Sunday, August 19, 2012

Jah Box!!! Wyoming Part 2

The Box section of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone is the third deepest canyon in the lower 48 and is infamously known for being the best paddling in Wyoming.  The canyons were deep and the granite   was smooth and good times and lines were shared by all!  Jordy and I ended up doing two laps of this multi-day gem and sent the second lap in a one day push, completing the run in only 6 hours!  We had a blast with all the cool people and enjoyed the dirtbagging thoroughly!!


Lifestyle in Wyoming!

Deep in Canyon

Young Eric Parker trying to explain the mystery of women to Jordy!!!

Balls to the Wall! Young Teauge Mannley!

Myself routing Balls to the Wall!

Nice scenery from the deeps!

Riso and Teague- These kidz are gonna be Charger's!!!

Right before I speared a Tetonka!!! Deliberation!!!

Jordy Searle in the Calender Gorge!!!

Chilln like a Villian!!! Straight Waubish!!!

Send Train!!!

Charge Sauce!!!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Wyoming Part 1 - N.F. Bull Lake Expedition



So epic in every way! Our mission in the Wind River Range of Wyoming eclipsed the amount of effort of expedition's such as the Middle Kings!


An amazingly beautiful place that might not be suited for kayaking!


My original plan for the summer was to slowly but surely make my way from Cali up through the Pacific Northwest and into British Columbia, following the west coast and pushing north.  All was going to plan until I veared east out of Washington state into Idaho and then eventually to Wyoming putting my entry into B.C. over a month behind schedule. The best plan is no plan with a constant of Charge. And with this theory in mind I have been charging life and found myself hiking into the most intense arena I have ever visited- A first descent of the N.F. of Bull Lake from the base of the glacier's on Big Milky Lake into Bull Lake Proper.


Little did we know we would only make it 2 mile in 8 hours upon exiting this high mountain glacial lake!

Starting the hike early in the morning after being dropped off in the middle of no where, we presceeded to start our 11 hour death slog, in the rain, up and over a 11,000 foot pass, following game trails, keeping an alert eye for bear's, even further into the middle of no where!  So Epic!


Taking a picture, wishing this sick 35 footer into a box canyon didn't have a messed up chock stone in the lip.

Fresh out of the Lake on day 2 we started into the North Fork which to our knowledge was virgin territory and we were about to figure out why. Finding tons of the sickest whitewater I have ever seen, it seemed like every rapid had somethhing majorly messed up in the intro, lip, or exit!  It was messed up- so tempting to fire but so wrong.  Our descent of the North Fork was so heinous we only managed to make it 2 miles in a matter of 8 hours before our boddies were recked and day light fading.
Probably the first descent of this manky slotty tripple drop
Sold it for Jim Janney and he Charged!
Realizing I was going to have do an epic portage after I stumbled upon a 60 footer into box canyon!
Epic

Yeah we ran some shit.

Day 3 opened up and we were able to make serious river miles.  The rock we traveled over taxed our boats with gouges and major losses of plastic. We found some huge rapids and huge portages and the epicness of Bull Lake was close to overwhelming.  Firing hard we routed some sick rapids and staeady class 5 boulder gardens.  I was in a situation where there was only one way to go- down river!

Hagen-Daz aka the big one

This thing had the sickest lead-in.  Super snakey and steep!

Jordy "The Juggernaut" Searle


2/3 of the way through a 2 mile portage!

Truth!

On day 4 we made a savage 20+ mile push through epic portaging, big rapid's, long stretches of boulder charge, (where Jordy and Myself couldn't resist but leaving the eddies alone and we found ourselves in the flow paddling hard) broken boats, all the way out and across the lake to the take out!

Gotta love the portage!

Bull Lake Fall's

Firing the runout of Bull Lake Fall's
Below Bull Lake Fall's we found some sick boulder gardens


We agreed on the epic beauty of this mission and the fact that after completing it, we had done it and we would never have to do it again!


After 4 day's engulfed in granite we paddled into amazing sandstone cliffs!

Stay tuned for Wyoming part 2 - The Box of the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Payette and Mesa

I had always wanted to visit the Payette but just never made it due to my focus on Cali.  With the Cali season ending early I was stoked to go dirtbag the Payette and reap the rewards of roadside access.  What I found blew my mind. The Payette is probably the most bang for your buck river I have ever been blessed to paddle. Straight Gangsta!!!!!  With a quick humbling it took a lil longer to memorize the big water lines than I had expected.  Once the lines were down, It was GO TIME, with inspiration from Nasty Nate Klema I began to boof everything and the kickflips seemed endless. We originally planned to stay for 5 days which became a rad 19 at this amazing river!  I tagged 20 plus laps top to bottom and even bagged a vertical mile in a day with my buddy Seth Swallen.  Jordy Searle and myself thoroughly enjoyed the company of all the Bank's and Boise locals and guarantee we will be back next spring for the infamous high flows!!   This  river got me ready for the shit- Boot Camp!

Cooper Lambla and Myself boycotting  the no left turn! 
Me and this kid are charging life so hard right now- Truth!!

Life is grand in the front of the pack!

Pulln on it!

Surfs up bro!

With more to go!

I got to the point where I figured not paddling might be the way to go!



In short, we headed to Lower Mesa Falls to huck the infamously gnarly right side and ducked our heads in fear.  Here are a couple shots of the much less stressful left side.
Gnar in the background!

Doin what I do!

Pop it like its hot!


Epic Expeditions in Wyoming next!  Keep tuned and as always - STOKED!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

 Life is amazing and the Charge continues on....

