Baptism Video

I should have posted this a long time ago, but got too busy with actually paddling to remember. Here's a video of the Baptism from Eckbeck campground to Illgen Falls. More to come soon!

Illgen Falls!!

Finally!  After about 5 years of trying I was finally able to get up to the Baptism River at a good level for a first run down 35’ Illgen Falls.   Illgen is the trademark feature of the Baptism and one of the highlights of Superior’s North Shore.

Standing at the top of the falls, you look out at tree tops straight ahead of you. Below, the curtain of the falls slams into the pool, pulverizing the water into foam. It’s exciting, inspiring, and scary as heck. 

We had 11 people in our group total, so we had split into two groups when we put on the river.  I arrived at the top of the falls with the second group just in time to see Anthony’s green helmet disappear over the edge.   Even though I knew from watching photos and videos of others running the falls that it was a prime level for a first attempt, it was still comforting to see Anthony paddling around the pool below, still in his boat.  With that, we knew that the game was on! 

Our group hung out at the top taking photos and standing safety with ropes while Todd, then Dylan both had great runs off falls.  James was up next and had a great start, but over rotated a bit and landed a little past vertical.  The impact pulled him out of his boat’s seat, but luckily didn’t pop his spray skirt off.  He had the presence of mind to try to re-seat himself while he was still upside down, which was definitely impressive. 

Next up was Aaron, who threw just enough of a boof stroke to give his boat some positive angle and managed to stay upright.  Kyle was up next and had a great run, though his boat twisted sideways in the air and he landed a bit more forcefully than he had hoped.  The impact blew his noseplugs off, but he took the high-power sinus flush and still managed to hit his roll. 

That just left me.  I had planned the run in my mind for years.  I knew exactly where I wanted to be, how I wanted to position my body, and where I wanted to land.  Naturally much of that went right out the window when I actually got out into the current, but I still managed to keep the run pretty close to the plan. 

Once I pulled out of the eddy, the nerves dropped into the background as I concentrated on finding the spot I wanted to hit on the lip of the falls.  It seemed like by the time I had spotted it and lined up, I was already going over the lip and spotting the landing.  At the last second I tucked tight and gripped my paddle as I hit the water. 

The plan was to go in nearly vertically and use the deep pool to slow me down, then bob back to the surface.  Even with that technique, though, I was amazed at how hard the water slaps you when you make contact.  It’s definitely something you notice! 

Another thing that was tough to miss was the big popping sensation I felt while the boat was under water.   The pressure of the water had squeezed my plastic boat, compressing the air inside it.  That pressure found its way out by popping the spray skirt that seals the boat and keeps the water out.  So, when I rolled up I got the unpleasant surprise of my boat being 1/2 filled with water.  Thankfully I was able to paddle it to shore that way, though, so it was all good! 

I’m super grateful to have had Joi, Nace, Amy, and Nora there catching all the action with photos and video.  It was an awesome day and I’m stoked about the footage.  Congrats to everybody who ran it!

 

Nora’s video of my run

Beginner Kettle Run

  Rachel, Barb, Lisa, and Kim all got their first whitewater runs in on a steaming hot day on the Kettle!  Nick was along for his first run of the year, but looked like he’d been at it all season.  Amy and I were there to help guide them all down the river at about 460 cfs. 

Because of the state shutdown, we had to start about 1.4 miles above the normal put-in at the Highway 23 bridge.   This gave us a great warm-up and a chance to learn some final skills before jumping into the whitewater. 

When we did arrive at Banning, we took out, scouted Shoulder Hole and had lunch.  The bugs were vicious and we looked more like a bunch of pox victims than paddlers by the time we got back in the boats.  That didn’t slow anyone down, though.

From there, we put in and the newbies got their first taste of whitewater bumping down through Shoulder Hole.   Everyone aced it!   From there, it was off to the races.  The waves in Teachers and the rocks in Mother’s delight each claimed one swim, but other than that the newbies absolutely owned the river.  

The highlight of the day for a few of the newbies was the seal launch off of a cliff into the river.  At this low water, the fall was probably close to 15’, so it was definitely exciting!  Not a bad way to jump start a paddling career!

By the end of the day, we were all bug-bitten and tired, but definitely left the river as successful whitewater paddlers! 

Wolf Video

Here's the video from the trip down Section IV...

Peshtigo and Wolf

What do you get when you mix 8 good paddlers, 3 warm and sunny days, and some great whitewater?  A ton of fun. 

That was exactly the situation May 6-8 in Northeast Wisconsin.   For those who haven’t been there, it’s a beautiful area with several fun class II-IV whitewater rivers set in white pine forest.   It’s where I spent much of my early paddling days, and going back always feels a bit like going home. 

