran Icing backwards, but stomp the rest of my lines. Ben and Pablo are happy with one full lap. After a few beers and some food Ben and I lap the bottom 8 footer a couple times for some practice. The next morning we lap the bottom 8 footer 3 more times and are satisfied with the weekend of high water North Fork. The hot springs at mile marker 55 just after Meat Grinder going north is a great place to eat lunch.

Weekend 2:

Chris Mack and I load gear around 12:30 on Friday and take off in Ol' Nellers again with plans for Crystal Mill Falls, the North Fork, and the South Fork Punch Bowls. We have an exciting drive getting there in the hot sun with no AC. It's dusk and the light is dwindling fast as we pull up to Crystal Mill Falls. As we gear up the rest of our crew pulls up. I get two laps in on the falls and Mack gets one, and we decide it's time to head towards the NF. When we get there it's completely dark. We light up the fire and party down in my favorite place in the world. We slowly wake up the next morning and start to get excited about the creek. We make some food and go for a walk to pick our lines. Colter Beereboom and I gear up and get in the first laps of the day. At lower water the creek is just as much fun, but much less stressful. Every one is firing up the creek all day providing great footage for the video.

Mat Helm on Icing

Mack on the Double Drop

Myself on the 8 footer

We make a huge bonfire and Justin takes his dirt bike to provide some beta on the Punch Bowls water level. Justin claims that the Punch Bowls are running on the high side. We get some sleep dream of the Punch Bowls. The next morning we load up and head towards the ominous Devils Punch Bowls.

I think the rapid under the snow bridge goes.

As soon as we get there, I decide that I'm ready for this drop. I put on my helmet and elbow pads and start walking up the hill. As soon as we had safety set, Justin helped me launch into the biggest drop I've run so far.

The Line:

• Balance boat on sketchy rock and snap your skirt on
• Have trustworthy friend slide your boat into position
• Say a prayer or whatever
• Tell your friend you're ready to send it
• Slide
• Hip check a rock
• Slide
  
• Lay a stompy boof
• Regain composure
  
• Line up the second drop moving left to right
• Lay a few strokes
• Fist Pump

Second up was Justin. He decides to pencil the first one. He lines it up and styles. Textbook! Josh Heise steps up and boofs! He works it out and styles! Jon Rezabek decides he wants to fire it up and has a roll at the bottom of both drops, but couldn't be happier. We leave the SF happy as could be.

Myself laying the funk

Justing Plugging the top

Justin firing up the goods


Heise in the Top

Josh Heise

Another short stop at Crystal Mill, and the weekend of kayaking is coming to an end. Until next time Enchanted Forest, until next time!

Josh Heise Styling the Mill

Wilkerson Pass
Photo: Chase Nobles

Unforgiveable?

This should be our New Sponsor

I can creek in some TUBES

Crusted Butt

Crested Butte has gone off this year!

Weekend 1:

Mack, Heise, and I show up late due to tha fact that I needed to pick up my new helmet from CKS cuz I broke my full face on the Green River Narrows.

