Upcoming Polar Plunge

Who's up for some crazy fun for a good cause? I'm putting together a team for the Polar Plunge in Lake Calhoun on Saturday, March 7th.

For those of you unfamiliar, this is an event where hundreds of people line up to jump into the balmy waters of Lake Calhoun in winter. It's a great charity event, with the proceeds benefiting Special Olympics. I've done it a couple times before, and can say that it is a bit chilly, but also tons of fun. As you can see from the pics of one I did a few years ago, everyone's having a really good time. There's tons of people, everyone's pumped up, and the atmosphere of the event is amazing. There is a heated changing area and, in the past, there have been portable hot tubs. Not sure about the hot tubs this year, but we can hope...

If you're interested in jumping, you can join our team at:

http://www.specialolympicsminnesota.org/Polar_Plunge_App.php?step=register&event_id=9&team_id=982.

Each plunger must raise at least $75 in donations to be able to participate, but I've found that most non-plungers will happily donate in exchange for seeing the photos afterward. Each plunger must also wear shoes into the water. Team clothing/costumes are still being decided upon.

If you don't want to jump, but would like to help the team out by donating, you can go here:

http://specialolympicsminnesota.org/Polar_Plunge_App.php?regid=6652&step=pledge&action=showwebpage&event_id=9&team_id=982

A Good Cause

Just wanted to put the word out that one of our local paddlers, John Pike, will be climbing the IDS tower to raise money to fight Cystic Fibrosis. It's a great cause, and there's a way that everyone can join in, without climbing 50 floors. You can donate to John's team online at:

http://www.cff.org/LWC/dsp_DonationPage.cfm?idEvent=9062&idUser=280818

Best of luck to the team, and let's try and raise some serious $$!

Mexico Trip

I apologize for being really slow to put anything up on the blog lately. It's been a really busy winter and work's been keeping me away from the fun stuff. But, things are looking better now, so I figured I'd start getting caught up.

At the beginning of January, my whole family (neices, nephews, and all) plus Kim headed down to Cancun for a week. This is significant for a couple of reasons: First, I'd never been to Cancun before and hadn't stayed in an actual resort in more than 15 years. Second, my family hasn't done a vacation together since I was about 8. It was definitely very different from my normal solo or 1 friend backpacking trips, but it was more fun than I was expecting.

We stayed in a huge mega-resort (see photo) that had pretty much everything you could ever imagine, plus a couple of things. I checked out some of what it had to offer, but Kim and I tried to get out and try more unique activities when we could. These included a lot of scuba diving, a snorkel trip that involved driving tiny little speed boats through Mangrove channels and then ocean swells, a trip to the ruins of Chichen-Itza, cliff jumping in a Cenote (freshwater cave), and more. We had a great time.

These are the pics from the non-diving stuff. In order to keep the number of pics in each post manageable, I put the dive pics in two seperate entries. Hope you like 'em!

Cenote Cave Dives

While I was down there I did one of my favorite dives yet - a Cenote cavern dive. We did 2 tanks in the Chac-Mool Cenote, about 45 minutes from Cancun. The dives are known as much for the amazing light show coming from the cave openings as for anything else. It really is breathtaking to come through a tunnel and see beautiful shafts of blue light. It looks completely unreal and you'd swear it was the special effects for some movie.

The water was very warm - 75-78 degrees according to my computer. Most of the dive was freshwater, but there are places in the caves where the saltwater from the ocean backs up the river and lingers. Because of that, we crossed the Halocline (division between salt and freshwater) several times. Each time we would go nearly blind because where the two waters converge becomes very blurry and hard to see through, like olive oil trying to mix with water. One diver said it reminded him of looking through the heat waves rising off hot pavement, only more intense. The other crazy thing about crossing the halocline is that your bouyancy changes drastically. You are almost twice as bouyant in the saltwater as you are in the fresh, so you had to take care to keep from rising into the ceiling in the saltwater or descending into the stalagmites in the freshwater.

