Let's Play #4

OKCC Play Clinic #4 was held on 5/2/09 on the Clackamas.
We had a nice medium level for which Joe Bobs, the bastard brother of the better known Bobs Hole was in at a nice friendly level. This is not always the case. Even at its friendliest we had a couple of swims from this hole, which dealt out some first time beating and some impressive rodeo-ing!

It was a good day on the river, lots of attention was paid to eddyline play, whirlpool play and some hole riding.

It was my first river back in since the Grand and it did not disappoint, there are still some big boils, big holes and big waves to be had out there!

Big thanks to everyone who came out and I look forward to seeing you at our last one, next month.

EJ

PHOTOS

Grand Canyon Photos

It only took me a week to go from 1300 to 544 to less than 200 photos to post:

Grand Canyon 09

Enjoy!

I'm BAAAAAACK

- and working on the photos. Its going to take a while but you will be among the first to see the wonders of my recent Grand Canyon Float.

We did a 16 day trip with 19 wonderful folks (we traded at Phantom) and took out at Diamond Creek.

More photos to come soon!

EJ

Another Grand Adventure

Its been a quiet few weeks leading up to it, but tomorrow, I'm getting back on the Grand Canyon. I'm looking forward to giving my new Level 6 gear a workout and have some canyon time. Check back at the end of April for some long awaited photos!

EJ

Lets Play #3: March OKCC Play Clinic

The water situation is getting dire. 3 days of rain and the rivers hardly even bump.
But life goes on and we still have some play boating to do!

13 of us converged on the Bruno Mt run on the N.Santiam to cartwheel, surf, spin and bump our way down the run.

Michael, Liane, Michele, Bobby, Tren, Noby, Joey, Kent, Lindsay, Aleece, Willie and I met in Tualatin, picked up Carey at the Swiss Village and proceeded on up to the snow and the river.

There are plenty of little spots to work on surfing, carving, edge control and cartwheel including Bridge Hole, Zoolander, Sweet Spot and the Take Out Wave.

Aleece at the Bridge Hole


Tren and Liane at Zoolander


Michael on Sweet Spot


Nobu on the Take Out Wave

Check out the other photos from the day.

I'll be gone on the Grand for April but check back in May for the next Clinic!

See soon!

EJ

Rock Cr

Saturday Feb 28, 2009:



It finally started to rain.. early in the week.. then it stopped and all that stuff we had watched come in, went out just as fast but Saturday... Thing is, we were left with a sense of optimism and thought to ourselves, "Screw the Wind, lets try for Rock Cr!"



Only, there was a lot of snow on the road, and not much water in the creek. We started out day like any good Oregon February run: by hiking a mile or so, dragging out boats through the snow.



When we got to Heaven and Hell, we found there was wood at the bottom of Hell, though with the flow, the drop looks very doable. Mike L and Michael W were the only folks who were feeling like tangling with it that day, and Mike L is the only person to run it. Turns out that wood was more in play then he thought and after a quick rescue, everyone else seal launched in and we were on our way downstream.



The level as low, the company was good and after a more then brief look at 3-Swim falls, we finished up and grabbed some pizza on the way home.

Its always good to get on a new creek in the area though.

More Photos from the weekend:

Lets Play: OKCC Play Clinic #2

Saturday Feb 2,

Welcome to the second edition of the monthly Oregon Kayak and Canoe Club's Playboating clinic.The weather here lately has been sunny, cold and clear making for beautiful days, cold clear nights filled with stars and very low water. Last time we were on one of Oregon's best know play runs, Lake Creek. This time we were relying on dam release at a normal summer flow: The Niagra Run on the North Santiam.

Shuttling Boats

We had a gorgeous sunny put-in below Niagra rapid: a vaulted, short gorge with double undercut walls and an entrance that is just 5 ft wide. The rapid isn't hard, but the potential for carnage with a group of 11 just makes it not worth it so we put in right below it. Shuttling the boats down the walk way, on a gorgeous and relatively warm sunny day can get kind of warm in a drysuit so after a short cooling off period we got right to work at playing and found a squirt and a couple of holes right there

Cooling off and playing around in the water

Unfortunately, because of the low water, none of the normal eddy serviced playspots were in so we focused on eddy line and down river play in all the little spots, the type that every local knows on their home rivers. The North Santiam is no exception and conversations like, "So, just behind the next rock is a great little right cartwheel spot but you have to enter just square and be careful not to go to vertical or you'll hit the bottom" were pretty common. Sadly without any real spots, its hard to stop for photos.

Playing on one of the better eddylines

On a river with no "play spots" we still took several hours longer than usual having squirted, surfed, endoed and cartwheeled our way down the river so people were pretty exhausted and cold by the time we got to Spencer's Hole: the only well known, named hole on the river. Spencer's is a spot only a mother could love. It's intimidating, sticky and flushy, has a rock in the bottom, has a two stage attainment just to make it back up to the eddy, and a rock you can flush onto if you come off the surfer's right side of the wave upside down. That being said, its one of my favorite spots in the area and once you learn to work it, the possibilities are endless. Only a few of the troupe were still feeling up to throwing themselves in at the end of the day, with the sun going down behind the clouds that showed up.

Ann in Spencer's

We rounded out our day at the Sierra Mexican Restaurant in Gates Oregon and with our bellies full and our arms heavy we made our way back to Portland. Thanks to Michael for organizing and Shannon, Markus, Liane, William, Ann, Carey, Michele, Nobu and Willie for coming out, playing along, supporting and just plain having a good time!

Special Thanks to Liane for pickup up my camera at the end of the day at Spencer's!

OKCC Play Clinic #1

More Photos from OKCC Play Clinic #2

Throwing down in the Astro at Spencer's Hole

Cheers!

See you at the next one.

EJ