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Its been a while.....

2009-09-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

So, A lot has changed since my last post. I no longer work for AT Paddles, I am now the West Coast Rep for Immersion Research...which has been a sheer pleasure so far. My better half, Kim, and I just got off the road from 2.5 weeks of visiting paddle shops and kayaking as much as we could in our down time. We traveled from Seattle to San Diego and zig-zagged in between, put 5000 miles on a rental, and had one of the best trips I can remember in my adult life! Here are a few of the moments we shared....more to come!

Reflections

2009-03-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Coming home from a trip from my home state of Wisconsin, which is beautiful in its own right, I was welcomed back with warm temperatures and the smell of another spring fast approaching. This will be my second spring in Hood River, and while standing on the back porch of the house that we once cursed about having to move into, the view has once again taken my breath away. Its funny how a moment of solitude can put everything into perspective and help one find a certain peace that is not obtainable until true happiness overwhelms you. A number of events have brought me to this place, but recently just realizing how fortunate I have been, and what great family and great friends I have surrounded myself with. This was the view tonight that I found gratitude in-

2009-03-03T21:36:00.000-08:00

The Biking has been Good in the Hood!

2009-02-09T19:45:00.001-08:00

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to Eat-Sleep-Paddle-Bike, it seems that all I have been wanting to do lately is mountain bike. The winter really hasn't put a damper on the riding at all, aside from a few weeks of snow and cold. This weekend we saw 60 degree temps and blue skies, and the trails were more crowded than I have ever seen them before, it was crazy to see. Our backyard winter trail system had turned in to a circus, but a good one at that! It was good to see friends on the trail!

...and even more snow!

2008-12-21T15:21:00.001-08:00

Jason and I got a little restless, as it has been snowing non-stop for most of the week. We have a little over 2 ft of snow in town and it made for some great sledding and biking on the streets!

......and more snow.....

2008-12-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Let There Be Snow!

2008-12-18T18:48:00.001-08:00

It has finally snowed around Hood River!

ECUADOR!!!

2008-11-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

A group of us decided that we needed to get away this fall and do some paddling south of the equator! It just so happens that my roomate Jason is good friends with Don and Darcy, the dynamic duo that help head Small World Adventures and who now have become what I hope to be a life long friendship with all of us! The crew down there know the rivers inside and out and run a five star guide service ranging from class 2-5 in skill levels, they cater to our paddling needs on the fly and took care of all of our needs making this a truly unique vacation! Thanks guys and gals at Small World!

Falls Creek Bike Trail, WA

2008-10-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today started out to be another Saturday that none of us knew what we wanted to do on. Tim mentioned a few trails that none of us had been on before, so all we had to do was pick one....Falls Creek it was! Located in the Wind River drainage, the trail starts basically at the headwaters of the Wind River. Tim Thornton, Meggie, Andy Maser and myself all agree that this is one of the top rides we have ever done! Don't let the shuttle fool ya though, plenty of gradient to climb on this ride, but it is so worth it. This ride has a lot of something everyone can enjoy, and it takes about 3 to 3.5 hours with sight seeing along the 17 mile rim. Epic views, collapsed lava tubes, and fast ass downhills!!!

Black Rock Mtn Bike Park, OR

2008-10-20T18:45:00.001-07:00

We had been hearing tales of a great trail system located just southwest of Salem for a couple of months now. After watching hours of YouTube footage of this grand establishment of beauty, five of us decided to make the two and a half hour drive south......and it was well worth it!

High Prairie thru 15 Mile Bike Trail

2008-10-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

We decided to hit up a shuttle ride in the foot hills to the east of Mt Hood on Sunday and it was oh so tacky and good! It is a pretty full on ride of continuous single track and one that tests how fast you can go and stay in control! This ride had a little bit of everything...some little step jumps, some techy features, and some balls to the walls gripped fast track. Highly recommended!

A Few Random Shots

2008-07-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Upper Yellowjacket Cr- WA

2008-07-16T08:21:00.001-07:00

The other week we hit up Yellow Jacket Creek in WA. We decided to explore the upper section a bit and see what was up there. We ended up running into a 45 footer that was runnable, but with fairly high consequence due to a fairly small landing zone caused by rock. These shots are all taken by Christie G, and Dave Hoffman, thanks guys!