Speaking of Stalagmites, there were only a few of those, but there were lots of stalagtites hanging from the ceiling. most were small (under 1'), but there were a couple rooms where they grew to 10' or more. It was pretty cool. There was even one huge room (maybe 80' feet long and 40' high) that had an air pocket at the top. That's the photo you see of me floating with my mask off. That air pocket was at one of the farthest points we entered. It was pretty cool.

Cancun Reef Dives

While I was there I also did three dives on the reef just a couple miles out from Cancun. I wasn't expecting much, but all three dives were amazing. The coral was bright, colorful, and healthy and we saw lots of cool critters, including a green sea turtle, barracudas, a yellow ray, and tons of reef fish.

To make it even cooler, my first reef dive was with Kim, my brother, and two of my nephews. They were all doing a "Discover Scuba" class and I tagged along for the open water portion. All of them did great, and Kim's even talking about getting certified now! The only catch was that Kim's rental mask kind of tugged her face into a constant look of shock... It made for some great pictures, though.

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season and a great start to '09. We've had a great start to winter, and it's time to get out and do some kiting!

Cool Video

Here's a fun video for anyone looking for some travel inspiration. I don't know the guy, but thought it was worth sharing. If you'd like to find out more about it or watch in higher definition (recommended), check out his website at: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about.shtml

Puerto Rico Trip

I just got back from a short trip to Puerto Rico! I had decided that I wanted to spend my recent birthday abroad, and decided that I would go to wherever had the cheapest airfare. The only restrictions were that it had to be some place I hadn't been, and it had to be outside the continental US. I wound up in Puerto Rico, and had a great time. I spent most of my time in/around San Juan and on the small island of Vieques, off Puerto Rico's Eastern shore.

The Good:
1)Bioluminescent Bays
2)Genuinely friendly people
3)Endless beaches for everything from surfing and kiting to snorkeling and laying out
4)No passport necessary
5)No currency exchange
6)Mass Transit that's cheap or free (but see The Bad)
7)Perfect weather
8)Cell Phone Service (I wasn't even roaming)

The Bad:
1)No Hostels or hotels under $70/night
2)Mass transit is largely limited to the San Juan area and Ferries

San Juan
The San Juan area is made up of Old San Juan (which is the oldest permanent settlement in the territory of the United States), two resort areas (Condado and Isla Verde), and some residential areas. Old San Juan is a beautiful mix of old buildings, modern shops (including restaurants and stores from all the big designers), and beautiful vistas. Additionally, you can take a free ferry ride across the harbor to the Bacardi rum factory. The tour was free, fun, and interesting, and you get two free drinks with it. I definitely recommend it.

Nearby, around the barrio of Isla Verde, are great beaches and spots to kitesurf. With nearly constant 15mph winds and warm, shallow water, it would be a fantastic place to kite. I tried to set up a session through Kitesurf PR for a day's worth of riding. My contact their was very friendly and helpful, but called me the morning we were supposed to go out and said that there wasn't enough wind. He said the forecast didn't look good, but he'd call me if that changed. He didn't. By 2:00 there were perfectly steady winds in the 10-15mph range but my phone never rang. Tried calling their number, but got no answer. So, no kiteboarding for me.

Getting around the San Juan area was easy. The city buses were quite an adventure - they were driven as if they were Ferrari's, so you had to hold on to something even if you were sitting down, but they were straight-forward to use and they were free. Ferry service across the harbor was also free and arrived frequently. Getting around outside of the San Juan area required that you either 1)rented a car, 2)paid large sums to take a taxi, or 3)attempted to use the unscheduled and confusing Publico minibus system. None of these options was very appealing to a traveler on his own, but luckily I found there was another way to get out to Vieques Island. There are charter flights from San Juan for about $50 each way. Since that was about 1/2 the price of renting a car for 3 days or taking a cab, it was definitely the way to go.