I finished Cali in the best of style and headed north to two 80 footers on the McKenzie river between Eugene and Bend, Oregon that have been on my mind for some time now.  I culminated with many friends over two days to send 4 paddlers off Sehalie falls and an impressive 8 off Koosah falls.  With a bunch of stoke we headed to the Little White Salmon for Spirit laps day after day.  We didn't stay too long before we headed to Idaho for boot camp on the North Fork of the Payette.  We are currently running laps on this super impressive stretch of whitewater and see no reason to leave anytime soon.  After this we are headed north to seek truth in Canada!

Immersed in the flow, here we go!


Myself on the dreamy Sehalie Falls shot by Jordy Searle

Myself leading the pack in one of the most aesthetic places I have ever been- Devils Post Pile
Shot by Darin McQuoid

Jake Greenbaum facing the repercussions of winning the roshambo as he probes Koosah falls!
Shot by Nick Murphy  

O.G. Jason Hale on the Stout River of Cali!
Shot by Nick Murphy

My great buddy Will Pruett poppin the Cherry!
Shot by Nick Murphy

Myself on Koosah Falls for one of sickest lines I have ever had!
Shot by King Charles

Firen my dream rapid- Scott's Drop!!!
Shot by Dave Garringer

------DON'T STOP WON'T STOP------

Saturday, June 9, 2012

All about the Crew!

The Middle Kings has my heart as the best.  I can lose myself in this River's majesticness and find myself overwhelmed with joy in some of the scariest whitewater of my life! The crew handled it more than well!

Our King's crew at the biggest rapid on the river, The Big Bad Beaver; Mike Peacher, Myself, Nick Urqhart, and Hunt Jennings AKA- Silent Fire!  Hunt is only 18 years old and really stepped it up on our high water adventure! Stoked on the battle boyz!

Royal Gorge was all about me givin it and the OG's doin what they do best-  Sickest day I have ever had in a  kayak- Thanks for the stoke boyz- Myself, Jason Hale, Ben Coleman, and Dave Garringer

Upper Cherry- Hike and Paddle all in a day!
Great day with a great crew- Chilln @ Flintstone with time to spare!
Thomas Moore, Ben Coleman, Myself, and Will Pruett

The Devils Post Pile is one of the hardest and most committing runs in the country.   Due to park and reservoir closures our group was forced to hike 7 extra miles and paddle the entire lake without assistance from a motor boat.                  "It's all about the camping!!!"
Thomas Moore, Myself, Mide Thomelson, and Darin McQuoid



High on the water and content with the lifestyle the Cali water has run out and the next move is north to B.C. where there are rumors of Truth!

Monday, May 21, 2012

California - The Land of Truth

"The Pinnacle"

I arrived in California 10 days ago and immediately started charging with visits to the South Yuba, South Merced, Dinkey, Yuba Gap, and The Royal Gorge.  Hardly collecting any media I have been charging harder than ever and feel amazingly focused.  The Royal Gorge marked a large goal of mine as it holds more huge drops in sequence than any other river I can think of.  Coming full circle from a year ago I knew this was my season to fire and fire I did.  The Royal Gorge has five drops referred to as the big ones with the biggest being Scott's drop (pictured above).  This year I stepped up to the plate and fired the first four of the five, including Scott's.  The day was filled with hard hits and hard decisions and left me elated on life and more than stoked to have reached for the top and come out the bottom in one piece.  My line on Scott's drop is one that I will never forget.  I really had to ask myself atop the drop if it was something I really wanted - the answer I found was that I think about this rapid every day of the year but I only have one day of the year to pull it together and make it happen.  Fire away- I came in with speed, calming myself with the usual mantra of- do what you do- I rolled a long left stroke through the rooster tail and had the most amazing disconnection I have ever felt- talk about a moment in time- it didn't last for too long as I started to fade away from the main vail of water while twisting to the right at the same time. Boom- the hit was big and left me stunned as all get out, but I had a lot more rapid to go, I launched down the ramp leading towards the second crux finding myself just where I had planned to be lining up for the final kicker flake I was kicked out landing slightly past vert and auto ejecting from my boat.  All in all- YES YES YES- So Stoked!!!  

The hit off the top drop blew my right eardrum and caused me to lose my equilibrium when the ear filled with water- or so I figured out at split falls when I went deep and came up dizzy.  This proved as a perfect excuse from running the final drop of the Royal Gorge, a 70 footer named Wabena.  I almost had all five but there not going anywhere and I am gonna start wearing earplugs.  With a whole summer of paddling ahead the sky is the limit.

The truth shall lead my journey!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Feelin Fresh!

2012 did not deliver the heavy rains or snow that I anticipated and wanted but never the less I was able to find water this spring.  Living in Chattanooga this spring slowed me down and allowed me to really think about what I want out of my kayaking and where I would like to go with it.  The answer I found was that I need to be truthful to myself, and the truth is, I want to kayak more than I want anything.  Thus, I surrender to the flow and expect to find nothing less than the truth over every horizon line. 

Myself in Chattanooga (p. Bett Adams)

Robert Bone stylin one of my favorite creeks- Raven Fork (p. Nick Murphy)

Firen up Big Boy

Myself on Jones Creek near Chattanooga (p. Daniel Rucker)

I have now moved out of my house and into this beautiful van! Thats right- I am a Nomad!
I'm back in the great state of California and chargen harder than ever.  Hoping to raise the bar this season stay tuned as I'm fired up and ready to stock the blog with all kinds of goodies!


Thanks for all the support- Much Love
Myself and Chattanooga- searching to focus...