On our way down Cottonwood Pass Mack gets pulled over going 47 in a 35. We immediately hide our beer cans and she lets us off with a warning. Props to Heise for beer patrol. We park at OBJ campground and after some discussion we decide to fire up OBJ first, drink beers first and a half, set up camp second, and then fire up Upper East. OBJ goes as planned Heise wasn't feeling good especially after a skirt implosion and a hole ride so he decides to walk from the big one down. Mack fires up the biggest drops he's ever run, and all is good. We go 2 campsites west of OBJ campground due to the crowd and lack of campsites. We set up camp and Mack and Heise spot a naked chick in the sun shower. These two lonely mtn biker girls are now reffered to as the Euros. Mack calms his chubby, grabs his boom stick, and we go to Upper East. We ran into the Durango Crew, Josh Mack, Eric, Robin, and company, and they are headed the same way. We put on Upper East. Erics paddle breaks before Midget Wrestler and he's out. We run Midget Wrestler and I get worked in an eddy on the left. Heise thanks for gettin me out! Heise and I are even after his skirt implosion and my eddy ride; we both saved each others asses. We run down and catch an eddy and we had no idea how far the take out was but with a big, "I GAAAAT IT" from Mack he leads the way. I pound into a hole and get flipped offside roll and paddle to the take out. We then walk back to the Jeep and all is good! On a side note Gothic, CO has HOT Chicas! Heise pulls out some Swisher Sweets, and we all are smoking on the drive back. Heise has his hand out the window and I with out thinking spit out the window into Heise's hand... "I Play For Keeps!" Sorry Heise. We go back to camp and find some firewood and the party begins! The fire starts up fast camp is primed and the cooler is full. Kyle from Golden comes over and brings the Jack Daniels. Great Idea! We all cook some dogs and drink and make the bottle chirp. Well I guess I never figured out the chirp, but I figured out how to drink it pretty fast. Lots of people come to our camp fire and the party is a full on rAger. We tried to keep it to a chubby, and not look like we were trying too hard, but the Jack Daniels made it a rAger that pounded for hours whiskey dick style! Kyle and Josh Mack disappear looking for fire wood and we can only see their head lamps far far away on the other side of the valley. Josh Mack comes back after 30 minutes empty handed for the most part. Kyle comes back an hour later with 3 full dead trees. We stoke the fire and ourselves and the party is back in overdrive. Some random Mississippi boys show up with a "Chandelier" and we are lovin life. Mack can't make words and can barely stand, but was happy as a JayBird. Kyle cuts off the Jack and we decide that we were gonna quad crown it the next day. The fire is dim, the camp is drunk, and the cooler weighs a lot less. Inevitably we decide to go to bed. Deciding to go to bed was much easier than walking to bed. Mack and I were supporting each other walking and we found Heise and jumped on him! We find our hammocks and the evening is officially over.

We wake up and slowly motivate for OBJ. One of the Euros leaves her tent door open facing Mack and I and begins to take her panties off.. I couldn't decide if that made my head feel better or worse either way, the top boof settles our stomachs. We all have great lines and style the run. Mack BOOFS the falls flat. I decide to run the bottom slides with some RCRE guys, and we hike to the car for some lunch.

Photo By Josh Mack

We fire up Daisy and Mack and I boof Big Wood flat with out scouting the lip. Juice Sauce! Heise goes super left, but did a great job catching eddys and leading the way down the creek. We run the Slate, and mack loses his paddle, but maintains and gets our river left, opposite of us. Due to a miscommunication he solo's the rest of the run. Although the rest of the run was flat water, he didn't know that. We go to Upper East, and I strap a roman candle to my helmet http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11200319/GOPR0894.MP4. All I could think of when I was peeling out of the eddy with flaming balls shooting off a piece of plastic on my head was Betsy Ross Sowing that American Flag. God Bless America. Get tossed into a bush on Midget Wrestler, and chase a boat the rest of the run. Heise goes past the take-out and Heroically saves the boat from Stupid Falls. The Quad Crown is over and we go back to the camp site party, at chub level, and go to sleep. We return home safe and sound the next day, 4th of July. Juice Sauce.

Weekend 2:

I run 11 mile with Ben of Friday at 527 CFS, and skin to wind it. The bottom 5 is meaty and scary at that level, but I managed to style. After that Ben went back to Co Spgs, and I went to Crested Butte. My transmission of my car goes ape shit on the drive up Cottonwood Pass, and I also realize my paddle is broken. The hardware store in CB is open until 9 PM so I got a fiberglass repair kit and fix my paddle in my car at OBJ campground. I set up my hammock just in time for a huge thunder storm. Good thing I brought my tarp. The lightning show was amazing and the beer was extra good that day. I retire to my hammock, also known as the cocoon of pleasure, and sleep peacefully listening to the soft patter of rain drops on the tarp and the rattling death shake of the thunder. At 4 AM Eddy and Pablo show up, wake me up at my request and drink a beer with me. Then we all go to sleep and dream of large boobs, I mean Boofs. We wake up and start hiking. We scout a little and put on at the 15 footer. All lines go relatively cleanly hmmmhmmm "Eddy." We paddle down and get to the falls eddy, and I see something that I didn't think existed. Eddy was pretty damn nervous. He rolled 3 times in the drops above and isn't feeling great in his new Jefe. I go off the drop and have an OK line and turn around to see Eddy, who I thought was walking, fire off the falls. Hell yeah, he plays for keeps. I saw a twinkle of Juice Sauce in his eyes as he was at the lip of the falls. Pablo fires up the falls and we hoot and holler and run the next slide. All clean lines. We stack our boats and head to camp for some grub. When we go back up the hill I realize the water is significantly higher. We drop the run, and I boof the falls flat! Same stoke level as the first lap, and we head to camp for some celebration. We cook some burgers and eat 'em. I dont think they were cooked all the way, but I decided that the beer would wash the E-Coli away. We party and all the boaters end up at our camp partying and chilling around our fire. Loving life we all share stories and talk of mystical creatures, and floppy beef curtains. As the night grew old we retired to our places of rest and fell asleep once again dreaming of the dawn patrol run we decided to do the next day. 5:30 rolled around and Eddy and I get cooking breakfast. It was pretty nasty, but we ate it anyways. Pablo was still in the tent complaining about lung pain. I hear a noise while interviewing Eddy and go around to see Pablo puking. Despite all of our upset stomachs and slight food poisoning, we decide to get hiking. Props to Pablo for his amazing demonstration of "Puke and Rally." His determination and heroism brought a tear to my eye. We hike up the mountain and run the top. We all feel like shit and decide to go down the hill and not run the bottom slides because we actually had to shit. We break down camp, say good bye to our new friends, and leave with OBJ in our rearview mirrors. Until next time Oh Be Joyful, until next time.......

Daisy Creek, Crested Butte Teaser

Satisfaction

11 Mile Canyon

I had a day to burn on my vacation before I headed to Crested Butte with Mack and Heise so I decided to hit up one of my favorite runs, 11 Mile. 11 Mile has 2 book end class 5 rapids one at the top and one at the bottom. The one at the bottom is much more stout that the top 5, but they are both awesome regardless. I threw this video together in about 5 minutes cuz Mack was rushin' me so "Drink it ya asshole."

FIBArk 2011

FIBArk is a white water and river festival that takes place in Salida, CO every year in late June. It is basically one big excuse to party. I personally like FIBArk because they have a lot more for the non boater than some of the other area festivals. There is not too much to report from Salida, Colorado this year, as much has already been forgotten, however, the story below may be the weekend's winning portion of the moron-a-thon.

VOLUNTARY CARNAGE: On Saturday, after a little creeking, our crew hit Brown's for some downriver play. Approaching Zoom Flume, we decided that it would be much more hilarious, fun, and spicy to just float through the damn thing without paddling, four guys across, while simply holding on to each others boats. We knew we would get destroyed but went for it anyway. We were just right of center when we entered, rode a few waves, hit a huge haystack which threw most of us into a huge, simultaneous stern squirt, and although we tried hard to hold on, the two center boats folded over on each other. The outside boats got away without a chundering, but the two of us in the middle got to count a LOT of fish. :)

Have a look at the pictures. From river left to right is Frankie, myself, Chase, and Ben. The photographer missed our entry, the stern squirt and the implosion, but you can see some of our carnage. It was hilarious. The looks on Ben's face are priceless.

Click here to view the photos: Whitewater Photography

Euro Report Part 2

I arrived in Slovenia on 14 Jun 2011 to meet up with my new friends and do some paddling on the Soča river near Bovec. For the most part, the Soča offers class II-III paddling in a beautiful setting with crystal clear water flowing out of a Slovenian National Park. The water was so clean, we literally drank straight from the river.