Vieques
The Island of Vieques is about 8 miles off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. The US Navy used a large part of the island for artillery practice until 2004, so much of the island is still undeveloped. The island is known for it's pristine beaches and its bioluminescent bay. The "bio bay" is a large shallow bay on the South Side of the island that has the highest concentration of dinoflagellates in the world. Dinoflagellates are microscopic critters that glow when they're disturbed. There are so many of them in this bay that the water literally glows whenever anything moves it. I took a kayak/swimming trip out into the bay and was absolutely amazed. The paddle, the kayak's wake, even the fish swimming underneath you all glow as they move through the water. To make it even cooler, the swirling water that follows the movement also glows, so everything has an amazing tail of light following it. If you dip your arm in and then raise it up, you'll have streams of light running down it. It's totally amazing and definitely in my top 5 coolest things I've ever seen. Unfortunately, my camera housing leaked on this trip and my old water camera is now finally dead, so there's no pictures.

The second thing I did on the island was go diving. I got in with a young group of German and Spanish folks who were about my age. They spoke excellent english, and we all got along great. Two of the girls in the group were new divers, so the dive was an easy one. The visibility wasn't great, but we saw some lobsters, an octopus, a HUGE eel, and some turtles. Unfortunately, the dive camera was dead, so I have no pictures. :(

I stayed in Esperanza, a small tourist village on the South side of the island. It's an extremely laid-back place right on the water with pristine beaches just a couple steps away and great snorkeling right in front of the the hotel. At night, you can sit on the piers and watch spotted eagle rays and tarpon swim by beneath you. Great Caribbean atmosphere and incredibly friendly people.

Good Times
On the whole, it was a fun and relaxing trip. I'd love to go back and do some kiteboarding and some more snorkeling. Definitely a nice break from reality

Water and Pics

The rains are here, and the rivers are up! Both the Kettle and the Louey are at good levels and rising. I hope somebody gets out and takes advantage! I can't paddle this weekend, so I'll have to live vicariously through those who can. Get out and enjoy the water while it lasts!

These are some pics from the Wolf and Lower St. Louis that I got from Pike. I just thought they were cool, so I figured I'd put them up. Enjoy.

Congratulations!

Huge congratulations to Graeme and his wife who are expecting a baby! They're due April 1st, and while I say that a real paddler would have timed it for the dry season, it's still great news. Here's wishing them all the best!

Go Vote!!!!

Here's your chance to make a difference - don't waste it. Go Vote!

Also Congratulations Caleb for not only finishing, but passing his big test! Way to go!

Fall Kettle Day

Nate G, Bryan and Sarah K, and I headed up to the Kettle river to take advantage of the recent rains and fall colors. We were greeted with warm weather, warm winds, and banks lined with gold and red leaves that would rain down whenever the wind blew. The level was around 3', which is high enough to be fun, but not high enough to give us anything to worry about.



For Nate, it was a return to paddling after a summer filled with work, training for the Twin Cities Marathon (way to go!), and loads of other activities.

For Bryan and Sara, it was their first time on the Kettle since just after Canoe U, and their first time seeing it at anything other than scrapey low water.

The Kettle is one of my favorite midwest rivers, largely because it's so different at every level. Today was great play at Blueberry (the wave/hole in the middle of the rapid was just like a 15' wide version of Donut), followed by some good-sized wave trains in each of the lower rapids. I was able to hit a nice wave-wheel in the wave train below Dragon's tooth, and we got some cartwheel practice in at the nearly-washed out Last Chance Ledge. Everyone also got to practice their stern squirts at the rock outcroppings between the Tooth and Hell's Gate.



Sara Had a big day, getting her first taste of bigger water and hitting 12' Wolf Creek Falls! She ran it twice, with a perfect landing on the second one. She used my boat for the drop, so don't let the green color fool you.




Bryan K had an awesome day as well. He was snapping up combat rolls with confidence and leading the group run-and-gun style down some of the rapids. He also made two good runs on the Falls and had some surfs on the glassy wave at Blueberry.






