hydrophilia

A Collection of Raven Fork Photos

2009-10-04T22:33:00.013-04:00

Over the past few years, the popularity of and the regularity of runs on the Raven Fork has exploded. With its steep gradient, huge clean drops, relatively easy (but extremely tenuous) access, dialed gauges, and spectacular pristine surroundings, it is no wonder why the Raven Fork has become a favorite Class V fix for so many kayakers in the Southeast. We continue to have access despite more than a few inconsiderate knuckleheads' blunders that keep us walking a fine line regarding the access situation. Let us hope we can still get these goods in the future.

Over the years I've collected a bunch of pictures from the Raven Fork, so here are some of my favorites:
The short, but rutted shuttle has been known to hand out beatings. 4x4 and high clearance is highly recommended.

Joe Barkley dropping into the top drop of the first big rapid, Anaconda.

Mac McGee dropping into the same drop on Anaconda, but viewed from the bottom of the rapid.

Mac finishing out Anaconda.

Daniel on the final slide of Mortal Combat.

Wet Willy.

Nathan Silsbee getting a Wet Willy.

Some stand on that rock to scout Big Boy. However, most just stand in awe of the beauty and power of the drop and the amazing view of the insane gradient below.

Looking at the infamous Big Boy lip.

One of my favorite photos, Chris Gragglemans showing me how to style it on my first trip down the RF. He's so good that the gods highlight his runs with rainbows.

Feeling small at the bottom of Mike Tysons Punchout.

Eric Chance and Stephen McGrady blue angeling Mike Tyson's, with Chance sticking the final 20 footer backwards in true style.

Adam Secrest doing the same with handpaddles. What a beast!

Silsbee posing to show us how to make Mike Tysons look easy.

Mac amidst Mike Tysons. This rapid is a great photo opportunity.

Somebody looking very small in Mike Tysons, so small that I can't tell who it is.

Chris Gragmans about to accelerate at light speed, dropping into Mike Tysons at high water...

And about to fly off the final 20 footer.

Eli Smith dropping in to Harjes' Rapid with truly mystical surroundings.

Saunders in Caveman, experiencing the "best boof in the southeast" for the first time.

Silver Run Falls, Tox Put-in Slide, & more...

2009-09-29T16:35:00.016-04:00

With all the Richter-high levels last week, I was lucky enough to get on two and a half new runs.
The first was the Upper West Fork of the Pigeon, which we got on at a good low flow. This run is a good candidate when you are driving around and getting skunked by blown out levels on stuff like the West Fork of the Pigeon and the Big East Fork. I enjoyed this run, although I would have enjoyed it a lot more we didn't have to portage the biggest rapid on the run due to a piece of wood in the bottom drop.

The one I'll call "half" a run was the sweet park and huck Silver Run Falls just upstream of the Whitewater River. The 30' drop is far from straightforward. The entrance is a shallow, bumpy slide that twists through rhododendron and falls off the lip of the drop. Making it even more interesting is the fact that the right side of the falls lands on rocks and the rest of it lands in green water.

We arrived there a little after 9am to find low water, but it definitely looked worth running so Chan Jones and I decided to give 'er. I watched from the top as Chan seal launched on to the shallow slide and stick his line off the lip. Ten minutes later I followed suit, went a little further left than I had wanted, and landed a little over vertical.

Thanks to Jonathon Absher for snapping this sweet pic. By 10:30 I had already run a sweet 30 footer. But I would say that if I were to run it again, I'd want a little more water to make the entrance slide less scrapey.

Well, what's next we asked? We decided to head 15 minutes away to the Toxaway to run the put-in slide at Richter high water.

This is what the Toxaway looks like when the gauge reads +9 inches (normal runnable levels range from -4 inches to 2 inches). The amount of water in the put-in slide transformed it into a full-on hold onto your pants ride. The current was so strong at the normal seal launch spot at the top of the slide that there was no way to get far enough left to avoid the shelf and the hole on river right that you normally go around, so we put in just below the shelf.

At this point in the slide I was probably going the fastest I've ever gone in kayak. It was a wild ride, a lot like energizer but wider and without the concern of crushing an elbow on a wall. Just don't flip over here.

Photo: Chan Jones
At this level, a formidable hydraulic forms at the bottom of the slide so you definitely want to make sure you keep 'er straight and skip well past the recirculation, which is a good 15' in some spots.

The day before the above park and huck missions I was able to squeeze in an Upper and Lower Rocky Broad run in between classes (perfect example of why I love going to school here so much!). It was my first time running the Upper, although I have gone at low water several times to swim around and sunbath with friends. It seemed to be a great level for the Upper section, although it could have used a little more water. The Upper was a nice warm-up stretch for the Lower, even though the two sections are completely different character.

When we paddled past the gauge at the put-in of the Lower, it read 4.6, so I would guess it was a little higher than that while we were on the Upper. This seemed to be a sweet level for the Lower as everything gets more padded out.