Bill K, Brian J, Nora, Amy, Mike T, James I, and I all played hookie from work and drove out Friday morning.  Amy and I arrived at Bear Paw in the early afternoon and shortly afterwards James and Mike arrived.  Nora, Bill, and Brian had all arrived earlier and were out on the mountain bike trails in the area.  Once they returned, we all headed out to the Peshtigo. 

Peshtigo

The Peshtigo is about 40 minutes from Bear Paw and has some the most continuous whitewater in the Upper Midwest.   There’s a bit of a paddle from the put in, but then the fun is on for the next couple of miles.   It was around 700 cfs (8” on the bridge) for our trip.

The first three rapids (creatively named First, Second, and Third Drop) are packed close together and include a big side curling wave feeding a hole in the middle and several river-wide ledges that had to be punched.  Our group tried various lines through and around the features, and everyone styled it. 

On Five-Foot Falls Bill led us through a sloping river-left line with 3 consecutive holes at the bottom.  It was a fun route I hadn’t tried before and everyone made it through, though me and one other paddler got flipped in the final hole. 

The final rapid on the Pesh was Horse Race, which is a long, curving rapid with a fun and chaotic final slope to it.   I had Amy follow me down and she absolutely nailed her line.  Everybody else picked their way down, taking a couple different variations of the same line.   Great rapid, great fun, no flips. 

Wolf, Section IV

Section IV is one of my favorite runs in the Midwest.  It’s a long, its got a  lot of flatwater on it, and you have to pay to run it, but those downsides are more than made up for by the beautiful scenery and fun, unique rapids. 

There are 6 main rapids on the run and 5 or 6 more minor ones.  The entire run is within an Indian Reservation, and the Menominee  have kept the shorelines almost completely natural.  There are no houses, no docks, and almost no man-made structures at all.  Instead, it’s white pines, leafy trees that turn beautiful colors in the fall, and lots of wildlife.  The only exception is the rafts.  If you go between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it’s generally jammed with rafts.  If you go outside of those times, though, you can pretty much have the river to yourself. 

Each of the main rapids is unique from the others, and each changes significantly with different levels.   When we ran it,  the level was just under 700 cfs.  That level opened up some different lines in Upper Ducksnest and both the Upper and Lower Dells.   The line we ran through The Upper Dells involved riding the top of a barreling side-curler into a large, chaotic hole.   The left line through the Lower Dells was looking very sketchy, but the far right was good and there was an easy line down the middle from left to right.  There were also a few awesome surf  waves in the canyon. 

The biggest difference was Big Smokey Falls, which was about 4 times wider than it usually is in the fall.  Instead of a narrow slip-n-slide lead in, it was more like a normal rapid with holes, waves, and side-curlers leading toward the falls.   There was a bit of a hole at the bottom of the falls, and those that didn’t boof generally got flipped, but spit back out relatively quickly. 

On the whole, it was a great trip.  I’m already looking forward to the Fall Colors trip!

Section III

On Sunday most of us had to get back to teach at the intro night for Canoe U, so we opted for  a quick run down Section 3 of the Wolf.  The level was high enough to let us shoot right through the boulder gardens.   

Boy Scout was a fun dodge and eddy fest with about a million possible lines and good river-running fun.  Hanson’s had good surf at both the upper and lower tiers.  There was also an audience of several fisherman on the rocks on river right.

Gilmore’s had several good, lively surf spots in store for us.  It was at just the right level that you could wash off of one feature and right onto the next most of the way down the rapid.  The surfs were mostly fun, bouncy pinball fests and it was a great way to end the run. 

 

 

Cold, wet, and fun weekend!

What do you do when it’s about 40 degrees, windy, and rainy?  Lots, actually.   The weather last weekend definitely left something to be desired, but it didn’t stop the fun! 

Saturday morning began with the Get in Gear 5k race.   It was the first time I’ve ever run a race in raincoat, but Kim and I and a couple of other friends managed to have a great time and get some much needed exercise.  Saturday night was a pretty awesome birthday party, so Happy Birthday Ben!

Sunday is where the real action started, with a trip up to the North Shore.  The Kettle River Paddlefest was going on in Sandstone, but neither the freestyle competition in full winter gear nor the downriver race against a 25mph headwind was all that appealing. 

Instead, a whole bunch of paddlers headed up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to hit the creeks.  The recent rain and snow had run right off of the saturated ground, so the creeks were flowing! 

There was a large group that was doing laps on the Lester, and it sounded like they had a great time.  Nora, John J, and I decided to head up to the French instead to see what it was like at a medium-low level.  For John and I, this was our first time running that river. 

We weren’t disappointed.  Even though the water was low, the French had lots of little ledges on it combined with a few big slides.   We definitely donated some plastic to the rocks, but there was plenty of water to have fun.