Hitting The Trails

2008-06-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

Its no secret that the mountain bike trails in and around Hood River are some of the greatest on this side of the country, so we have been taking full advantage of it! The last couple of weeks I have definitely been on my bike more than in my kayak, which is a nice switch-up. Unfortunately, one of our favorite trails, 8-track, is getting logged within the next few days. Not the worst thing in the world, and I guess it will get us out on some different trails, but its a great single track and it will be missed! Here are a few crummy shots from last Sunday-I meant to get some of 8-track, but kinda forgot I had a camera on me.

West Coast Women's WW Festival

2008-06-28T20:46:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Husum hosted the first annual West Coast Women's WW Festival on the White Salmon hosted by Heather Herbeck and Christina Russell. They had a pretty good turn out and it was fun to watch all of the events take place, with the 8-ball race being the most entertaining. A BBQ Saturday evening was a great excuse to hang out and socialize and was a lot of fun!

Lochsa River-Idaho

2008-06-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

My roomate and I decided to hit up the Lochsa for a chnge of pace and to get on some big water with the playboats. This run reminded me a lot of the New River Gorge in WV. The flow was around 12,000 CFS and there were a ton of huge waves to play around in! We met up with a huge crew from Missoula that makes regular trips out here to the Hood and had a blast!

Some Photo's

2008-06-10T21:47:00.001-07:00

Good couple of Weeks

2008-05-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weekends have been unforgettable. Last weekend I was in Colorado for CKS's Paddle Fest hanging out with friends, paddling and working the event. Did some playboating and did a quick run down Gillmans Gorge on the way out on Sunday. This weekend I had the pleasure of having the company of a special lil lady from Asheville. We had a great weekend and did a lot of hiking and sea kayaking, which I forgot that I really love to do! We hiked up to the top of Multnomah Falls, a 550 ft waterfall and continued up stream to check out some of the drops that were up there. We also hiked into Eagle Creek to show her one of the most scenic valley's in the gorge. Then Saturday squeezed in some sea kayaking and hooked up with Boomer and his little lady to hang out for the evening- good fun!

A Weekend in Idaho

2008-05-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

We cruised over to Idaho for Ryan Scott's video premiere in Boise for Northwest Video Scrapbook VI, which was a great time in itself aside from kayaking. The crew consisted of myself, Keel Brightman, Ryan Scott and Lana Young and Mike, a Boise loco. We started out Saturday morning with a 2 hour session on Climax Wave on the Payette. The wave wasn't at optimal flows, but still nice enough to throw some huge blunts and have some fun! Later that day we hit up the South Fork of the Payette in our playboats and laughed at each other stern squirting down the run, all feeling a bit hung over from the night before, which also had some really fun play on it! Sunday we decided to hop on a creek that has only been run a hand full of times and it turned out to be a little low, but still very runnable and absolutely breathtaking. This run, the Succor, was 6-7 miles of pure beauty. It had some good rapids, no huge drops, but continuous throughout and fun. We put on about 1 in the afternoon and got off the river about 8 o'clock and started our 5 hour trek home to Hook River. A great weekend!

Robe Canyon, Stillaguamish River, WA

2008-04-27T21:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend was the first annual Robe Canyon Race. Thanks to Todd Gillman for putting this little event together, they had a pretty good turn out of about 20 racers-10 teams of two. Jason Schroeder EJ Etherington and I opted to run down with the safety boaters and give them a hand, none of us had ever done the run before. The flow was on the low side of good, but still had plenty of water to run every rapid in the gorge fairly clean. This run consists of class 4 and 5 drops that are pretty stacked on top of each in the first couple of miles of the run, and starts to spread out a little more after the mandatory landslide portage, which is a fairly easy one at that! This is one of the most scenic and most fun creeks I have ever been on and I will definitely be back up in the Seattle area to run it again at higher flows! Sunday we borrowed some playboats and hit up the Skykomish for another run that we hadn't been on. The scenery was amazing!