Here's Bixby boofing A-frame.

Bixby buttering it up through "The Nipple."

I think this was the point when I realized I needed new paddling shoes. But damn these Keens lasted almost three years of heavy use, including two long trips out west with long hikes into California overnighters! I heard the 5.10 savants are pretty sweet so we'll see how they compare...

Here we have Bixby doing a little submarine resurfacing trick in a nasty hole on the Lower.

And working it out just fine.

Wilensky and I take a drier line.

And here's a photo of Drew Duval boofing Walker Falls from the last time I was on it at lower water a few months back.

And a little high water Green action is always some quality fun when your schedule and water levels don't permit a longer trip on natural flow.

Here's Crankee spankin' the monkey at a healthy 12".

Adriene is barely visible here in the trough, getting ready to go through "speed wave" rather than "speed trap."

Overall it was a quality four days of whitewater and I feel fortunate that I was able to paddle so much good whitewater. The southeast is a fun place to live when it rains. Last week was definitely a reminder of that fact!
Peace.

Ahhh, My First Toxaway...

2009-05-31T23:00:00.008-04:00

I've been waiting for years to get on this South East classic and it finally happened this spring. I've heard dozens of stories from friends and watched so much footage of this epic run, not to mention all the times I've run these rapids in my head (especially thanks to Gragtmans' Toxaway headcam tour on LVM 19, which is still one of my personal favorite LVM segments).

The level was low but still great, something like -3 to -4 inches and everything went super smooth for a Toxaway day. Thanks Adam Bixby, Adam Secrest, and Chan Jones for showing me down!

Chan at the end of the put-in slide.

Adam Secrest about halfway through minigizer (which as of September 25, 2009 cannot be run from the top due to a huge landslide deposited boulder).

Chan about to seal launch into Energizer. This is usually the point in a day of kayaking when I am giving thanks for being alive and crapping my boat at the same time.

Chan amidst the adrenaline-filled high-speed trough ride that is Energizer.

Adam Bixby getting close to the bottom of Energizer...one of the longest, biggest rapids I will ever run.

Wish I had some photos of Wintergreen and Landbridge but we routed them too fast and I was too gripped to think about photos. I had seen enough photos of Wintergreen that I felt comfortable just dropping in blind behind someone else, so 60 seconds after I had run Landbridge I was at the bottom of Wintergreen wondering how it is possible to drop all that gradient that quickly!

Man is blessed to be able to experience this place!
Peace.

A Spontaneous Linville Day

2008-09-30T18:10:00.009-04:00

The Linville Gorge is such a quality run. You are guaranteed a full dose of fun whenever you are on this one. On this day in particular, I met up with the legend Daniel Stewart , Daniel Windham, and Mr. Nate Elliot for whitewater boat ridin'!

Here's Daniel hiking down to the gorge. Very purty with the colors and mist and stuff...

Daniel Windham gettin some Babel Tower boof action.

Daniel erecting his boat straight up in the air like the show-off he is.

Nate dropping into Cave Rapid.

This kid not only has red hair but great paddling skillz too!

And mystery move skills as well.

View from the bottom of Windham running Cave.

Seal launching in below the portage.

Looking back up at one of my favorite boogie rapids just below the seal launch.

Ah solitude! A good John Muir quote would be appropriate here.

D. Stewart greasing a double drop.

The level was great...I think 2.4ish, maybe? It was only my second time out there and can't wait to get back!
Peace.

Dinkey Creek Waterfalls Video

2008-09-08T19:56:00.006-04:00

I took advantage of a light homework load this weekend and did some editing from the stockpile of footage from this summer's Cali trip. I liked so much of the Dinkey Creek footage that I decided to do a short piece on just Dink. The flow seemed to be a solid medium (350 cfs), which turned out to be a great level for us to show ourselves down first D style. What makes this run so much fun is how runnable everything is in addition to its steep gradient. After the run, I think we calculated that one could paddle the whole stretch with just two portages, if they were feeling up to it...

Check it out:

Dinkey Creek Waterfalls '08 from Clayton Gaar on Vimeo.

Hurricane Fay Flashes WNC

2008-09-08T18:41:00.008-04:00

Tuesday, Aug. 26 turned out to be epic as the remnants of Hurricane Fay swept over Western North Carolina, with some areas receiving 10+" of rain. After class, I met up with Daniel Windham and Robin Betz to check out the West Fork of the Pigeon. After a brutal drive in the pouring rain, we arrived at the WF of the Pigeon put-in to find several groups of kayakers with wide-opened eyes. They confirmed, as our visual at the Garden of Gods had already suggested, that the river was flashing straight up and that they had hiked out. So we decided to drive to the nearby Big East Fork of the Pigeon, a micro creek that you head to when other runs are high, only to find it had flooded its banks as well.