I had a good day surfing blueberry and playing in the wave trains, but my cockiness got the better of me at Wolf Creek. I have run the drop many times and have never had an issue (except coming up in the middle of a tree once). This spring I decided to run it backwards, and it went great with a soft and smooth landing. Tried the same trick today, but with very different results. I went over the falls and hit the pool pretty vertical. I felt the impact of hitting the water, but in the commotion of landing didn't notice anything too strange. I bobbed up vertically and the boat flipped upside down. I rolled up and heard Nate saying how I'd Piton'd and what a loud noise it made. I disputed that, saying that the noise must have been the boat hitting the water. Later I looked at my boat and saw that the back left corner was bent upwards about 15 degrees from what it should be. No cracks, no creases, just a slightly different shape than it was before. I guess Nate was right about the Piton. The good news is that it basically just gives me more stern rocker on that side, so left-handed spins should be even easier now!

Bent boat aside, it was a great day with surprisingly great weather. Hopefully we'll have a few more before Old Man Winter takes hold. Thanks to everybody for taking the pics, and especially to Nate for sending me the ones from his camera so quickly.

Fall Colors

A cold night, a beautiful day, and some great rapids made for a fun trip to the Wolf. Bryan K, Sara, Pike, Dennis, and I headed to the newly-rebuilt Bear Paw on Friday night and ran Section IV on Saturday.

Friday night was quite chilly, with lows in the mid-twenties. We stoked up a nice campfire, put on some extra layers, and Dennis and I bored the others with paddling stories for a while. The night was crystal clear and the stars were out in full view. Despite the temps, we had a great time. Bryan and Sara (and their puppy) got to test their new tent in style. It must have performed well because no one had hypothermia come Saturday morning.

We started fairly early Saturday, meeting at Big Smokey at 9 to get our bracelets and shuttle. Speaking of bracelets, the price has gone up from years past - $30 fee + $5 deposit on the bracelet. The temp was still just above freezing, but the sun was out and warmed you up whenever it hit you.

Our shuttle driver was kind enough to drop us off at Sullivan's falls so we could avoid the 1.5 miles of flatwater from the normal put-in. Everyone ran Sullivan's, and everyone did great. For Pike, Sarah, and Bryan, it was their first real waterfall! After everyone did it once, we talked about how to Boof, then everyone ran it again to try the new move.

The Ducksnest rapids went by quickly enough and we surfed a bit at Dave's Wave before stopping to eat and bask in the sun at lunch rock. Perfectly clear blue skies helped the temp warm up nicely.

Everyone flew through the Upper Dells, and Bryan nailed a solid combat roll between the two holes at the bottom. The lower dells were more interesting and the group split with half taking the rock-tongue in the middle, and half taking the double drop channel on river right. The hole at the bottom of the tongue caused a couple flips (including an unintentional cartwheel), but everyone did great and there were no swims.

Big Smokey was where we noticed the shallow water the most. There were virtually no eddies in the entire slide leading up to the falls, and at one point the water was only about a boat-and-a-half wide. It was a bit hairy at that point because that tiny amount of water pushed right into one of the protruding rocks and it looked very much like you were going to smack into it. The tiny reaction pillow saves the day, however, and all faces remained intact.

The level was about 190. The rapids were all very passable, with Big Smokey being the most affected by far. There was little play, but it was a fun level for river running.

On a fun note, Pike bought a boat! Bear Paw had everything on sale (most is 20% off if anybody's interested), and they were getting rid of their demo boats. Pike wanted to pick up a creeker, and after trying on a couple different boats picked a red Jackson Hero. It should be a good fit between his Piedra and his EZ. They've also got a like-new Burn demo on sale for $700 if anyone's shopping for one...

Speaking of Bear Paw, I was floored by the path the tornado left. I knew it was serious (it was an F4), but I've never seen anything like that. There's a perfect path 100 yards wide (guessing on the distance) like someone cleared a highway through the woods. There's no transition area or buffer, just a perfectly clear-cut path that looks like loggers came through. Sadly, the path perfectly and completely enveloped the old Bear Paw. Happily, the parts that they've finished rebuilding are great, and there's tons of free firewood. Plus, it's the same super friendly and helpful people running the place. Good to see them rebounding so well.