Canyon Creek Race/ Copper Creek

2008-04-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the infamous Canyon Creek Race. The beautiful weather accompanied by great flows made for a record turn out and loads of fun with great friends! Everyone I have met and paddled with in the last 8 months of living in the Pacific Northwest was there to throw down. The race was followed by a huge bash at Olie's place on the East Fork of the Lewis. The next day was a Freestyle Huckfest on Sunshine Falls on the Lewis, just up the road from where everyone had camped the night before. A few of us then hit up Copper Creek, flowing at a medium/high flow, that afternoon where I proceeded to get beat down and had my first NW swim. Jason Schroeder had gone through the rapid known as "The Final Five" first with me following, we had arranged to eddy out half way through the mini gorge and colloct out thoughts on the final drop-which was a steep 10 vertical slide into a nasty hole, with a hole to punch a the top entrance. Jason went, and I was given the signal to hold-up, waited about 10 minutes for him, and his boat to flush after a nice little thrashing. I was still pretty confident that I could nail the line, so I peeled out and skipped over the first hole on the right, driving left of center and unable to see from the top hole, I was where I though I was lined up and pulled a boof stroke, got my nose up but back endered into the hole where I did some goofy stern and bow stall, mainly keeping my head out of the water, but knowing that there was no way out I bailed out and caught the rope while I still had plenty of energy, and It was an easy swim to shore. My boat on the other hand stayed in the hole for another 35 minutes until John Kiffmeyer live baited my boat with a flying spider monkey move that was pretty funny to watch-thanks John!

Eagle Creek, OR

2008-03-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend was pretty action packed and full on. Saturday Tim Thorton, Lana, Christie and I ran the Truss at just under 3ft which is a super fun level. Then Tim and I hit up the Sincline trial on our mtn bikes to finish off the afternoon. Everyone partied down at the Horse & Hound for the latest and greatest LVM premiere that evening with the anticipation of running Eagle Creek lingering around the pub for the day that followed. Sunday, we did just that! Got up to rendezvous at Eagle Cr Park that morning. This run requires a 3 mile hike in, backpacking our boats and gear along a gorgeous cliffside trail with breathtaking views and sounds of big waterfalls in the distance. I didn't get any good pics of punchbowl falls, but I did get some nice shots of the top double drop!!
Me Christie Glissmeyer fires off Skoonichuck Falls
Austin Rathmann scouting his line
Austin Rathmann
Christie G
Christie G

Toxic Waters Weekend

2008-02-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

A lot of friends from all over came into town for Nate's kayak video premiere that took place on Saturday night! It was a couple days of great flows on the Little White and the Truss and clear blue bird weather. Here are a few shots that were taken on the Truss, sorry, no pics from the Little White, I forgot my camera.
Me
Stingl
Jason

Hagen Gorge

2008-02-11T16:52:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to get on Hagen pretty much since I moved out here and was just waiting for the right time to do it. Its hard to catch this gem at a good flow, but going on some good beta, myself, Gynner, Andy Round, Jarred Jackman and Nate headed out! There was a ton of snow on the mile or so hike in and we were all pretty happy to get to the get-in. We all ran everything and had great lines throughout and got off the river with huge grins! To top it off, its only about a 45 minute drive from Hood River!

Crazy Snow Storm

2008-02-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Hood River got hit with an unusual snow fall! It dumped about 18 inches in a 10 hour span of time. I ended up not being able to drive out of town and ad to walk home, and a few others were in the same boat! Chains would have come in handy for sure. That sunday, Jason and I went kayaking down the white salmon to get some exercise in and trekked in waist deep snow to the put-in, it was by far the most snow I've ever been paddling in!

Florida

2008-01-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken by one of our customers at the Confluence dealer appreciation event in November. This is Adam Motes and Myself surfing Hobie's stand-up paddleboard, we were laughing our asses off. One of the most fun times I've had. We spent about 5 hours surfing, paddleboarding, and kayak surfing 14 foot sea kayaks with the reps.....good times for sure!!!!

E.F. of the Lewis

2008-01-20T19:03:00.001-08:00

I decided to head to the East Fork of the Lewis to join in on a trip that Heather had planned for a little creeking clinic this Sunday. It is a run that I hadn't done before and was looking forward to getting on it. The flow was super low though, and it would be a lot of fun at about triple the flow. Saturday, Jason, Tim and I did the farmland through the truss section of the white salmon and had a blast....that was a long day!!! Good exercise though!