As it was getting late and we had nowhere to paddle, we turned to Ol' Mama Green. Phone calls provided beta that indicated that it "looked like it was probably running." So we called Chris Gragtmans and offered him the opportunity for a nice little evening poach on the Green.

On the way from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Green, we stopped by looking glass falls which looked magnificent in all of its might.

O lordy we were in for a surprise when we arrived at the takeout. It looked high. How high? We couldn't tell exactly, but we knew it was gonna be juicy. Feeling super pumped, we met Chris at the put-in and hiked down to run Big Hungry Creek into the Green. It was my first time running Big Hungry, so I had didn't have much to compare it to. However, I did feel a little uneasy when I saw that there was more water flowing through Big Hungry than a normal 100% Green release. Gragglemans said it had four times the flow he had ever scene in Big Hungry! The stick gage confirmed our estimates: 22" of all good old-fashioned natural flow. Thats not something you get to paddle every day!

Due to the excessive amounts of driving we had done all day, by the time we arrived at Frankenstein it was already about 7:45pm. The river was in such a muddy flood stage that getting splashed in the face during the put-in boogie water resulted in ten minutes of agony for me as I tried to work out whatever dirt had lodged itself in my eye. After precious minutes of daylight had ticked away, I was stoked when whatever it was finally worked itself out in the eddy above Frankenstein.

What ensued was a mad-bombing, heart-pumping, high-water race against daylight. There was no time to take pictures, but I was able to snap the above pic of Go Left before peeling out of the eddy. For comparison, below is a picture of Go Left at a normal level 7".

It was getting noticeably dark as we carefully portaged Gorilla and paused for a second to appreciate its power and glory. Nutcracker into Groove Tube into Sunshine was the highlight of the day. The boogie water below Sunshine went so fast it blew my mind. It didn't go fast enough though because we still had to run Hammer Factor in the dark (which led to some interesting lines of course).

Here's the crew at the takeout. All in all it was a glorious reunion for T-Dirk, as the four of us hadn't paddled together since the West Cherry ending to our Cali trip (we were missing the 5th T-Dirk member that night, the token hand-paddler, Adam Secrest).

Many prayers of thanks are appropriate for our safe return from our high-water mission. Many of our fellow boaters did not fair so well with the flashing water levels that evening as countless groups on a variety of runs throughout WNC lost gear, spent the night in the woods, or worse.

RIP Isaac. You are remembered.

California '08 Trip Report

2008-07-30T13:30:00.041-04:00

Caution to the reader - This is a long post.

Greetings! As the summer winds down for me, I am left reminiscing about my travels, working off my debt from those travels, and dreaming about travels to come. Right after my exams, my summer began with an exotic bang as I spent ten days in Brazil. Between the bustling city of Sao Paulo and the luxurious beach getaways, I have countless memories of one of the coolest countries I have ever visited. Big thanks to the Lima family for graciously showing me around and introducing me to my new favorite drink - the Caipirinha!

I think this picture sums up why Brazil is so great. Between the mountains and the girls, there is enough beauty to keep your head spinning.

But alas, let's get to the kayaking, because the rivers of the Sierras are one of the few things that could pull me away from the beaches of Brazil. As soon as I got back to Atlanta, I had a day or two to pack for a month in California. I also had limited time to get a kayak. Big ups to Obie at Liquidlogic, the master of customer service, for working his magic and to Adam Secrest for driving four hours out of the way to pick up my boat before picking me up and driving to Cali! You guys rock!

After driving 44 hours straight, we arrived at Three Rivers just outside of Sequoia National Park. We found a campsite to poach a few hours of sleep before waking up and putting on Hospital Rock of the Middle Kaweah. Wow! What a perfect introduction to the promise land that is California. This run is just straight up good clean fun! Most everything is good to go and, with the exception of 0-60, everything gets better as you add more water.

Here's Adam Secrest and Drew Duval chillin in the 420 Gorge of the Hospital Rock section. If you go there, you'll understand why it's so hard to paddle out of the gorge...it's just too darn beautiful! After three runs on Hospital Rock we headed to Coloma and met up with Nick Urquhart, who took us over to South Silver to get our slippy-slide on.

I found this purtty little guy at the South Silver put-in.

Although a little more water would have been nice, South Silver was still tons of fun. Enough fun to go back the next day for a quick run before picking up Chris Gragglemans at the airport.

Here's me getting some stomp practice on Offramp. The Skyscraper/Offramp combo is a hoot. Walk back up on river left to lap. (Parden the low quality of this picture and some others as they are still frames from video.)

After picking up his majesty at the airport, we headed to Yosemite to meet up with Daniel Windham and Robin Betz to get some South Merced action.

Unsurpassed beauty surrounds you in Yosemite National Park. One of the coolest things about this trip was that not only did I get to visit these parks that I'd wanted to visit my whole life, but I got to see them via paddling some of the most incredible whitewater.

