Medical Leave

Due to a shoulder dislocation on beloved Clearwater Creek, I will not be writing about first hand, paddle to water, boating experiences for a while.



Thanks to Ryan for bagging me off of that mid-stream boulder while my right arm dangled limply into the creek. And for driving me to the hospital so they could put it back in...And for dealing with my screaming. Also, thanks to Jamie for dragging my boat out of the woods later that week. And John, though I was totally hopped up on morphine I appreciated you stopping by the hospital as well. And Amy for dealing with a one-armed-me for a few weeks.

Boaters are good people. Solid partners are worth their weight in gold. Maybe someday I'll be one again.

I'll update the blog with my physical therapy progress...

I guess I'm not as bad off as this guy.

More Cascade Potential

Some photos from a little canyon I've had my eye on.
Last time I dragged folks into some canyon we ended up portaging for five hours.
Thought I'd better walk this one out if I'm ever going to get anyone to paddle this...not sure if it would be worth it, who knows what it will look like with water...except for that sweet 30 footer...I call 1st D dibs.



The start of the really steep stuff.


Photo from the same spot as above, looking downstream. Drops 10-15 feet into the pothole, undercut on the right...


Big landslide a hundred yards downstream.


Can you say perfect 30 footer? Clean lead in, tight landing. A rock ledge sticks into the river right side of the landing zone at these flows. Higher flows might pad things out and help push you away from the wall at the bottom.


Funky 10 foot ledge just downstream of the 30 footer.


Typical intermediate rapids.


Another funky slide/drop into a pothole.




Funky log-choked drop. The 15 foot drop falls over another stump, creating a nasty cave behind the curtain, and a sieve above that I nearly fell into...


Top of a funky bedrock island. Bottom goes on the right, top goes on the left.


Bottom of the island.


Lead in to the super scary 30+ footer.


Part of the lead in...


Top of a technical and marginal (unrunable?) drp.


Top half of the 30+ footer. Landing is good, if you don't bounce off the rock walls on the way down.


Last drop, ~10 feet, as you leave the canyon and enter the gravel bars.

Skunked in BC

Same story as below, thought I'd add these two shots from Devin of me on Rutherford Creek. Turns out there used to be a clean 20 foot waterfall somewhere on Rutherford Creek...We never saw it...anyone know when it disappeared?

Me on ledges two and three in the big triple drop...





Went to BC with Chris, Hilary and Devin, with the knowledge that the rivers were still high. Got skunked on Rogers, Ryan, Birkenhead, Snowcap, Upper Upper Ashlu... though not for want of trying...and I was too spent to even get on a healthy flow at Callaghan.

We did manage to hop on Rutherford, Upper Cheakamus, Soo, and the Tuwasus/Lillooet.

A good way to spend my first weekend "free" of graduate school. Here are a few pictures...



Chris taking a look at Rutherford Creek, medium low flows?


Devin on Rutherford.


Big nasty falls.


Devin in the canyon below the falls.


Chris in the first drop in the big Triple Drop.


Chris coming out the bottom.


Devin in the canyon below the falls.


Hilary, the lake, and the mountains in the Lillooet zone.


Scrabble while waiting for the road to open.


Lillooet "lake" looking a lot like a river.




Camping at Saint Agnes Hot Springs and the take out on the Lillooet, Class III, 400 cms.


Chris discussing the finer points of hot wiring Devin's truck, after Devin left the keys an hour up the road.


All the important bits.


Hilary on the best boof on the Tuwasus, and maybe the whole trip, continuous class III-IV, 3 km into the Lillooet.

...and some different cropping options.

Some stuff

Some photos from recent boating on the Cascade River at 1300-1500 cfs, 1 1/4 screens showing, good fun.

And some aftermath from the rain on snow we had yesterday...


Jon Dufay, Premium on Cascade


Brad X, Premium


Brad X, swallowed by Premium


Middle Fork Nooksack Canyon, ~1600 cfs ?


Middle Fork Nooksack, it looks scary because it is.


Starts right out of the box...put-in eddie upper right... Middle Fork Canyon.


Bench Drop on the North Fork Nooksack, flattened out.


Second drop after Bench...


Entrance to SAT, NF Nooksack


Good play spot above the bridge, NF Nooksack, at 3500 cfs?