Hoffstadt Creek

2008-01-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to do something that none of us had been on before, Hoffstadt Creek. This little gem is full on right from start to finish! The crew consisted of myself, Heather Herbeck, Jason Schroeder, Ryan Scott and Lana Young. We had about twice the flow as the description on OregonKayaking.net and was just about right. A few of the drops probably could have used a bit more cfs, but we were just happy that it was in. We had a few log jams, some hellish portages caused by those log jams, and a crap load of fun! We put on at about 10:30 and didn't get off until dusk.....a great day and all of the hard work hiking out at the take-out was well worth it! Hoffstadt is pretty much a drainage straight off of Mt St. Helens, and is on the west side of the mountain.

Super Fun Weekend

2008-01-07T19:58:00.001-08:00

We had a really fun weekend playboating the West Fork of the Hood on Saturday, and hitting up Canyon Creek on Sunday. I felt really strong this weekend, and even though we weren't paddling anything too tough, I really worked on stroke placement and technique and paddled the best I think I ever have. I had never run Canyon Creek before and it was at a medium high flow, which was a perfect level in my opinion. The fun factor on that creek leaves you getting off the river with a perma-grin and leaves you wanting more.

Snowy Weekend

2008-01-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

We had a fun weekend around the Hood this past weekend! We didn't do anything epic, due to cold weather, but we had a lot of fun on our local runs: the West Fork of the Hood, the Upper Wind, and the White Salmon provided some good entertainment!

Virgin L-Dub Run

2007-12-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got my butt out on the Little White Salmon this weekend. A great crew that consisted of Myself, Ryan Scott, Nate Herbeck, Lana Young, Tao Berman, Austin Rathmann, Rob, and some Montana folk, A J and Robin. The level was around 3.2-3.3 or so and temps around 40 degrees. Ryan and A J had two days of "no portage" runs and the rest of us ran everything but Spirit. These guys wouldn't let me scout anything, which made me a bit nervous but it worked out good in the end. I had a few blown lines, and a couple of backwards runs down some mank but for as stout of a run that it is, I faired pretty well. This is a local favorite and is arguably one of the country's best continuous stretches of whitewater that demands a kayaker's respect!

AJ Running Spirit

Ryan in Sequence on Spirit

Good Weekend!

2007-12-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

I headed down to Bend, Oregon this weekend to visit some friends and do some paddlin. I had never been down there before so figured, what the hell. Christina and I tinkered around on the Dillon to Lava section of the Deschuttes....and it was friggin cold, but we did it anyway. Then did a little hiking around.

Breitenbush Creek

2007-11-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

A few of us decided to get out of town for the day and hit up something none of us had been on before. The Breitenbush is a class 3/4 creek with a run that spans about 10 miles long. This is a fun little creek to get on for the scenery alone. The rapids aren't anything to brag about, but it is definetly one of the most beautiful little rivers I have ever been on, and its suprisingly pretty deep in some area's.

A Day At The Coast

2007-11-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Jason and I headed to the Oregon coast on Saturday to hit some 6-13 foot waves. It was a damn good time and super tiring. Both of us got a little trashed on some pretty big ones, and we both had some really good rides. After about 4 hours of combat kayaking, both of us were so tired we could hardly function...glad I didn't drive!!!

Truss @ 2 ft on the Husum Gauge

2007-10-21T20:33:00.001-07:00

We put on today with a great crew that consisted of Nate Herbeck, Ryan Scott, Lana Young, Jason Schroeder, Scott Z, and myself. Most of us ran it pretty much top to bottom, including myself. Ryan and Nate were the only two who fired up lower zig zag, which still has a log stuck in it. This a great level to run everything at. I got a couple of beat downs, but had a great day with mostly great lines none the less. BZ gave Jason and I a little run for our money, but worked out good! Lana was taking most of the action shots, these are just a few of mine.