We had five people and four boats, so I took one for the team and rented a playboat from a local vendor for 15 Euro/day. The clunky Wavesport turned out to be neither a good river runner, nor playboat. Despite the fact is was brand new this season, the outfitting hasn't changed since the EZ was introduced a decade ago. Like I always say--F-it, it's a rental, and it was destined to take some hits........and it did.



Bovec is a popular European kayak spot in the summer for obvious reasons.



Plenty of spots to chill and have a good time.



This place has lots to do from skiing, biking, rafting, kayaking, partying, and more....



The last day we set off to run this slot canyon, high up on the Soča river. The canyon grew deeper and deeper the farther it ran, so it was difficult to do a quick scout. We should have spent more time, but we thought it would be easy from what we could see. Big mistake!




Simon and Toby scouting the lead in.



The drop above leads right into this.



A little further down stream, I was in the lead and charged right into this sieve. Luckily, Simon and Toby got spooked and caught the eddy on river left, or they would have ran right into me in my pinned rental.



I pulled the skirt and managed to climb out while my boat got caught in the siphon below. I'm damned glad I wasn't swimming.



This rapid signaled the end of the line for us as more siphons were awaiting below.



Good thing I had my new 5.10 water shoes with sticky rubber to help me climb the slippery, wet limestone.



Toby lost a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and got sent down for the rescue. Thank's Bro. It is good to have a solid team. He had the best rope work of anyone I have paddled with (sorry Mack--it's true).



We should have paid attention to the signs. We put in above the double "XX's" on the right side of the sign.

Box Elder plus Juice Sauce

Teva Steep Creek Race 2011

Euro Report Part 1

So I arrived in Germany on May 25th, picked up my new boat and started paddling in Austria on May 27th. I was lucky to run into some raft guides in Haiming that let me jump on one of their trips for 5 Euro. We ran the Imst Gorge of the Inn river in Tirol. Nothing scary, just big water class 3 in a spectacular gorge. I met a Scottish bloke by the name of Simon at the takeout, and immediately all hell started breaking loose. The Tyrolean Rampage began. We quickly scored a shuttle from Simon's friend Doug and ran the Lower Oetz River (class 4). Then we grabbed a shuttle with the raft guides and ran it again. I can't say enough good things about this river, it is a classic, with continuous waves and holes from top to bottom. 12km in length. The next morning we stepped it up a notch and ran the Upper Oetz, which is a class 4+ classic, and very continuous at the grade for 4 km. Feeling pretty good about our paddling we headed to Landeck and began scouting the 2 km Inn Shoot. Holy crap this thing looked big and fast, with giant keeper holes the size of my RV. We decided to put on, and quickly discovered it is much bigger and faster than it looked from the scout. We were committed. The run turned out pretty good with me having dry hair, and Simon only one roll. The Inn Shoot dumped us out into the Landeck Gorge (6 km of class 4), which was a welcome relief with no stress. We got a ride back to the car with the local fire department in a rescue van. On day three we ran another tributary of the Inn called the Sanna, which was 7km of continuous class 4 waves and holes. Here we ran into a British group we fondly referred to as the Brady Bunch. We ran the Lower Oetz again that day with Bobby, Cindy, Peter and the rest. The next day I had to drive back to Germany, so we quickly hit the Upper again with the Bunch. I don't remember the chick's name, so I'll call her Alice. Alice swam out of a giant hole, but her dudes managed to recover the gear. After some coercion, she did her Booty Beer so karma is restored. All in all, 8 sections of river ran in 3 1/2 days. Highlights are on this video.