All three of us had cameras, so there are no shortage of pics.   These are just mine – the others have better ones, but I haven’t been able to get them yet.  I’ve also included one video here, but there will be more to come from Nora’s helmet cam when I get around to editing them.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verm Weekends

Well, the old Vermillion has surprised me again.   After missing out on the two prime weekends on the North Shore, the shallow class II-III river seemed like a pretty meager substitute, but it turned out to still have one more trick up its wet, chilly sleeve. 

I went out for an afternoon run with Bill and Bob mostly just to get on some water and catch up with a couple of guys I hadn’t paddled with in quite a while.   I was having some knee problems that made it difficult to get into the playboat, so I was down there in a creeker.  It was a nice day with great company, but I still didn’t feel the excitement that paddling always brings. 

Last weekend, a whole group of paddlers went down for a run, and this time I was able to get in the playboat.  We had a blast.  There were paddlers I’d known for years, some I’d only met once or twice, and even a couple people that were totally new to me. 

Graeme, who is the only person I know to paddle the same model boat for as long as I have, finally got a new one!  It was great watching him put it through its paces.  There were also some people that were still getting their feel for some of the features, so there was plenty of new-ness to go around.      

The water level was good (about 165), the energy was great, and we ripped up every feature on the river in a way that I haven’t done for probably close to two years.  

So, now that my stoke has been refueled by some great paddling companions, I’m looking forward to some upcoming trips!  Wisconsin, Canoe U, and (hopefully) another trip out to Colorado are all in the cards for the coming weeks, so it should be awesome! 

SYOTR

First Verm!

I finally made it down to the Vermillion for the first time in 2011.  For the first time in a long time I wasn’t part of the ice-breaking crew that made  the actual first run of the year, but it was pretty chilly all the same. 

The temp was about 17 degrees when we put on, and there was a stiff wind that added a nice bite to it.  Nora, Amy, and I were all bundled up under our dry suits, though, so once we started walking/climbing/slipping our way towards the put-in we were fine. 

This was Amy’s first winter paddling experience, and the ice ledges and frozen gear didn’t slow her down a bit.  She did great, even practicing surfing down in Donut! 

It was also Nora’s first descent in her new Big Dog kayak that she won in a nation-wide contest.   Though she was still working on getting the outfitting set, it sounded like the boat performed well overall. 

As for the river, the level was probably only about 75cfs, but it was running winter-fast, so there was fun play at both Railroad and Donut.   Mostly, though, it was just nice to back on the water with friends.  Looking forward to a new season!

Baptism!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything! It was an amazing summer, with too much going on to even bother trying to sum up. Of all the great things, though, the best was when my beautiful girlfriend of nearly 5 years and I said "I do" on a gorgeous fall day in October. When we get all the pics back, there will be a post, but for now, here's something that I do have some pics of:

The huge storms that rocked the entire state sent the Kettle River soaring to over 9,000 CFS and the North Shore creeks into flood. Luckily, the rain fell on a Tuesday, so by Saturday the Baptism gauge was lookin' good!

We spent the night in Two Harbors, then met Dan, Dave, Andy and for the run Saturday morning. Joi and her husband were nice enough to come along as drivers and photographers for us. The new gauge for the river said 12.7', which was supposed to correlate to 2.7' on the old gauge. That would be a nice, moderate level and keep the river at mostly manageable class IV run. More importantly, it would give me my first shot at running 35' Illgen falls.

We didn't have to get far down the river, however, to find out that the correlation is not very accurate. The river was definitely higher than 2.7, making everything bigger, faster, and pushier.

Confinement Canyon had some nice big waves and a big pourover towards the end of it that forced the boater to make a very quick S-turn to avoid getting sucked into the hole. It looked like a good boof would have allowed a kayak to fly right over the hole, but I was too rusty to give it a shot. That rapid went fine, though there was a scary moment when Dave got his leg caught in the rigging of OC-1 and was getting swirly-ed by an eddy. He made it out, though, and we continued on.

There was lots of class II-III boogey water until we made it to Kramer's choice, where the river is split around a car-sized rock in the middle. At this level, the flow funnels right into a very large wave/hole about 5 feet upstream from the rock. With the water moving extremely fast and so little room to maneuver, we decided to walk it.

Just downstream was Gustafson Falls, where the river falls over several big rocks into a hole in the middle. We hiked down and took a look, then Dan gave it a go in his canoe. He had a great line right down a tongue through the rocks, then his OC-1 floated over the hole like it was no big deal. It was pretty fun to watch. There was a kayak line along the river left, but nobody was feeling ambitious enough to bring down the boat and give it a shot. In hindsight, I would have liked to have run it, but at the time it seemed smarter to move on downstream.

After more class II-III, we came to Illgen Falls. It was a beautiful, thundering sight to behold. At that level, the entire pool is filled with the boiling, churning outwash. The force of the water looked strong enough to just about rip a boater in half if they wound up in the curtain. Since none of us had ever run it before, we decided it was a bit crazy to try at this level. I've since heard that the super-aerated boils make the drop boof-able at that level, but that's a big chance to take for a first try. I definitely want to run it, but I'm willing to wait for a level that I can tuck and huck.

After seeing the river level, we decided that the lower sections would be lots of portaging for very little paddling and so we called it a day. Despite the short day, it was a really great experience. The scenery was gorgeous, I got to put the boat on a new river, and I got to paddle with a great group of friends. I had a smile on my face all the way home.

2nd Annual Mississippi River Paddle

1 big river, 5 Americans, 2 Irish visitors, a car accident, and an extremely ornery tugboat operator; those was the makings of the 2nd annual voyage through the locks on the Mississippi. Among the awesome group of boaters was Kim, who I'm convinced is becoming hooked on kayaking! Well, at least hooked on kayaking once a year on flatwater, but it's a start!

From Mississippi 2010

We put in at Boom Island on the North side of Minneapolis around 11am, but not before we had a small fender-bender while running the shuttle.

From Mississippi 2010

We had a couple first-time kayakers and even more first-time on the river kayakers. Within a couple minutes of leaving the island, though, everyone was gliding along past the downtown skyline like old pros.

We made it straight into the first two locks without even having to wait - it was reeeallly nice after having some delays last year. We even had a nice chat with the lock operator at the second one, who told us all about the lock and the new hydro plant they're installing next to it. Meanwhile there were Egrets fishing from the pools of water that form on the lock gate as the water drops.

From Mississippi 2010

From there it was several miles of scenic flatwater as we passed below the 35W bridge and past the U of M's Minneapolis campus. We stopped for a snack at about the halfway point, but were back on our way pretty quickly. We had awesome weather (86 degrees and partly cloudy) and we didn't want to waste it!

From Mississippi 2010

About a half mile before the Ford dam and lock, we noticed there was a barge some distance behind us. We were about 1/2 way between the lock and the barge. Judging by the distance to the lock and the distance from the barge, we knew that we could make it without interfering with his travels, so we just picked up our pace a bit and made it to the lock well ahead of him. The lock was closed and filling when we arrived, so we and the barge all had to wait for it to open. When it did, the barge entered and we waited for the next cycle. That didn't stop the barge driver, however, from yelling various curses at us for being in his way. This is still somewhat of a mystery to me, as he had to change neither course nor speed for us and we did not delay him at all. But, he did manage to make himself look rather ridiculous as he threw his little tantrum from the top of his decending boat.

From Mississippi 2010

All obnoxious boat captains aside, we finished our voyage just downstream from the dam at Hidden Falls Park in about 4 hours. The Irish folks, unfortunately, finished the day with not only the experience of a day on the river, but a good dose of sunburn to remember it by. Everyone else came through unscathed, and I definitely think that this year counts as another great success. Here's to next year!

From Mississippi 2010

Continuum Weekend!

From Continuum

We had an awesome and groundbreaking group for the Canoe U Continuum this year! They flew through all the skills we could teach them with time to spare. So, with the extra time, we decided to run them down sections that (to my knowledge at least) no Canoe U class has done before.

From Continuum

We spent both days practicing on the Lower Louey, using our normal stomping grounds above and below the 210 bridge to work on some skills. For the first time, though, we had students running over Tablesaw to start their runs off. Everyone did great, and even a boater that slid off kept his cool and dug his way out of the eddy jail on river left.

From Continuum

More significantly, though, was what we did downstream. Normally we do some work at Big Glassy and take out after that. With this group, however, we were able to actually run both First and Second Sister! First sister was particularly difficult at the low levels we had, but the students were charging it! Most people were taking the left line down and going for a boof over the hole. There were a couple flips but to my happy amazement those students just picked up their boats, took a second shot, and conquered it! It was great to see that level of enthusiasm and drive.

From Continuum

We walked Octopus and made our way to the bone yard where the students got a trial-by fire on choosing lines, technical maneuvering, and dealing with rock pins.

From Continuum

Finally, we scouted Swinging Bridge though the students decided to save that for another day. Something to look forward to! After a long weekend in which we pushed them hard, it was good to see that they weren't afraid to exercise judgment and make the call to save that one for later.

From Continuum

In all, it was a great weekend with awesome students. I've come to love Canoe U because the students have such awesome stoke that you can't help but catch it. It's a great shot of enthusiasm as your coming down off the spring boating high.

To all of the students - GREAT JOB! You guys are becoming really solid boaters and I hope to see you guys on the river this summer. And if you ever need someone to join you on a run, just let me know! Also, to see all of my pics from the weekend, click on the "My Web Albums" link on the right of this page open the Continuum one.

To Bob and Jeremiah - It's always awesome working with you guys. As the new kid on the block, I feel like I'm learning as much as the students. You've got me looking forward to next year!

From Continuum