Hit up the Truss

2007-10-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

It was gorgeous ou ton Sunday, so a group of us decided to hop on the Truss of the White Salmon for a little fun! My Mom was in town and hiked in to BZ falls to watch us blue angel the drop and take pictures!

Low Water Wind River

2007-10-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

A few of us decided to hit up the Wind River in the next valley over to huck some 10-15 footers and switch it up a bit today.

Tieton this Weekend

2007-09-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hit up the Tieton for some playboating and drinking where we met some great Seattle folk and told rediculous stories until the wee hours of the night!

2007-09-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Good Weekend!

2007-09-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine that I met the last time I was out in Colorado came out to visit this weekend to do some backpacking and head out to the Oregon coast. We did an overnighter near Mt Hood on Friday and Saturday, then headed to the coast for Saturday and Sunday!

Finally Got Out Biking!

2007-09-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, I convinced Nate to rent a bike and hit the trails with me!! We took off towards Mt Hood, about a half an hour drive, and hit a 15 miler. One of the more fun trails i've hit in a while!

Paddlemania....more like a drink-a-thon....low water

2007-07-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Wausau Whitewater

2007-07-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have to give props to the designers of the new and improved course in Wausau. They have made it fun to playboat again!!! Not only do they have more features, but more variety. Over the last two weeks, i have spent about 18 hours purely just playboating there, and i still leave wanting more!! By the time i'm tired of one hole, i just float down 100 feet or so and have another great hole to figure out......i love it!!! Most definetly the best play in the Midwest!

More Colorado pics

2007-07-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Colorado '07

2007-06-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

This last week has been one to remember. One of the best paddling trips to date. We ran some hard stuff, some easy stuff, and hit up some play parks. Sarted the week off meeting of with london Nick and Stingl in Ft. Collins to run some sections of the Poudre. Hit up Spencer Hights and a juiced level, the rustic section, and the upper and lower Mishiwaka sections. Then drove over to Lawson and did Clear Creek from Lawson down to Idaho Springs, all of that on just Saturday and Sunday!!! Camped up in the mountains that night, and hit up the Lawson play hole on Clear Creek the next morning until early afternoon, then headed south to Beuna Vista to Joe Carroll's pad. Shortly after arriving there, the team Wavesport van shows up at his house and set up camp. It was fun hearing some of the stories some of the pro's had to share....no so far off fetch from some of the dumb shit that we do, suprisingly. We stayed between Granite and the Royal Gorge for the remainder of the week. The Arkansas river was cranked to around 2000 cfs at the numbers, and around 2800 cfs in the gorge, making for great playboat riverun/play runs all week. Huge wavetrains and massive holes in the gorge....a lot of fun! We got disco-d wednesday night with Ben Guska and Joe-c in BV and from then on it was off to Fibark in Salida for the night life and great music! We missed finals due to a cancelation from weather on Saturday night because we had to hit the road on sunday morning...bummer~

John Muir Trail

2007-06-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hooked up with a buddy i met on my last visit to Colorado down in the Kettle Moraine State Forest trail called John Muir. Named after the pioneer of a lot of public access trails in the state and also founder of the Sierra Club. These are full on mountain bike trails with several different difficulty and length options. There is also a connector trail to the Emma Carlin trails which are the next step up. Steep, and fun! They had some of the 10 mile loop closed due to a lot of rain in the area the last couple of days, so we did what we could twice, maybe about 14 or 15 miles. Halfway through our second loop, down came the rain. It was a fricken blast! Riding out the last few miles of the trail in downpoor that you could hardly see through, wish i had a camera on me, but oh well.

Ocoee

2007-06-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

A group of five of us went down to the Ocoee (oh-no-wee) last weekend to get some boating in. According to some of the locals, it was flowing at its highest flow in about two years. The upper and middle sections were running, so we got a chance to check out some of the play features on the olympic course down there. To be honest with you...not that impressed. I have more fun at Wausau! We met some great peeps and did have a pretty darn good time. Ran into some folks that i paddled with at Rock Island in January, one of which took 3rd at Reno this year (jonathan). We drove all night on Friday and got about 2 hours of sleep on saturday morning, so by the end of that day of paddling, we were all pretty pooped. Managed to make time for a beer at the rafting companies little outside bar though. I was a little dissapointed with the river though to be honest. I was hoping for a little bit more challenging rapids and a bit deeper play features...aside from hell hole, which i had the biggest loop of my life in and we finished out sunday on and hit up for a few hours monday morning before heading home. Great weather, and scenery the whole weekend! I will be in Colorado in a week and am really looking forward to it, hopefully i will get some great pics to throw up~peace

Pabstapalooza '07

2007-05-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a blast and pure fun! The bands were incredible and the turn out was a lot better than expected. Met some new paddlers and did a wee bit too much partying. The down river race was really fun and wasnt too serious....and yes i won it. The rodeo was at Pemene and was judged on a concensus by the team Pabst crew. I think Dave Lemke won that. And the carnage award went to the almighty Mike Manger....poor bastard! All and all i there were probably about 23 paddlers or so...give or take a few. I cant wait until next year~

S.C.B. '07

2007-04-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

The weather was great, the paddling was great, and the company was great! No serious carnage to report this weekend, well, besides a certain someone slipping on some ice off of a 20 foot cliff. But other than that, it was great! Paddled the final Mile of the Presque Friday morning, then the whole stretch in the afternoon. Saturday we all paddled the Black, then went out in Hurley for some good times!! I think we might have hit up almost every bar in town....which suprisingly, is quite a few bars. Then, Sunday, we hit the Black again with the Herbecks and Tao and friends. Monday Chaz, Tony, Johnny and I headed to the Upper Silver and hit that up at a good crankin level (8.3 or so) and i headed home. Those two were going to hit the Yellow Dog today....hope they had fun!

Jim Rada Race~

2007-04-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

A pretty great crew show up for Kiffy's Jim Rada Race. The weather was great, the company was great, and the race was great with two exceptions. Number one would be Brian Aho breaking his leg and ankle from a piton off of Manabezho just to the right of center. Number two would be me pitoning on the same drop, but taking a left line. We both penciled in and hit bottom. With the great crew of people that were boating that day, as a true group effort, we safely got Aho out of the gorge below the falls to the ambulance.

The Root~

2007-04-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

A few of us hopped into All Evil as it was forming but it was a little steeper than it looks and it was a little flushy on surfers left (the deepest part of the hole)

A few guys and myself got together at the Root River in Racine on Tuesday for a little play. The level spiked up to about 1000 cfs.

U.P. Creekin

2007-04-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

I dont really have too many pics, forgot my camera, but the crew ran up to the U.P. and hit the upper Silver this weekend. Ran 4 laps total for the weekend! Oz re-broke his Jefe, thanks to my shit ass weld job, and not much else in the area was running at primo levels. There was a good size crowd up there and no real carnage aside from a few boats, and everyone had fun!

Tellico

2007-03-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

The crew headed down to the Tellico in TN the other weekend to get warmed up for the great spring run off up here and had a blast!! Good weather too!!

Colorado weekend trip~

2007-03-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Went out to CO for a long weekend to visit some friends and do some snowshoeing. Didn't get out boarding at all...but it was a great weekend!

Green Narrows

2007-02-20T06:43:00.000-08:00

Brock, Aho, Johnny Bravo and myself headed to the Green last weekend. We caught a release on Saturday, but got skunked on Sunday and opted to do some scouting on some nearby creeks. It was a great weekend! Photos by Brian Aho~

NEW!-Wavedog Paddles

2007-02-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well, the much anticipated arrival of Wavedog Paddles is here! The testing and research is finally over and production has officially begun on these high quality wood paddles. I personally have been using a variety of Wavedog Paddles for the past few months and have been truly impressed with the durability and craftsmanship that has gone into each and every one of these paddles. If you are interested, check out www.wavedogpaddles.com there is a contact number on the website!

Rock Island~

2007-02-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Brock, John S. and Myself went down to Rock Island, TN last weekend to do some playboating. Only one generator was working, so they only were releasing at 1850 cfs, but it is still a really fun level. A lot of the Jackson Kayak big wigs were down there throwing ends around!

Turkey Day Southeast Trip!