http://vimeo.com/24469567

On June 9th, after working a week straight, I headed back down to meet Simon for some more paddling. This time, we headed to East Tirol where Simon will be guiding the rest of the summer. Simon wanted to hit some waterfalls, so I recommended the Wasserfallstrecke Defreggenbach (Waterfall section.) I had seen it in some vids and thought it was clean. Simon agreed so we took the sketchiest pass I have ever driven from Italy into Austria. A 15% one lane switchback pass over 3300 meters in the rain. Simon was reading the guide book about this river and was strangely keeping quiet about the run. I should have known something was up. It wasn't until we had "set shuttle" and were getting dressed when I asked "what does the guide rate this section?" He responded "it has a bit of 4, a bit of 5, and a bit of 6." I said fuck it, we'll just have to make sure we can catch eddies so we can scout, and off we went. About 1k in we saw a giant horizon line and got out of our boats to scout the monstrosity. Sure enough, it was class 6 at the flows at hand. The entrance was guarded by a giant keeper hole, and the landings looked beyond sticky. On the second drop, all of the river right water was pushing into a cave, right where you would be swimming after attempting the first drop. The portage turned out easy. Here are some pics and vids of the mini gorge.

http://vimeo.com/24870619

Next, we discovered the logging section of the river. This part would require Paul Bunion and a Blue Ox to clean out. These were the worst strainers I have ever seen. More portaging!

Finally we were nearing the end of the run, when we hit a blind turn in a cliffed-out gorge. No way were we gonna run it blind, and thankfully we scouted. It took about a half hour of sketchy climbing on loose dirt and rock in the rain to get to a place we could see. This is what we were faced with:

It was a mandatory run because we were way too far into the gorge to escape. We decided to go river right. It was a sketchy line and I went first. A log and a boil protected the entrance, and the drop finished off with a hole. We both made it fine and rode some boogie to the takeout. Then we hiked 4 km in a thunderstorm back to the car.

The next day we got some really fun big water runs on the Isel river.

Bailey in the Spring....whaaaaaa???

Ah... Bailey. One of my favorite runs. A run I have mostly wired. A run that recently reminded me that you need to make smart decisions on the Rio, and that sometimes, you should probably walk.

Our individual schedules conflicted for the weekend of 5/6/2011, and it didn't look like any form of real paddling was going to happen. We had hoped for Escalante, but our schedules couldn't make that happen. The early season Wyoming stout was not going to work either. I planned to just do yard-work instead, and scheduled 1000 square feet of sod to be delivered Saturday morning. After I made this decision, I got the call that Bailey is running, and that I just have to go. Of course, now I can't go, unless I want to waste a few bills on this sod situation. After some talk... a trade agreement was worked out where I would receive free landscaping labor in exchange for getting my ass in gear and the sand out of my junk and join this trip. I can get my housework done in 1/4 of the time and go kayaking?! Sounds good to me.

The sod arrived at 7am, I called the team, and we got to work. With 5 people, we were able to make short work of this project and in record time we were loading boats and on our way out of town.

Chase, in the suit of lightning, making sure everything is OK while I do the same from inside the port-o-john.

On this run, we were showing a first timer, Mila from the Czech Republic, down the run. We were a little unsure of her abilities, but considering the fact that she drank her first malted adult beverage at age 3 or so and comes from a place where they rock climb barefoot, with knotted rope as protection, we figured she would be able to hang no problem.

We had a flow of somewhere between 350 and 400cfs, which is nearly a perfect flow on this run. We boogied down to the first big rapid, Four Falls. If you want to be a tough guy, you can run the top falls and call this rapid Five Falls, but the chances of screwing up the top drop are high and the penalty for failure is, at best, a wicked chundering followed by a recirculating swim followed by a major pain in the ass boat and gear rescue. It could also go much worse than that, which is why most people just portage it. If you portage, you are technically trespassing here, but the landowners have always tolerated paddlers in the past so long as you respect the area, pack out your trash, and pee in the river instead of on the trail. So take it from me, and don't be a jackass.

If it is your first time here, get out and scout to check for wood, and to spot the rocks which will try to interfere with your line. The drop is on the highly debated line between IV+ and V-, and boats easily, but I have seen swims here and the far left side usually has some wood you will want to avoid.

Chase and Mila in Four Falls, showing Mila's left side exit from the top drop.