The South Merced ended up being the perfect run at the time as it was a low-key introduction to California overnighters for us newbies (me, Daniel, & Adam). It was also a relatively low-stress environment to let the group mesh and work out some kinks in communication and organization. This run has more class V read and run than you can imagine, which translates into some super fun mad-bombing for those that know the run.

photo: Robin Betz

Here's Adam dropping into one of the first rapids of day 2 just around the corner from camp at Superslide. Although the character of the whitewater out there was different compared that of the southeast, Adam consistently styled it and represented southeastern handpaddlers proudly.

Since we were in the Yosemite neighborhood, we took a day to check out the Tenaya slide. After hiking in and having a mind-blowing scouting session, we decided to go get our boats and spend the afternoon at the slide. You may have seen footage of this slide from its four previous descents (either in Aerated or the Source). The first part of the slide drops an impressive ~100 ft pretty darn near vertical and then mellows out significantly for what is a 60 second ride that makes you feel like you are at a whitewater park!

photo: Robin Betz

Here you can see the scale of this bad boy. Chris and I are standing next to the steep top slide. You can see a middle portion of the bottom part of the slide as it winds its way down the granite around the corner. After Chris fired up the whole thing (yeah buddy!), we all proceeded to lap the bottom part of the slide.

Here's Robin a few seconds into the minute long ride.

Water levels had us drive back to the Kaweahs, where we got two more runs on Hospital Rock at an awesome high flow. We also met Bill Pooly, who knows more about the Kaweah watershed than anyone else - ever. Check out his website, The Kaweah River Page and drop him a line if you are headed to the area. He's da man!

photo: Robin Betz

Here's Chris sticking Little Niagra at a pushy level.

The second day we decided to run an extra 7 miles or so below the normal Hospital Rock takeout that seldom gets run. This section does not compare to the quality of the whitewater of the Hospital Rock section, but definitely has a few notable rapids that are quite enjoyable. The Iron Lung gorge, among others, was a highlight and should be scouted beforehand. If you're chilling in the area and tired of running Hospital Rock section (which I can't imagine because it's that good) this section could mix things up a little for you. Watch out for what I would call a few mandatory portages (at least at the level we had).

Here Robin shows us how to seal launch in below one of the nasty portage rapids on the section of the Middle Kaweah below the normal Hospital Rock takeout.

Here's the crew exiting the Iron Lung gorge, which is also an awesome cliff jumping spot.

Just in time, the Dinkey Creek waterfalls section dropped in to a perfect level so we headed straight there, where we witnessed a big marijuana bust complete with a helicopter hauling off a cargo net full of crops. The next morning we found out that the hike-in lives up to its reputation. Despite the extensive beta we had collected from others, we managed to take a few wrong turns and only found the put-in after bushwhacking down the tributary. We soon discovered why everyone had told us not to miss this run. This river was made for kayakers to enjoy its pleasures!

photo: Robin Betz

Daniel practices his waterfall technique on the 20 footer that signals it's time to portage left around some scary sieves. Directions for executing the jump portage:
Step 1: Throw your paddle and boat. This is tricky. It takes some skills to boof your boat when you're not in it.

Step 2: Jump. Hucking a misty flip earns you extra style points, just as long as you stick the landing.

Photo: Robin Betz

This triple drop was one of my favorite rapids on Dinkey. And camp was just downstream.

Adam Secrest waves to the camera amidst the good morning slide.

I think I watched The Seven Rivers Expedition too many times because when we got to the big slide that we referred to as "Nikki's drop," I ended up recreating Nikki Kelly's line nearly perfectly. This frame is right before I flipped and ran the rest of the drop backwards.

Next we headed to Fantasy Falls. This run was interesting to do after Dinkey because its character was so different. The beta we had was that there were some gorges that were runnable and some gorges that were just plain scary and unrunnable. Over the course of the first day and a half, we faced countless portages.

photo: Robin Betz

This was a cool little slide rapid that had me flying. Even though you spend a lot of time and energy portaging, there are plenty of great rapids that are tons of fun...

photo: Robin Betz

Like this rapid that Sir Graggle showed us how to style.

Daniel and Chris scout a gorge on day two. Scouting entire gorges is something you get used to on this run. Some, like this one, are good to go. Others are not. To make things easier, have a guide that knows the run. Otherwise you'll get great practice with scouting rapid from atop the ridges.

Daniel in the crux of the gorge he just scouted. Below this one is a big friggin rapid that we all portaged!

photo: Robin Betz

At the end of day 2 we were exhausted and ready to be at camp. So when we reached the lip of Fantasy Falls, which meant camp, we all bombed off blind and yipped with pure joy. We all had to get some good laps in either that night or the next morning.