2006-11-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Brian Aho, Jonny Utah, and Myself took a drive to West Virginia for the weekend. Clear blue skies and in the upper 60's everyday and some great whitewater. We started out Friday doing the Upper Gauley, which was running at the gauley season release levels. Then Saturday we went and ripped it up on the New River Gorge, which was an absolute blast!! Huge play, and huge water.....awesome! Come Saturday night, we decided to switch it up a bit and head to the Russel Fork on the Virginia and Kentucky border. A hellacious drive, about 5 hours through mountains, but it was well worth it!! This weekend couldn't have been any better!!! Good luck down at Jackson Kayak Jonny!!!

Lake Michigan Surfing

2006-11-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

Jonny Utah and i went out on the big pond on a winding day about two weeks ago....had an awesome time and caught some 8-12 foot curlers out there. About 40 mph winds and about 40 degrees.

Leisuresportsphoto.com pics from WV

2006-10-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Gauley-'06

2006-10-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

A group of eight of us had another great year down on the Gauley river last weekend! The weather was in the 50's two of the days, and 70's the other two days....it wasn't as crowded as last year, but that was a good thing. They were releasing at 3200 cfs instead of 2800 for some reason. Great time!!

Nice Fall Weekend

2006-09-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Fun weekend paddling the Wolf and Piers and did some great biking around the U.P. area too!! We did a 2 mile decsent in the dark....awesome...did some intense deer and bear shit dodging!

~More Colorado Pic's~

2006-06-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

~Colorado~

2006-06-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Caught the Fibark Whitewater Festival the first weekend we were out there. All the pro's were there, new tricks were invented and huge air was had. Stephen Wright won the National Mens Championship title, and Tanya Shuman won the women's. We paddled just about the whole Arkansas River stretch between Granite and Canyon City!! Royal Gorge, Granite throught the Numbers, Browns Canyon.....and of course topped our evenings off at the Salida rodeo hole. Probably the best hole in the country....Had an amazing time!

Sturgeon Falls Last Weekend

2006-05-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Craig and i headed up to Manitoba for a nice 5 day weekend to do some surfing at Sturgeon Falls. Had some run-ins with some thunderstorms that were pretty interesting, and cruised up in the new ride, which was only getting about 20mpg with the boats up top. Met Steve (from Madison) and his son, and a friend of theirs from CO that everyone likingly called "Grandpa" up there the third day, then the forth day drove up to Whitemud, if you like big meaty waves/holes, Whitemud is the place to get your groove on. So much fun!!!

Matt J running LaSalle Falls IN A S.C.U.D.

2006-04-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

North Shore Creeking

2006-04-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

Team Funk cruised up to Minnesota's North Shore last week and hooked up with the Duluth crew for an awesome weekend. We ran Two Island, the Poplar, Kadunce and the Brule.

U.P. Creeking Opener

2006-04-06T12:06:00.001-07:00

Brock, Montana Mark, Brian, Nick and Myself cruised up to the U.P. for a great weekend. We hit Falls Creek four times, and the Slate twice. We were lucky enough to catch the Slate while it was in, chances are that will be the only time it runs this year. A few boaters from Madison, and a bunch from IL met us up there to make a great crew of people to be around. The weather was also pretty nice!

Joe-C Farwell Paddle

2006-03-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Brock got a group of us together Wednesday night to suprise Joe for a paddle down the mighty Vermillion in IL. Ended up paddling through sundown, and couldn't have asked for a nicer night. Have fun and be safe out in Colorado Joe!! Its not going to be the same without you around here man-

-Green River Narrows-

2006-03-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

The crew went down to NC last weekend to hit up the Green. Awsome weather, upper 70's and sunny, and the only carnage anyone saw was my poor little Huka, its got a nice little dimple in its nose now.

A Few More Pics From Superior

2006-01-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Matt for sending me these pics of last weekend. Great shots!!

Another Great Weekend!

2006-01-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

Mike, Matt and myself cruised up to the North Shore in MN this weekend to do some snowshoeing and a little winter camping. Great weather, and temps were in the upper 20's and 30's. Hiked up Split Rock Creek and did the loop on the Superior Hiking Trail. Only saw a couple other people on the trails and the scenery was amazing. There were some 6-8 foot waves breaking at almost every point we came around on the way home. About 6 or 7 die hard surfers were out braving the cold water and having a good time.

2006-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Joe C in the J-Lo shades-Do it! Do it!

2006-01-19T02:42:00.000-08:00

-Pimp-

Isn't the Southeast supposed to be warmer?

2006-01-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Good times in West Virginia this past weekend. Cold, 20's cold, but well worth the trip. Joe C, Brock and his bro, Brandon and myself cruised down there for the weekend. Fun crew, and fun rivers!!

Another Great Pool Session

2006-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

These Pics are from last Fridays pool session. There were more sea kayaks than I have ever seen at the pool, with an equal amount of short boaters. Got some good footage too, thanks for bringing the camcorder Craig, sorry I took up all of the good footage, just kidding.

More North Shore Photos from Spring '05

2006-01-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

Just a few good shots taken when Jim B, Chizzle, Jake and myself headed for the North Shore in MN in April of last year.

Snowshoeing Season!!

2005-12-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from a couple of years ago up at the Punch Bowl, and also Willow River S.P. Its a great place to hike and climb around on the bluffs. Planning a North Shore camping trip with a few people for the end of January. Sure to have some great pics from that trip.

Sturgeon River Progress in the U.P.

2005-11-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

A few of us were up around the Piers area this weekend and dropped by to check out the Sturgeon River progress of the dam removal. Looks promissing at higher water. Needs a couple good floods. WE Energies has just about the entire area cleared out and cleaned up-

Wausau Comp '05

2005-11-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

The scenic view here is the view from the campground atop of Rib Mtn, which overlooks Wausau. I thought I would throw some good shots of the Comp up to show some folks that didn't show up what they missed. I have a load of these pictures, if anyone wants any, just let me know.

2005-11-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Jim Jensen's land swimmer goggles-needs windshield wipers for these things.This was taken in late summer this year-I got myself in a bit of a pickle-little shallow-

A Year Ago this Weekend

2005-10-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

The whole crew tied on on for one of the biggest nights of the year last Halloween. Fun!

TruCurrent

2005-10-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

Goofy Bastards!

Trip Pics From Leisuresports.com

2005-10-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

Look whos king of the hole!!
These pictures were taken at Pillow Rock and 5-Boat Hole-

2005-10-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

This raft got crunked against Pillow Rock pretty good.

The bottom raft is about to get eaten by Iron Ring on the upper Gauley. There was a lot of good raft carnage on the river that day.

2005-10-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Just havin a little fun on the lovely little Sullivan falls one day in May. 500cfs, we had a lot of fun that day!!

2005-10-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

Team Pabst in one of their finer moments in time. The night before the Wausau Comp finals--Training-Spin to win Matt!!

2005-10-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

This one is of the Chizzle to my Nizzle up on the North Shore-looking for eggets of course.

Pool Sessions and Status of BSBS:

2005-10-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

If anyone in the central/SE Wisconsin area is interested in winter pool sessions, Badger State Boating Society in Waukesha,WI is holding them at the YMCA in Brown Deer. If you need to car pool, there are plenty of us around who are willing to do so. We need at least 10 people at each of our sessions to break even. The schedual is now posted on www.bsbs.org and welcomes new members. There is a group of us that gets together almost every weekend to paddle (whitewater) and if you are a beginner, now would be the time to bombproof your roll. The cost is $10 per person, per session to cover rental costs and to help keep this club alive. If you need more info, feel free to leave a post on the forum on the BSBS website. Thanks!
Jesse

2005-10-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

More scenic pics from NE WI last weekend!

2005-10-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

First Drop on the Pesh-and Pemene Falls at 6800cfs!

Random Photos

2005-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

These are just some random images

Couple pics from the Gauley the other week.

2005-10-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

These guys are a great group of guys to paddle with. Prompt, ready to go every time.

Tygart Valley from a week ago down in WV.

2005-10-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

A very scenic piece of the U.S.

2005-10-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

Wrapping up the Season-

2005-10-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Had a good time paddling on the Peshtigo River this last weekend. Headed to Pemene Falls to see what that was going to be like. Ended up hopping in and catching a sweet wave on Saturday evening. Sooo nice.