Chase got out to show Mila the funk, while Ben and I did our best to show her a preferred line. The top hole is best punched on the right side, but occasionally you will melt out of the foam pile to the center or left and then you usually just have to deploy Plan B. This is exactly what happened to Mila, and as she exited the hole left we got nervous for a second, but she dealt with the funk just fine.

Mila finishing up Plan B.

Everyone was glad to have a good line and we headed on down through The Steeps, which is basically 2 miles or so of continuous, IV+/V- creekin'. It is awesome and fun and is many paddlers favorite part of the run. In the largest drop of this section, Chase must have been bored as he stopped in one of the largest holes for some surf practice, and Ben decided to explore the right hand channel of the same drop which is supposed to have a nasty pin spot. After these river exploration shenanigans, everybody got it together and it all went fine.

Supermax comes after The Steeps and it is a big drop with a lot to deal with. You have to see it to understand and appreciate it. We stopped so Mila could have a look at the beast with Ben explaining the line options. Chase and I gave it a 20 count or so, and headed down. I was first and planned on taking my normal line, which is to catch the river left eddy above the undercut. The lateral guarding the eddy completely kicked my ass, and I had to run a line which takes you awfully close to the undercut. I ended up splatting the undercut, which actually saved me from getting stuffed. Quick roll, and I caught the half-way eddy, no worries. Chase was next and he had a clean line. I waited in the eddy for Ben to come down, and expected Mila to portage. I got a few hand signals from shore which led me to believe Mila was going to run it! Mila had a great line, as did Ben, and they met me in the eddy. We finished up the remainder of the rapid, and met up below. At about this point, I started to feel sick to my stomach. We took a break before heading down.

The rest of the run is fairly continuous, and you need to be heads up for Trashcan, which should be run on the left, and a huge hole below it in a section of class III+ which should be run dead center. I started feeling worse and worse at this point. I wasn't sure if was going to puke on my sprayskirt or not, but I had no energy and was paddling like crap.

As we approached Deer Creek, which is the last big rapid, the plan was discussed which ended up being the same as Supermax. Ben would show Mila where she didn't want to be, and Chase and I would blue angel the rapid and try to show her a good line. Sitting in the eddy, the idea of walking did occur to me. I had not been paddling my best the entire second half of the run, and generally I just felt terrible. I started to think maybe I was just psyching myself out though. I couldn't remember the last time I scouted this rapid, and it really paddles pretty easily. That said, there are plenty of places you wouldn't want to be and the bottom half is very fast and very shallow. It wouldn't be an ideal rapid to explore while upside down.

Mila setting up a boof in Four Falls.

We waited for Ben and Mila to get on the riverbank and we peeled out. Chase was in a retro mood, and it was his mission on this drop to bring back paddle tricks from the early 90s, which he did at the crux with a 360, above the head, paddle twirl.

My line started out great, with an excellent boof off the top ledge, and I was only slightly off my usual line when I lost my control and was floundering with a right side brace. I tried to brace far too long, and when I went under to roll, I was pushed right and over a rock which snapped my paddle in half. I didn't know this happened at the time, all I knew was that I couldn't roll and that I was about to have a less than fun experience. I let go of the paddle and felt the boat hit a rock, which I was able to hold on to long enough to get my face out of the water and see that I was about to go over a 6 foot drop backwards, upside down and head first. As soon as I went over and impacted, I bailed from the boat and swam as hard as I could to Chase, who was in an eddy on river left. Chase was not in position to paddle with a swimmer, so I drifted downstream a bit and got out.

The guys got my boat and I searched around for my paddle, again, not knowing it was trashed. Chase came upstream to make sure I was OK, and I asked about it. "Your paddle is in pieces Bro, it's gone." Crap. I put the breakdown together and drained my boat while Mila and Ben had successful runs.