Shortly after waking up on day 3 we found ourselves at the big slide that causes many swims. Here's me in the middle of my first run before I got worked in the hole and swam. I then proceeded to hike up, run it again, and swim again. Chris, Daniel, and Robin made it through with no problems, although Robin might have gotten a little swirled around up top...

Then it was time to head to Cherry Lake to get on West Cherry.

photo: Robin Betz

Trying out different backpack systems for the hike in. This one was not the winner.

West Cherry had some of the cleanest drops we ran all summer.

photo: Robin Betz

Adam boofs the hell out of a sweet 20 footer.

When we got to the bigun, the 30 Foot Pothole drop, Chris got super fired up and decided to run it first thing in the morning. Daniel repelled into the pothole to set superb safety, but it was not needed as Chris nearly flew out of the narrow exit of the pothole like the superhero he is.

photo: Robin Betz

The Charlie Beavers Megarapid was a highlight of my summer. Chris demonstrates the correct way to land on the slide.

photo: Robin Betz

The only group shot we got all summer. I love you guys! Left to Right: Adam Secrest, Chris Gragtmans, Robin Betz, Clayton Gaar, Daniel Windham

Of course, all trips must come to an end. Thank goodness mine ended with an epic Upper Cherry experience! It all started when I lost the trail on the hike in and decided to bushwhack down to the river and have a little unexpected 24 hour solo experience in the Upper Cherry wilderness. It turns out that I reached the river three miles downstream of the put-in, but just upstream of the Class IV Gorge. After waiting almost the whole next day for the boys to come down, they finally came boogying down the river and woke me up from a nap. So I hopped into my boat and 45 minutes later, found myself pulling into the final eddy before the entrance gorges to Cherry Bomb.

For anyone who is curious about what goes through one's head when their alone in Upper Cherry, check out the self-interviews from when I was solo. Nothing too exciting. Basically I just tried to keep telling myself it would work out alright.

I believe we were the first group to do Upper Cherry this year and there was some speculation that the level might be Richter-high. Much to our delight, we found a perfect medium-high level that made Cherry Bomb terrifying, but doable for the whole group.

Joe Barkley in the middle of the Class IV gorge, dropping into a different Gorilla than he is used to running.

When we reached Cherry Bomb, half the group decided to bomb into it while the rest of us left our boats for a morning run and hiked our gear down to flintstone camp. All who opted for the evening run had good lines. That night, I hiked into the gorge to have a little one-on-one time with Cherry Bomb. The next morning we dropped into Cherry Bomb rolling eight deep. Things got crazy quickly when Paul dislocated his shoulder as he landed off Cherry Bomb. It was a good thing Jason Hale was able to put it back in while sitting in the tiny eddy below the weir. Paul styled the first three drops until he flipped in the fourth and his shoulder came out. He then swam into the sieve on drop six, popped up in the crack, and climbed on top of the sieve and was roped out. That's the super abbreviated version of the story. Basically, it could have been a lot worse and I was just so glad that everybody was alright.

The group letting emotions calm after a chaotic morning in Cherry Bomb. So much good whitewater left to paddle that day. Easily the best day of kayaking of my life!

Evan Garcia getting serious air time after seal launching into one of the teacups.

Double Pothole is one of my favorite rapids of all time. Frenchie shows us how it's done.

Dead Bear Falls provides a quality opportunity to practice waterfall technique. Here I am working on my Oregon tuck.

If anyone has made it this far in the post, I commend you and I'll end it quickly. My trip to California was everything I expected and more. Great people, great times, world class whitewater, and so many memories I don't even know what to do with them! I am super grateful for making it home safe and I hope to make it back there next summer.

If I could describe California in one word it would have to be EPIC! (I can't imagine what BC is like.)

Thank you Robin Betz for shooting awesome pictures as I was always fooling with my video camera! The next post will have footage from all these runs, just as soon as I edit it all.

Peace.

Colorado/New Mexico Video 1

2008-04-27T13:36:00.017-04:00

Last week I was stoked to put on the shorty for the first time this season. Why was I so stoked? Because this simple act signifies something much larger, much more exciting...SUMMERTIME HAS ARRIVED! For students such as myself, this means heading down the final stretch of exams. For many paddlers, it means it's about that time to start pegging out the details for summer trips. Right now it looks like I'm going to be making my first Hajj to California, which seems to be a sort of Mecca for southeastern creekboaters. Hopefully I'll be able to get on some of the classic early season runs out there during the month of June.

Last summer I was able to take a road trip with a few friends out to New Mexico and Colorado and paddle for well over a month. Here are a few pictures from that trip. All photos used in this post were taken by Josh Werts.

The put-in for the Rio Embudo afforded a pretty spectacular view! It kind of looks like a Chevy commercial doesn't it?

Here's me having fun in "Slots of Fun" on the Rio Embudo.

Putting in on the Upper Taos Box of the Rio Grande.

Mid-way up the vertical hike out of the Upper Taos Box.

Josh snapped this picture while taking a break on the hike in to the 3rd gorge of Lime Creek near Durango, CO.

Daniel Windham getting his boogy on in the Gilman Gorge. This run is interesting because it runs straight through a Superfund site. I think it was an old mining operation. Don't drink the water.

This is me probing "Slurry Pipe" rapid on Gilman Gorge. Can you guess how it got its name? There's also some barbwire down in there too. Gilman Gorge is just fun stuff. Not too hard, but enough to keep you on your toes while enjoying a bunch of solid class IV+ boogie.

Although complications prevented us from running this sweet, well-known drop on the Crystal River, we still basked in its post-card-worthy beauty.

It has taken me a while to get around to editing the footage from this trip, but in anticipation of this summer's fun (and in an attempt to procrastinate during the last few weeks of the semester) I have put together the first of several videos from the trip. This video contains footage from Rio Embudo, Upper Taos Box of the Rio Grande, 1st Gorge of Lime at super low flow, a little bit of Gilman Gorge, and the Meatgrinder section of the Crystal River. When I finish with exams, I hope to edit the rest of the trip's footage (including South St. Vrain, Oh Be Joyful, Whitestripe, and more) before heading off to Brazil for two weeks to be a non-boating tourist. Enjoy!

Colorado/New Mexico Kayaking part 1 from Clayton Gaar on Vimeo.

Mixing it up on the Green

2008-03-20T15:44:00.031-04:00

This post (like so many posts on other blogs) is dedicated to the Green River. Cooper Lambla did a great post on his blog, Downstream Movement, a few months ago that highlighted a few ways that he was keepin' it real on the Green. That post kind of inspired this here post of mine, because I had been trying to think of a way of posting some pics and video for my family to see, but at the same time, I didn't want the post to be just another Green River post for kayakers.

Due to its proximity to Asheville and its frequent release schedule, this river gets run a ridiculous number of times. Since I started school in Asheville last year, I've logged 55 runs on the Green and that's without skipping class to go paddling. Because it gets run so often, many people experience a feeling of familiarity that borders on boredom. In his post, Cooper mentions some new ways he's found to "scare" himself on the Green. This post describes some of the ways that I've found to mix things up on the river.

Enjoying the bumpy ride down Rapid Transit with the man who showed me down the Green for the first time, Nathan Silly-bee. Photo: Ryan Moore

On a funny side note, when Nathan was showing me down the Green for the first time a year and half ago, there was a miscommunication concerning how to sneak Go Left which resulted in me running Go Left on accident and very blind. Needless to say, I was very surprised! He and I have worked on our communication skills since then.

Sunshine. Photo: Ryan Moore

What's amazing about the Green is that it never gets old, no matter how many times you run it. Between the quality of the rapids and the pristine beauty of the run, I always feel blessed to have the opportunity to experience what this place has to offer. Recently, I've had a bunch of new experiences and "firsts" on the Green that have shown me that there's always a way to rekindle your love for your favorite run.

This year was my first time participating in the Green Race. I once heard a local boater say that his two favorite days of the year were Christmas and the Green Race, and now I understand. There is nothing like running the Gorilla with 500 people standing there watching and cheering. My approach to the race was pretty lackadaisical. I was just trying to have a good time and good lines on the river. Although I missed more lines than I would have liked, I had a great line off the Monkey and was all smiles at the finish.

Here's me running Gorilla in the Green Race. Picture is courtesy of Ben Edson of Downstream Photo. Ben is a super nice guy and will be out snapping photos at this year's Jerry's Baddle. Here's another Downstream Photo shot, this time of Boof or Consequences during last year's Jerry's Baddle.

A little over a month ago I had the pleasure of taking my brother, Taylor, down the Green for his first time. This was something I had been looking forward to ever since my first time down, and I felt so honored to show him down. I was super stoked to watch him stick everything! It was my first time taking a newbie down, so it was a very different dynamic to go slow instead of bombing down like usual. This run reminded me what it was like to be a newbie, when all the rapids become a blur and you don't know what's beyond the horizon line. Hell yeah bro! Get you some!

Taylor gettin' his boof on at Groove Tube.

In a little over a week is the 3rd annual Jerry's Baddle. This kayaking/biking race is in honor of Jerry Beckwith and is put on to raise awareness for ALS. I competed in it last year and must say that it is a great event and a lot of fun. Partly in anticipation of the race, and partly because I found myself without a creek boat, I asked my brother to bring my old Corsica up from Atlanta so I could have a boat to paddle and start training some for Jerry's. So last month I got my first taste of the Green in a long boat, which was super sweet of course.

Although I was a bit intimidated at the put-in, I had smooth lines all day, with Go Left (above) and Sunshine being the highlights. Cruisin' down the river in a long boat is smooth and fast, and I can't get enough of it.

Riding that pillow at the lip of Sunshine. Get that bow right!

Spanking the monkey never gets old...period. If you don't have time or shuttle for two runs, lapping Gorilla is a great alternative to ensure you get your fix for the day.

This picture illustrates another way to make things interesting. Recently, people have been running the right side of Nutcracker and then carrying up to do a seal launch into Groove Tube. It's especially great to run Groove Straight direct into Sunshine, what Cooper describes as a "hot-hot" move. The line is cool because it affords a little 8-footer if you choose the correct door. It's best not to choose door #1 or #2, or else you'll end up in a nasty situation such as the one depicted here. Apparently no one told him what was behind door #2. It took us about 15 minutes to get him out safely. You can see his black helmet directly above the wood against the rock. Needless to say, the pin could have been a lot worse.

Here is Mr. Daniel Windham looking relieved that the situation is over. With his long arms and extensive rope knowledge, this is a man I'd like to have around if I get in a tight spot.

This past Saturday I met Daniel Windham and Robin Betz to get some early morning long boat runs in. We arrived at the put-in to discover a wonderful gift of two units running at 100% load, which turned out to be 18". Daniel and I had never taken long boats down at 200%, so it was like Christmas morning for us. Go Left at 18" in a long boat makes for some interesting lines...and I'll leave it at that. We were having such a blast that we finished two runs before I knew it.

Robin Betz showing how to get 'er done on Sunshine at 250%.

Here's a quick video from a year ago of Chris Gragtmans and Nathan Silsbee running Gorilla at a similar level:

It's been an amazing season of paddling for me. Since September I've been able to get my first runs on Linville, Horsepasture, Big Creek, and Raven Fork. I couldn't be any more stoked or any more grateful to the river gods for allowing (mostly) good lines for me and all my paddling peeps.

The last thing I'll add is one of the first videos I edited last year. A glance back into the past. It has a shot of my second run of Gorilla (I was so stoked) as well as some footage from the Birthday Eddy Bash in honor of Daniel DeLaVergne.

Be easy.

Raven Fork at 7"

2008-02-03T14:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to run the Raven Fork for my first time and boy did it live up to its reputation. I had heard tales of its wonder, but there's no way to comprehend the beauty and uniqueness of this run until you find yourself sliding down its smooth granite formations surrounded by luscious green life.

I woke up early and met up with Daniel Windham, Chris Gragtmans, Rob Thompkins, and Jonathon Shannon. On the way to the river, the consensus among the level forecasters was a prediction of 9-10", but slightly to our dismay, we arrived at the bridge to find the gauge reading 7". We were still stoked and knew it was going to be a solid day anyway. Apparently there is an alternate road up to the top which is not nearly as full-on as the "classic" put-in road. We went for the alternate, and feeling a little jipped on the "full Raven Fork experience," we arrived at the top without even having to put the Tacoma in 4x4.

We walked past huge ice chunks on the hike in, but by the time we reached Lord of the Rings we were all sweating. Lord of the Rings was a super cool warmup. Five clean drops right off the bat, that's the way I like it! We all opted out of Anaconda as the level was well on the low side, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back in there with more water and givin' 'er.

Here we have Rob bringing up the rear at Headless Horseman. It looks pretty dinky in the picture, but it is quite an impressive rapid in person.

Mortal combat was definitely a highlight of the day.

Good lines were had by all throughout the day. By the time we arrived at the Big Boy, the group was all smiles, and the warm sun was shining bright in a perfect blue sky. Rob and Chris decided to fire up the big one and had super smooth lines.

Here we have exhibit A, Rob showing how it's done on Big Boy. Excessive fist-pumping ensued shortly after this picture was taken.

Chris had an impressive boof of the lip but brought her down nicely for the landing.

Probably my favorite rapid of all time, Mike Tyson's. It's nearly impossible to capture this rapid on video or photo because it's too damn big! Here's Rob somewhere in the middle of Mike's. There are two entrance drops upstream and you might be able to make out Chris's bow in the eddy at the bottom of the rapid.

Chris dropping into the first drop of Caveman.

Daniel Windham and Chris Gragtmans routing through Caveman.

Here's me finishing 'er off on that sweet boof. You gotta love it! Rob was shooting awesome photos all day. This here is an example.

This is a day on the river I will not forget. Mad props to Chris and Rob for showing Daniel and I down for the first time. At the takeout we graciously thanked Emanuel, aka THE MAN, for letting us park on his property. On a sidenote, as we were leaving Emanuel did tell us to park in an orderly fashion next time. Yesterday there were four groups and cars were parked all over the place. Emanuel said that it was cool if we parked in the grass lot by the carport and the RV, that way there's no need to clog up his driveway. Let's all try and respect his wishes!
Cheers!

Reminiscing the Vallecito

2008-02-03T12:21:00.000-05:00

This summer, while in Colorado, we were able to get on one of the Colorado class V classics: the Vallecito Gorge. The first day we tried to run it, it was sub-freezing temperatures and snowing. Although it made for a beautiful sight, we didn't have drysuits and we were cold as shit! The level was also a little higher than we had hoped for our first run because none of us knew the lines. Once you're in the gorge you are committed with pretty much no way to get out. We ran the entrance 20-footer and stood, freezing our nuts off, and stood scouting Trash Can. It was decided to ferry across and hike out up a steep gully before we got any colder or deeper into the gorge.

The next day however, we came back with beautiful weather and a perfect water level and got two runs in. We videoed and took pictures the first run and then the second run we bombed down from top to bottom in 15 minutes.

It's a really sweet feeling right after you drop off the entrance 20-footer and find yourself committed in this tight little gorge with crystal blue water.

Here's me lining up for the rapid directly downstream of the pool of the entrance falls. It's called Trash Can because it's the shittiest looking rapid of the run, but despite how it looks, it goes just fine.

Enjoying the better weather of day 2 deep in the gorge. The rock formations were stunning!

Ben Blake stylin the 12-foot boof called "Fuzzy Little Bunny." It's named this because as you go off the lip you're supposed to yell out fuzzy little bunny loud enough for someone to hear it. If nobody hears, then you have to hike back up and run it again. I hiked back up to run it again anyway though because it was so much fun!

Daniel Windham sticking the landing of Fuzzy Little Bunny.

Ben Blake lining 'er up in some Vallecito boogie.

This gorge is just good clean fun! Check out the video I edited for our trip blog this summer:

Summer Recap & NF of the Payette

2007-07-20T15:02:00.000-04:00

This summer has been a blast! I spent the first month and half of the summer living out of my new truck while I traveled out west. For the first month or so, I was paddling with a crew representin' the Carolinas, consisting of Josh Werts, Ben Blake, and Daniel Windham. I barely knew these guys when we embarked on the trip (I had only paddled a couple times with them), but over the next month I discovered that these guys are not only solid boaters, they are just all-around quality guys. Departing in mid-May, the four of us headed straight to New Mexico and then worked our way up towards Ft. Collins, hitting quality Colorado mank along the way.

Coming through "1-in-5" on the South St. Vrain, near Lyons, CO
Paddler: Clayton Gaar
Photo: Josh Werts

The White Stripe park 'n' huck, Upper Middle Fork of the South Platte, CO
Paddler: Clayton Gaar
Photo: Daniel Windham

More on this trip later...once I get the photos and footage from the other guys.

After splitting up with these guys, I met up with my family in Denver as we packed into my Tacoma and headed out to Riggins, Idaho for a five-day float down the Lower Salmon. This trip was pretty special because it was the 30 year reunion of the first trip my parents and their college/kayaking/hippy friends did back in 1977. Every ten years, the group regathers in Riggins to do this trip, which is super cool because by now they all have families and kids to bring along. I first did this trip in '97 when I was ten, spending most of my time in an inflatable kayak. This time I brought my parent's old Dancer, figuring it would be fun to zip around in a long boat since I had been paddling my Magnum all summer (not to mention it made the last two days of flatwater on the Snake a lot easier).

Me and my brother, Taylor, kickin' it the first day on the river. Props to our Exodus raft guides for bringing a seemingly endless supply of beer.

View from the tent last day on the river. Photo: Bob Gaar

This trip was unbelievably beautiful and was a nice relaxing way to end my travels out west...or so I thought.

As we were beginning our 48 hour blitz back to Atlanta, I convinced my family to let me stop and check out the North Fork of the Payette since we were driving right by it. My plan was to spend an hour or two scouting a couple of the rapids and have my parents set safety from the shore while I paddled. With some amazing luck, I ran into Kyle McCutchen and Dan Bumgarner at the put-in to the upper section. They were kind enough to let me tag along, so I ended up being able to paddle all the way down to Hound's Tooth with them. The water was big, fun, and as warm as bath water. The level was a little on the high side at 2000 cfs, and the rapids were so long and continuous that we would find ourselves exhausted and huffing in the eddies. Big ups to Kyle for showing me the lines and to my family for patiently following us down the river and shooting video. Like storm chasers, they were literally running to jump in the car and beat us down to the next rapid to shoot footage. Thanks guys!

Kyle stylin' the hole at Jacob's Ladder. Photo: Lynn Gaar

Left to Right: Dan Bumgarner, Clayton Gaar, Kyle McCutchen

Check out the NF of the Payette video (I don't know if you can see at this resolution, but if you look closely at Kyle, who's in the lead, about 40 sec into the video, you can see him punch a hole and come out without a helmet. We waited in the eddy below and his helmet eventually came floating down five minutes later!):

Check back later for pics and video of some classic Colorado and New Mexico runs like the Embudo, Vallecito, Oh Be Joyful, Gore Canyon, and much more. I still need to get used to this whole blog thing...

Peace.