At this point, I still felt terrible but was relived to be past all of the big rapids. From here to the take out, it is pretty easy creeking with spaced out class III+ action. There is only one more rapid to be concerned with, Mystery Eddy, which is the last real rapid on the run. It is a short drop and it goes well, but it can give you a stout chundering if you screw it up as it is full of rocks and has a strong hole at the bottom, especially at flows over 350 or so. Chase and I were in the lead, and as we passed the last eddy before the drop, it occurred to me that we hadn't even mentioned this rapid to Mila. There is a trick line on this rapid, where you boof into a hidden eddy in the middle of the drop and from upstream, you look as if you just vanished. Again, we didn't explain this to Mila, and when I met Chase in the eddy, we started wondering about her. Just then, I saw her go by, in the meat of the drop, upside down. Oops. Ben showed up just in time to see this as well, so we hustled down to see how she was faring with the hole.

We got there just in time to see her attempting a swimming self rescue, which wasn't really a big deal as this could be the best place on the river to swim, since there is a huge pool with slow moving water. Luckily there were two guys talking safety on shore who gave us a hand with gathering gear. We sorted out this situation and headed down the mile or two of class II to the takeout.

Paying dues.

All in all, it was a another great day on Bailey. We had some carnage, learned some lessons, but creekboating is often the art of Plan B and it can sometimes still be considered a successful day even while you are enjoying a PBR out of your favorite shoe.

Yeah No Big Deal, I Style.

Vallecito in The Bone Zone

Guage: 1.85-1.75
Weather Forecast: Crap
Kayaking Motivation Meter: Full

Gear is packed!

After some last minute spring trip planning late Thursday night and Friday morning we rallied a crew:

• Mike MurfNasty
• Ben Jebus Carter
• Chris Mack
• Scott Dent
  
• Myself

Mack, Ben, Mila, and I meet up Friday afternoon and load up. It's actually happening. We show up late to meet Murphy and Dent at Murph's RV site.

The Next Morning Trying to Stay Warm

Finally we motivate after a Pabst and a breakfast bagel.

Murphy, Mack, and Spivy hiking to the putin

Nerve levels were low and Stoke levels were high.

Dent and I Hiking up

The warm weather was definitely a plus

Gearing Up!

First up, Entrance Falls 18' with a cave on the left side that isn't in play much at low water. Everyone has decent lines, but Dent got pushed right into the over hanging wall making a roll impossible. He swims with no consequences just a few strokes to the eddy.

Mack landing a lofty boof!

Trash Can is boney and has some high piton potential. Pick-up Sticks isn't much, but it's fun to boof. Fourth major rapid is Fuzzy Little Bunny. The creek at this level channelizes into a falls on the right and a falls on the left. The center boof at this level is non-existant. Unknown to us all under the river left falls is a scary 10 foot deep cave.

Me moments before my swim

Dent and Murph line up and come out alright, but when I run it I get pushed into the cave upside down. I swim and no one can see my boat. We all start talking, and we decide that I'm going on a hip belay down behind the curtain into a scary room of doom to see if my boat is there.

Setting anchors and discussing worst case scenario options

Attempt #1 ends with me swimming down the channel still not seeing my boat. We adjusted the angle I was being belayed from and try again. Attempt #2, I see my boat fish it out with my leg and clip into it. I pull my quick release and swim the channel to the eddy. The boat went back into the cave and got caught in the sieve at the opening. We set an 8 to 1 pulley ratio and Dent climbs across the river, but still no luck the boat is stuck. Attempt #3, I climb back down there and man-handle it out of the cave, but the rope clipped to it wraps around my legs. I immediately pull my quick release and jump out of the loop and swim to the eddy with my boat behind me. Luckily no gear was lost and I had my boat back. This is the advantage to having a solid crew that has your back in any situation.

Here I go to one of the scariest places I've been on a river
Cave Sieve!

We're exhausted so we eat some food, get all our gear back together, and head down the river.

Next up Paddle Bitch:

Dent in Paddle Bitch

No Way Out and Finish Line go smooth with some great boofs. The canyon opens up and we're all on Perma-Stoke level.

Paying homage for safe swims

If I have any words of advice to people looking at Vallecito in the bone zone it would be, always bring a solid crew and never take this creek too lightly.

Enjoy this video by Chris Mack: