Brendan Wells' Kayking Blog

Skookumchuck Narrows

2011-10-11T12:32:00.001-07:00

I woke up Saturday morning to my phone ringing and a groggy ten second conversation. “We’re going to Skook, I’ll pick you up in a half hour,” said a voice that I couldn’t quite put a face to. I knew it had to be one of the young local Bellingham paddlers and without thinking replied, “I’m in, see you in thirty.” Impulse decisions have always led to the most exciting adventures of my life and I knew this weekend was going to be one to remember. On Friday, my plans to fly to the Homathko River fell through and I was just waiting for an adventure of some kind to fall into my lap.
Before I knew it I was driving through British Columbia on my way to the Skookumchuck Narrows, or more commonly known as “Skook.” Skook forms the entrance of the Sechelt Inlet on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast in Canada. As the tide changes, billions of gallons of water flow out of the inlet and are forced through the narrows creating the Sechelt Rapids. At peak flows these giant rapids create the infamous Skookumchuck wave. The wave fluctuates from a small rolling wave into a giant ten foot standing wave with a huge foam pile in just a matter of minutes; a dream come true for freestyle kayakers. The crew of five young Bellingham boaters consisting of Todd Wells, Eric Parker, Olin Wimberg, Ben Dann and myself motivated like I’ve never seen before. As the sun was setting we arrived at the campground next to Skook and recognized the familiar vans of the World Class Academy (WCA); a traveling high school focused on character, academics, and kayaking. All five of us attended the school at one time or another and it was great to see some of my former teachers and classmates continuing to live the dream. After a good night sleep we were all awoken in classic WCA fashion with cowboy coffee, cereal and leftovers. We were on the road by seven a.m. to catch the peak flows as the wave only forms for a few hours a day. The sunrise over Skook was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in months. The fog and low lying clouds rose and a brilliant blue sky appeared just as the wave began to shape into full form. It was obvious that the WCA students and teachers had been shredding Skook for over a week as I got to witness some of the biggest tricks I’ve ever seen in person. Even if it was just for a day, we had one of the best WCA reunions ever.
Unfortunately school and other obligations forced us to leave after just one morning of amazing surfing. It was great to finally get back on a big wave after not surfing anything comparable since I was in Uganda with World Class last year. I can’t wait to uncover more of British Columbia’s whitewater gems and keep checking in for an update on our next mission North!
Here's a few pictures from our weekend at Skookumchuck. Thanks to Eric Parker and Todd Wells for the photos!

7:00 a.m. fog over Skook

Todd shreds the classic orange Ultrafuge with friends

I couldn't ask for a better wave so close to home!

From left to right: Myself, Eric Parker, Olin Wimberg, Ben Kinsella, Todd Wells

For more photos from our trip, check out my online slideshow here- http://www.flickr.com/photos/64223949@N02/show/with/6231879994

Lewis River Waterfalls

2011-09-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

The summer of 2011 has treated both coasts to epic storms and unheard of amounts of water. The Pacific Northwest hasn’t experienced any dramatic flooding, but any local paddler knows that it has been a great year for boating. My favorite local runs including the White Salmon, Cispus, and Lewis River have all kept stable flows late into the summer and still have healthy amounts of water.

The highlight of my summer has undoubtedly been the significant amount of time I’ve been able to spend in the Lewis River drainage, just forty-five minutes from my home town of Trout Lake, Washington. The Lewis River has three notable drops known as Upper, Middle and Lower Falls. Upper and Lower Falls are both very technical and consequential, and of course extremely fun. Upper Falls consists of a low volume thirty foot waterfall that lands perpendicular to the main flow of the river, which immediately drops another 25-30 feet into a large, boily pool. In order to have a successful ride on this intensely fun set of waterfalls, you must nail a perfectly timed and precisely placed stroke off of the first waterfall, landing either straight with hopes of not hitting the large rock wall directly after the landing zone, or turning ninety degrees in mid air and upon impact, be ready to take another well placed and timed stroke off of the next waterfall.

Over the course of the summer, I’ve had two successful attempts out of three. My first run of the year ended with me swimming into the undercut cave on the left side of the falls and holding on to a slippery rock wall until my brother Todd Wells paddled under the curtain of the adjacent sixty foot waterfall to pull me out. My first attempt wasn’t a huge confidence booster, but it made sticking it the next two times that much better. A short paddle down stream is Middle Falls, a simple but fun fifty foot slide that is easily runnable in a kayak, inner tube, on your butt, or in any other craft you can think of.

Just around the corner lies the popular Lower Falls. Lower Falls is a fun forty foot drop with a three foot lead in ledge. Lower Falls is much less consequential that Upper Falls, but has a cave on the left side that is not a friendly place to be. With a little practice running waterfalls this size, it is relatively easy take a powerful stroke at the top of the drop and launch yourself and your kayak away from the notorious cave and land softly in the boils below. If you’re ever in the area and need a cool place to camp, hike, bike, swim, cliff jump, pick huckle berries and mushrooms and hang out in the beautiful old growth forests, I highly recommend you stop at the Lewis River, even if you don’t feel like running any of the falls!

Well enough said in writing, now check out this video that my brother Todd and I made of our adventures on the Lewis River this summer. Enjoy!

Brendan Wells

Life in Uganda

2010-12-22T12:53:00.001-08:00

My image of Uganda at the time was a simple sketch with no story behind it. I knew only of what friends had told me of the country and the little footage I’ve seen in recent kayak videos. I believed that I had grown quite accustomed to African life after spending a month in Zambia. I thought that I had already met the friendliest Africans, seen the most amazing terrain on the continent and had the most unforgettable high school experience. But I had yet to step foot onto the soil and into the culture of Uganda.

Anxiety in our group of nine students, four teachers and one intern was building. The long hours spent in the depths of Zambezi River Gorge would surely be missed, but it was time for a change of scenery. Within a couple days we would be navigating our kayaks through the braided channels of the White Nile River, Uganda.

The second quarter of our African semester would take us on a journey from Livingstone, Zambia to Bujagali Falls, Uganda. As it goes in Africa, we experienced many of the normal and expected travel interruptions. This included: One police ticket (two hour delay), one lost trailer tire (45 minute delay), traffic in Lusaka (30 minute delay plus one angry Zambian who stopped and got out of his car to yell at us for our driving), and finally, one missed flight to Uganda.

And of course, the spare had a giant hole in it...

After many long hours in the Lusaka Airport, the group bunked in a hostel and awoke the next morningto Ethiopian airlines gladly excepting our fourteen kayaks, kayakers and gear. After a day of flying from Lusaka to Ethiopia and then to Rwanda, we finally made it (without any of our gear) to Entebbe, Uganda.

From the Entebbe airport we drove three hours up and down the rolling hills of dense jungle spotted with sugar cane and banana plantations. We finally made it to Bujagali falls and got to sleep the rest of the day in beds, the perfect cure for two long days of traveling. After our well needed rest day, we rallied for our first day on the Nile River. The only thing in common between the Nile and the Zambezi rivers is volume, and both have lots of it.

Sunrise on the White Nile

The Nile is an enormous river, stretching a mile wide in spots. The many braided channels create lots of different lines to choose from as well as the most beautiful small islands in the world. The warm blue water of the Nile gives life to the already lush hills of Uganda. The banks are covered in corn and sugar cane fields and small villages are spotted along the shores. Small dugout fishing boats hang out in the eddies and flat water sections between the turbulent rapids. Our first day was spent on the “silver back” section containing Bujagali Falls, Silverback, 50/50, The Hump, Ugly Sisters and Blade Runner.

"The Hump"

Everyone was more than happy to only walk a few hundred meters to the sandy put in, opposed to the thirty to forty minute hikes in and out of the Zambezi River gorge. The next day we drove down river to “Superhole”, a fun park and play feature. After a few days of classes, mellow laps down the Silverback section and trips to Superhole, we geared up for the forty kilometer paddle down to our next destination, the “Hairy Lemon." Five hours later we got our first look at the long awaited wave of the White Nile known as “Nile Special."

On our way down, we took a few side trips and got to paddle some of the best rapids on the Nile River. Kalagala falls stood out to me, mostly because it reminded me of my forgotten creek runs back home. Kalagala is about a ten foot drop, the top half is a sliding tongue that launches boat and boater five feet off the end into the turbulent pool below.

After a few surfs on Nile Special we paddled down a few hundred meters and arrived at the sandy beach of the Hairy Lemon. The Hairy Lemon is an island about the size of a football field stuck in the middle of the Nile River.

On the Lemon sits a few bungalows and the small dining room. Solar power energizes the two coolers to keep the soda and beer cold, but other than that we were completely disconnected from civilization. This is where I would spend possibly the three most enjoyable weeks of my life.

Looking at the dining area on the Hairy Lemon

The schedule was pretty much the same for the next three weeks; wake up for morning workout/paddle session at seven, breakfast at eight, classes until lunch at noon, study hall for an hour, and finally three plus hours of surfing Nile Special and Club wave.

The Special

After a few days of practicing the rope tow to get on Nile Special, I finally mastered the technique. With the new dam being constructed on the Silverback section, water levels were consistently lower and Special was constantly changing. At times it would turn into a fast green wave with a big pile, but other times it was green and very difficult to land any tricks.

Our last three days on the Hairy Lemon, World Class Kayak Academy competed in the Nile River Festival freestyle competition. Prelims were held in the morning on Club Wave and finals on Nile Special. The freestyle competition was the most unique and ultimately the most fun competition that I’ve participated in.

Unlike most traditional competitions, this one was scored on the biggest three tricks you could throw. A heat of nine paddlers took turns throwing the biggest and most complex moves they could in a time period of forty five minutes. Out of forty competitors, the highest scoring ten advanced to the finals. Although the water levels were completely cooperating for the competition, Nile Special still gave some huge bounces. World Class Kayak Academy made a name for the school with Quinton Barnett placing 2^nd in the men’s finals, Jason Craig placing 4^th, Peter Thompson taking 5^th and KileyEversole placed 2^nd in the women’s finals.

The next morning the group woke up to another beautiful day in Uganda and headed back to Bujagali Falls. The following day we spent our last day kayaking in Africa running Itunda Falls, a long, complex drop with four massive holes. After watching our guide Timmy Flowers show us the line down, six of us hiked up and made our way down the first couple of warm up rapids. We eddied out above the first significant drop and Timmy went over the line again. Peel out into the current, punch the center of the first drop, clip the left edge of the “Pencil Sharpener,” paddle hard to the right side of the massive hole dubbed “The Cuban,” drive again hard right to avoid “The Ashtray,” and finally, paddle your ass off to miss “The Bad Spot.”

Finding my way around "The Cuban"

Everyone made it safely to the bottom pool to finish out our last day kayaking on the White Nile River. The following day we drove three hours to Sipi Falls to finish our last day of finals and enjoy a well needed day off.

Sipi Falls

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a Delica mini bus headed for Jinja. It’s been a struggle to concentrate on writing this because I’m surrounded by beautiful hills out both windows. I still can’t grasp the fact that this four month long adventure is coming to an end. Africa is undoubtedly my favorite overseas destination I’ve traveled to and is top on my list of places to come back to in the future.

Adventures in Zambia

2010-12-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Here I am writing the first update on my adventures in Africa at the Jollyboy’s Backpackers Camp in Livingstone, Zambia.

It has been consistently above 100 degrees here the last couple weeks, but luckily we are well equipped with a small pool and cold showers. World Class Kayak Academy, consisting of nine students, four teachers and one intern flew into Johannesburg, South Africa just three weeks ago. After spending one night in Johannesburg and recuperating from the fifteen hour flight, half the group flew another two hours north to Livingstone, Zambia, where we would be staying for the next four weeks.

Loading up bags to drive to Livingstone

While waiting for the second half of the group to arrive, I spent two relaxing days sitting by the pool enjoying the hot African sun and thinking little about school and lots about the upcoming Zambezi River Gorge.

Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya

With downtown about a ten minute walk from our camp, I spent lots of time cruising the markets, hanging out with the locals and getting to know Livingstone.

After two days of hanging out at Jollyboys camp, the second half of the group arrived, and it was time for our first run down the Zambezi River.

Looking down at rapid #2 and #3

The section of river that we would be paddling consists of twenty five rapids located just below the famous Mosi-oa-Tunya or Victoria Falls. The first day the group paddled rapids 1-10, a section containing lots of fun waves, a big boof and the notorious rapid #9 that got lots of looks but left everyone walking around.

The epic daily hike in and out of the gorge

The next day we found our way down rapids 7-14 enjoying around 20,000cfs of water pumping through the gorge and a beautiful wave at rapid number twelve that we would spend the majority of our time on.

The drive to the put-in

The next few days we studied and paddled various sections of the Zambezi River getting accustomed with the huge volume and powerful river. With water levels a few inches lower than the beginning of our trip, a line slowly started to appear through rapid number nine. For days the massive drop got lots of looks until my Spanish teacher, Orion Chapman finally decided to give ‘er. After watching Orion and Jason Craig both style their way through the two part drop, I hopped in my Agent and gave it a go. Finding my line down the narrow tongue through the first hole on river right, I sprinted to the left shore to avoid the man eating whole in the center and stay away from the body breaking rocks on the right side.

Looking into the depths of the Zambezi

As water levels slowly lowered, rapid twelve B turned into a beautiful river wide wave/hole. The left shoulder, if you can get there, is adynamic wave that constantly changes shape. The wave will flatten out for a few seconds, putting you on the very top of the pile, then crashes down giving you huge boost of speed and a couple huge bounces setting you up to throw massive air screws, pan-ams and huge blunts.

Jason Craig, doing what he does best on twelve B.

Hiking down to paddle rapids 1-10, the group decided to take a detour and check out the minus rapids. The minus rapids are literally right at the bottom of the magnificent Mosi-oa-Tunya or Victoria Falls.

A taste of the notorious minus rapids

After twenty minutes of scouting the two "minus rapids" my Spanish teacher Orion Chapman decided to fire them up. Making his way down the lead in rapid, he got pushed a little farther right than he was hoping and ended up going super deep in the massive river right pour-over.

Orion, finding his way down minus one

No one is exactly sure what happened from here but we think that he hit his head somewhere on the bottom of the river. Dazed and confused, Orion bobbed down the second rapid, flipped in one of the massive holes and sub-consciously pulled his skirt and swam the rest of the second rapid. Safety boaters picked up him and his boat and brought him to shore. With blood gushing down his face and obviously concussed, we carried him back out of the gorge and off to a hospital. The doctors at the local hospital checked him out and he was OK, with only a minor concussion and a black eye.

Looking up at the gorge that forms Mosi-oa-Tunya or Victoria Falls

After our little wake up call to safety, the Zambezi kept the rest of the group safe for our last two weeks in Zambia and everyone enjoyed our daily surf sessions on twelve B. As our stay in Zambia came to an end, everyone was anxious to paddle the massive waves and drops of the White Nile River. Before we knew it we were on our way to the Lusaka airport, soon to depart to our next adventure in Uganda.

The group hanging out in a local village

Elephants X-ing

Eating lunch at a local village

A Baboon and her baby

West Virginia and North Carolina

2010-10-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

After countless hours of driving, we finally arrived at our long awaited destination somewhere between midnight and four a.m. The next morning the group woke up to blue skies and what felt like a tropical rainforest somewhere in West Virginia.

Waking up to a tasty hot breakfast

This is where we would be camping for the next ten days while paddling the Gauley and New River. We spent the next week and a half looking over the the beautiful Gauley River gorge while studying Spanish, English, Physics, History and Mathematics.

Our camp in West Virginia

The Upper Gauley River is a beautiful fourteen mile stretch of whitewater that offers countless rapids, playspots and boofs for any type of whitewater enthusiast. To top it off, the water always seemed to be warmer than the air and our campsite was a short hike from the take out. After a few days on the Gauley we made our way to the New River which is a mellow playboat run with an even more impressive gorge surrounding the river.

I crashed

After we spent as much time as we could in the lush forests of West Virginia, it was time to move on to North Carolina. Here we stayed at an empty summer camp that featured indoor bunks, hot showers and a lake complete with dock, rope swing and diving board. Here the group relaxed with classes on the lake shore and afternoon paddle sessions at a local play spot and the Green River.

Our afternoon playspot

Montana to Ontario

2010-10-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

The journey started out with nine students and five instructors arriving in Crystal Springs Montana. The first couple days the group kicked back on lawn of our base camp looking over the familiar Alberton Gorge play run, and starting the first couple days of class.

A typical day (although there are very few typical days here at World Class) starts out at 6:30 a.m. for morning work out. After an hour of running then “blowing our guts out” students and teachers make coffee and eat a big breakfast before starting six hours of classes. As soon as classes are completed, everyone loads boats on top of our two fifteen passenger vans and piles in for an afternoon play boat run down the Alberton Gorge or drive to Brennan’s wave in downtown Missoula, Montana for a park and play session.

A few days into our stay at Crystal Springs, we got word that there were some major financial problems with the school. Although everyone was worried if the semester would go on, the group was in high spirits. Luckily we have one of the best groups of kids attending the school this year along with motivated and caring parents that stepped up to k

eep the semester going. Although things are coming together for the best, we still need all the help we can get. Check out our facebook page and see how you can help us fund raise and maybe even win some cool prizes.

http://egcreekin.blogspot.com/2010/09/world-class-kayak-academy-fundraiser.html

After a fun couple weeks in Montana, the crew was ready to move on and we made our way to the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada. This is a popular destination for freestyle kayakers and I was stoked to finally have the opportunity to make my way down the famous Ottawa River. After our six hours of required study time, we were quick to get on the water with afternoon sessions on Garberatour or Baby Face. Complete an unforgettable ten days on the Ottawa learning to throw tricks including blunts, pan-ams, backstabs, air screws and many more, we were on to our next destination- the Gauley River.

A quick video of our stay at the Ottawa-

http://vimeo.com/15165878

World Class Kayak Academy

2010-08-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) is a traveling high school for students that want to earn their education while exploring unique rivers and cultures around the world. Kids can attend the school for as little as a semester or for an entire three years if they choose. The school is based in Crystal Springs, Montana and from there, kids travel to various destinations such as the East Coast, West Coast, Canada, Chile, Peru, Mexico, China and Africa.

For months on end students study, travel, and paddle the best whitewater in the world while earning their high school credits. Last year my brother Todd attended his last semester of his senior year in Chile with World Class Kayak Academy. This year I was given the opportunity of a life time to attend WCKA and I’ll soon be traveling to the East Coast of the U.S. Africa to find the biggest waves in the world while finishing a semester of my junior year of high school.

3 days from today!

Myself, and up to 12 other high school students will embark on this semester long journey starting with kayaking on the Ottowa river in Canada and heading south towards Tennessee and North Carolina. After a ten-day fall break we will hop on planes from our home towns and head to Livingstone, Zambia to take high school classes in the morning and paddle the Zambezi River all afternoon. After a month of living it up on the Zambezi, the students and teachers will then head to the Nile River in Uganda to set up camp and surf the famous waves of the White Nile River.

After this unforgettable semester of high school, I will come back to school at my home town in Washington State while WCKA continues on with the second Semester visiting China and the West Coast of the U.S.

Keep on checking the TeamDagger.com blog and my personal blog for updates, photos and video of the incredible places that I will be traveling.

Backyard huckfest

2010-07-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

I leave to World Class Kayak Academy in 3 days, so here’s a good story for you to enjoy until my next post at WCKA...

My last week of school as a high school sophomore…

It's tough when you're 16 years old and trying to do well on your finals during your last week of school; not to mention the group of paddlers crashing at your house while you are trying to study for the Washington State history exam; or looking out the school window watching cars drive by with their roof racks full of boats on their way to find the stouts. That's what it was like for my last week of school until the long anticipated final bell rang and I was free for the summer.

Upper Falls on the Lewis River

As soon as I completed my sophomore year of high school, the group of paddlers that had been crashing at my house rallied to Upper Falls on the Lewis River taking me with them. I said, “good bye school and hello to the next year full of kayaking”. Upper falls consists of a scrappy 20+ footer landing in a pool with enough room for about one stroke before you turn 90 degrees and boof off of the next 30 footer that has a nasty pocket behind the veil.

A look at the falls from the bottom

I was first to fire up the drop with my brother, Todd Wells, and friend Evan Garcia just behind me. Sitting in your kayak about 200ft. upstream of the drop, the river seams to drop off of a fairly uniform and extremely wide horizon line. The one thing that you can aim for is a giant rock in the middle of the horizon, and from there try to find your way off of the manky lip of the 20 footer -- hoping that you will land somewhat set up for the next 30 foot drop. I came off of the drop just a little bit left of where I wanted to be, but still in a pretty good position. As soon as I came off of the first drop I was already melting the second drop, and although I was planning to get a big boof stroke in, I was far enough left that I went super deep and popped up far below trouble.

The first drop, looking at the next 30 footer...

Photo: Lucas Gilman

Next up was Evan who lined up perfect on the first drop, and got another big boof of the second landing softly in the giant boils below.

Evan, finding the right spot-

Todd was next and didn't have quite the line he was hoping for. With a little too much angle off of the first drop and nearly plugging the thing, he flipped over in the boils just below the first drop and rolled up on the lip of the second drop. With no chance of a boof and too far right to be plugging the drop, he went deep and popped up somewhere behind the veil of the falls. At this point no one could see where he was and it wasn't until about 20-30 seconds later that he finally popped up a good thirty feet downstream without his boat. We were glad everyone was safe and all gear was retrieved, then we paddled the rest of the run and headed home.

After having a good time paddling local runs around the Columbia River Gorge such as the White Salmon and Little White Salmon rivers, a week later I found myself once again at Upper Falls to do some more hucking. This time we added fellow Dagger Team paddler, Pat Keller, and photographers Lucas Gilman and Candace Sanders to the crew. Flows were a little lower but the drop was still good to go. Everyone watched in anticipation as Pat probed a new line down the falls. He made bouncing of a rock, dropping 20ft. to land on the next 30 footer look easy, but ended up in a cave behind the veil of the 70 footer that came off the left side of the river. After a few minutes of a little panic and fear, Pat finally popped out downstream safe but without a boat.

Pat's epic line-

Photo: Lucas Gilman

Close after Pat, Evan Garcia fired up the drop once again with a sick line. Next up was my brother Todd, who was determined to redeem himself after last week’s not so ideal line. This time his stern hit a flake on the first drop, sending him upside down and ejecting him from his boat and leaving him to swim over the following 30ft. drop, but he popped out of the boils safely. I was last and ran the falls with a big boof and satisfying line. Todd was determined to clean the drop, so he rallied Evan and I and we hiked back up for another lap. This time the whole group threw down steezy lines and Todd finally stomped it.
With a relaxing day break after our Lewis river excursion, we were back on another mission. We were headed to Metlako falls with our same crew plus Jesse Coombs. We woke up to another beautiful day and after a relaxing breakfast we made our way up to Metlako. The flows were definitely lower than the last time I ran the drop, but the lip was still as perfect as can be. Evan was first to fall off the drop and he did it with almost complete style as he got quite the hit to the face on impact. As soon as Evan was set up with a camera at the bottom, Pat rolled over the lip and popped up in the pool below with everything intact and a huge smile.
I was next up and after about 15 minutes of waiting in my boat "for the sun to get right" the photographers finally gave me the OK. I paddled to the lip slowly and got turned sideways but corrected with a big sweep stroke to get straightened out just before free falling 85 feet. I took a fairly soft hit but my skirt imploded and my boat filled with water. I was able to paddle to shore. As soon as I got my boat emptied out I glanced up just in time to see a streak of yellow melting into the veil of the waterfall as Jesse Coombs styled his way down to meet us in the pool below. Looking back up at the falls and then getting to paddle the beautiful gorge out was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and I can't wait to be in that spot again.

I don't have any pictures of me running it that day, but here's the beautiful waterfall...

At Home in the Gorge

2010-03-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ago my brother Todd arrived from Chile ready to paddle the creeks of the Columbia River Gorge. For the last two months he's been paddling in Chile with World Class Kayak Academy and having a great time on the beautiful rivers there. I was stoked for him to come back so we could paddle the local goods. The day he got back he picked me up from school and were already on our way to the classic Green Truss section of the White Salmon River for an afternoon run. Before we knew it we were back on the water again the following day paddling one of my favorite runs in the world; the Little White Salmon River. The levels were perfect and it was finally starting to warm up, I was stoked to be on the water with my brother and friends again. The next day Todd's friend Eric Parker, from World Class arrived and there were only more sick runs to be paddled. We took Eric down his first run on the Green Truss, followed the next day by another lap on the Little White.

Classic picture of me on Big Brother

We stopped a couple places along the way to take advantage of the great lighting.

Sick sequence of Todd

Beautiful day...

Me, throwin' down on Spirit Falls

Still wanting more, we headed to Rock Creek Falls to finish the day with a park n' huck. Although Money Drop was looking a little on the low end, she still looked good to go. My brother ran the drop first, over rotating a little but coming out safe at the bottom.

Todd on his first run...

After Todd was Martin, a guy from another group who came up to the drop with us. Martin fired off the drop with just about the same line as my brother, going a little sideways as well but having a great line.

Classic Money Drop line

After that I was ready to go and again, went a little over the handle bars and got the wind knocked out of me but was safe and super happy to be at the pool below. (photos coming soon)

Next was Eric Parker who had the best line out of anyone by far. For his first big waterfall he styled this one with a perfect angle of entry.

Parker stylin' it like a pro

After we were all back at the top and stoked to have safely ran the drop, my brother decided to give it a go on his second lap of the falls. This run didn't go over so well.

Todd coming out super flat...

And trying to kick it down...

Todd came off the lip with a little to much of a stoke, causing his bow to come up. He managed to kick his bow down to have a good entry angle but didn't have time to tuck forward which caused his back to be too straight on impact. As soon as he landed we knew there was something wrong and I ran down and to the other side of the river to try and help. He managed to make it to the bank were the trail led back up to the top of the drop. As soon as I looked at him I saw that he was in serious pain and something was wrong. With excruciating back pain we got him out of his boat and made a make shift stretcher out of paddles, ropes and straps. As soon as we got him on top of the of the steep embankment we called for help. Shortly after three or four sheriffs, two fire trucks, search and rescue, and an ambulance all showed up. Even with all of the man power, the amateurs took almost two hours to get him the short way up the hill and to the ambulance, but finally, he was on the way to the hospital. The ER doctor checked him out and found the he got a compression fracture on his L1 vertebrae. At this point he needed an orthopedic doctor who could figure the next steps to recovery. After an ambulance ride to Portland, he was in good hands and already started physical therapy. Luckily he should make a full recovery 2-3 months and be paddling once again. We all learned many things from this experience and can't wait to paddle with Todd again. On the bright side, I passed my drivers test, got my license and drove myself to to a birthday lap on the Little White the next day.

Photos by Eric Parker

Mexico

2010-02-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been to Mexico or any other foreign country knows the joys and difficulties of traveling in foreign lands. While traveling in Mexico over thanksgiving break with my brother, Todd Wells, Nate and Heather Herbeck and Iker Dusen, a local to the area I got to spend eight solid days paddling in the Veracruz area of Mexico. Here's the highlights of the trip.

The solid crew of Iker, Heather, myself, Todd and Nate who was taking the picture

On November 21st 2009 my brother and I flew to Veracruz, MX and quickly found a bus that would take us to the small city of Tlapacoyan, MX. With nearly missing our bus stop and driving almost four hours out of our way, we found our way to the town that we would be staying in and Iker met my brother and I at the bus station. After getting off of the bus with our two fully loaded kayaks, we got a ride with the local police in their truck (no taxis could fit our kayaks) to the small house that we would be staying at. As soon as we arrived the sun was starting to set and we realized that Nate and Heather weren’t back from their afternoon run, so we were starting to get worried. Our first adventure began just a little later as we hiked about 3 kilometers up the Filobobos River to look for the two with no success, although hiking through the banana plantations and tangerine trees was a great dessert. The next morning we woke up early to do a quick run down the Filibobobos, but still no sign of them on the river or the take out. At this point we were starting to get pretty worried about what could have happened to them. Later that day they showed up back at the house and were in good health. It turns out that they took out earlier in the run and found a place to stay, then made their way back to Tlapacoyan.

A typical street in Tlapacoyan

The next day the crew went to a close by park n’ huck on the Jalacingo River. The super clean 30ft. waterfall was just off the road and had easy access for everyone to do a few laps on it.

The fun 30 footer

Paddle Toss

Our next park n’ huck was a 50 footer that had only been run by one previous group. This drop consisted of a long, narrow lead in, but set you up with a perfect angle to plunge into the pool below.

Goin' with the paddle toss again down the 50 footer

The run out wasn’t the most fun but there were a few fun rapids and the first fifty footer made anything below totally worth it. On one seal launch on the run out below, Nate petoned and hurt both ankles pretty badly but was able to make it down the rest of the run. Our first few days in Mexico were amazing and the trip wasn’t close to being finished.
The following day Iker, my brother and I headed to the Rio Alseseca because Nate’s foot still wasn’t 100% so the hike in would have been pretty tough. We paddled the Big Banana section of the Alseseca and it turned out to be one of my favorite runs that I have ever paddled in my life, up there with the Little White Salmon River of Washington. To get to the run, you must hike down into the valley on a livestock trail, paddle a super low volume, manky creek, then hike some more to end up at the bottom of Big Banana. Big Banana is a beautiful 100ft. waterfall that comes out of a narrow canyon. After admiring the beautiful waterfall, we made our way down the run which consists of tons of clean drops and rapids. After a few warm up rapids my brother and I followed Iker over a clean 25 footer, into a big pool, then directly into a super fun 30ft. slide. Around every corner the tall and narrow canyon offered more fun rapids and drops. In some places the canyon was barely a boat width wide and almost no sun light made it to the water. Between the many class four and five rapids there was a sweet 45 footer that we scouted for a while but then decided to throw n’ go off the 50ft. cliff because the walls just after the drop looked a little sketchy. After paddling Meat Locker and many other drops we made it safely to the take out and back home to enjoy the local tacos.

Myself below "Big Banana"

Me running "Meat Locker"

That night it rained a ton and we knew that something special would be running. We decided to make our way to Cascada Trouchas, a waterfall that we scouted a few days earlier. The first part of the hike to the waterfall wasn’t too bad until we had to machete a trail straight through the thick primary jungle. We finally made it to the canyon where we could look over and see the lip of the 60ft. waterfall. After our three hours of making our way through the jungle, we spent another hour setting up and getting everyone down to the bottom of the 90ft. rappel which put us at the top of the drop. After everyone was down we portaged the first manky slide then scouted the drop. The little slide that is just before the 60ft. waterfall turned into a rolling 25ft. sliding drop that you didn’t want to miss your boof off. Iker paddled over the 25ft. sliding drop, then over the 60 footer just after it. My brother went after Iker, both with sick lines I fired up drop next. I was pretty nervous about the 25 footer because if I screwed up on that I would be in a very bad position, but I was confident I could style both drops so I got in my Nomad and fired it up. Both drops went just as planned, and at the bottom of the 60 footer I lost my paddle on impact but did a quick hand roll up and was stoked on both drops. The high flows made both drops super fun and the hike in was challenging, but fun too.

Scouting Trouchas the day before the big rain

Trouchas after the rain

Having heard a ton of great stories about the Tomatas on the Rio Alseseca, the whole group was keen on firing up at least one of the two drops. The first day Iker, my brother and I all ran First Tomata which is about a 65ft. drop with a clean left line. Iker ran the drop first with a sick line, then my brother ran the drop just after him. Todd didn’t have the best line, going a little sideways on the way down, but I was still fired up to run the drop. I had an almost perfect line, but towards the end I over rotated a tiny bit, but still penciled in with a good angle and came up with everything intact which I was really excited about. We paddled down the next couple hundred feet to the top of Second Tomata to hike back up to the car and scout Second Tomata. The portage wasn’t the easiest but we made it to the car and everyone was fired up about making it safely over the drop. Second Tomata is a stout drop that only a few people have ever run. The drop consists of a narrow lead in that has a ton of water going thorough it which creates huge boils. After the crazy lead in, the drop goes straight into a 60ish foot waterfall. The next morning we woke up with a mission to go back to the Tomatas. Nate, Heather, and my brother all fired up First Tomata before going down to Second Tomata. My brother ran the drop first to try redeem himself after going sideways the previous day but ended up going down sideways again and ending with another imploded skirt. Nate’s skirt also imploded after he boofed the 65ft waterfall but came up safely and in good spirits. Followed by Nate was Heather, who had a good line off the drop, over rotating just a little. Everyone then made their way down to second Tomata. I wasn’t feeling up to running the drop that day, but was glad to know what it looks like and come back to run the drop another time soon. Iker fired up the drop first and after watching him flip over on a big boil just above the 60ft. sliding waterfall, I was pretty nervous for my brother. Todd ended up styling the entire drop with sick moves over every boil and both came out stoked about the drop and uninjured. Watching my brother style Second Tomata was a great end to the trip and I’m stoked to run the drop myself next time we’re paddling in Mexico.

A great picture of my brother on First Tomata

My brother running Second Tomata

Outside Magazine

2009-08-12T12:02:00.002-07:00

Thanks to Erik Boomer I got a two page spread in the August edition of Outside Magazine. The picture was of me running Metlako Falls on Oregon's Eagle Creek. I was stoked about getting my picture in the magazine but was a little disappointed about that article that went along with it. Here's the online version of the picture and article. http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200908/whitewater-kayaking-evolution-1.html

East Coast

2009-08-12T12:01:00.001-07:00

Surfing the Artificial Wave

After spending the first part of my summer staying around home paddling and working I took off to explore a new part of the country that I had never paddled before. I packed up my gear and flew all the way across the country to Washington D.C. Staying at a friend of my Mom’s just out of D.C. we were tourists for a day then drove to West Virginia to stay at a friends’ farm with a bunch of other paddlers from the Midwest and East coast. For about a week we paddled different rivers around WV including the Youghiogheny and spent some time play boating at ASCI’s artificial whitewater course. The experience of this new strange type of whitewater made me realize how spoiled I am in the northwest with the miles of river at my doorstep.The concrete drops just seemed a bit bizarre.

Constantly Dodging rafts

With everyone going back home I headed back to D.C. and paddled a couple days on the Potomac River which was super low but still fun to get out on. After almost two weeks of fun whitewater on the East Coast I was on my way to meet my

brother in Montana for some more paddling.

Paddling the Potomac River

Gone for the summer

2009-07-11T09:28:00.001-07:00

Today I had an amazing last run on the Little White for the rest of the season. I leave tomorrow for many more kayaking adventures and will be back in about six weeks. I'm flying into Washington DC tomorrow and gonna spend a couple days there. Then I'm going to paddle in West Virgina for about 10 days. From there I fly to Montana for two weeks of World Class Kayak Academy. After that I'm headed up to Alaska for some more epic paddling! I'll try to keep up my blog with all of my adventures.

4th of July Weekend Huck

2009-07-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I set out with my brother Todd and Nate and Heather Herbeck for a mission to Lower Falls on the Lewis river. It was the perfect 4th of July huck, with warm weather and not a cloud in the sky. I was a little nervous going going up to this falls because the one time that I ran this drop before I didn't quite stick my line...

My line last year

About a year ago my brother and I were swimming around the falls and thought that it would be a fun drop to kayak over. That's when we had never run anything bigger than Husum falls and barely new what a "boof stroke" was. We both fired it up the next weekend luckily with no injuries. My brother had a sick line and as you can see I got a little barrel roll going on but ended up with nothing but an imploded skirt.

This year I was confident that I would have a stout line and end up a lot better off than last year. After we got saftey and media all set up my brother ran the drop with a pretty good line. I was up next and had a perfect line off the 35-40ft. drop.

A much better line this year

I did hit my head on a rock at the bottom but I think that it was when I was resurfacing that I clipped the right wall with my helmet. I came up ok and was stoked about my line. After that we had a couple victory jumps off the cliffs surounding the waterfall which was really fun and a great end to the day.

Left to right- Heather, Myself, and Todd

Swift Water Rescue Training

2009-06-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago my brother and I went to a three day class at Wet Planet to up our knowledge on safety and rescue situations. The class was well taught and I learned a ton of stuff that every paddler should know and now always feel much safer on the river. Prior to the class all I really knew about safety was how to through a throw bag. Now I'm confident with setting Z-drag systems, rescuing foot/body entrapment victims and many other useful rescue techniques while on the river. Hopefully there won't be many times when I have to use all this knowledge but I'm very glad to have it.

White Salmon Riverfest and Symposium

2009-06-03T09:17:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was a super fun but very tiring weekend. Saturday, my brother drove to Husum to throw some moves in the playboat on Rattlesnake then registered for the White Salmon River Extreme race. The race was part of the White Salmon Riverfest and Symposium. There were many events including rafting, inflatable kayak, and hardshell kayak races. Although there wasn't a huge turnout for the extreme race on the Green Truss section of the White Salmon River, probably because of the crazy high water levels, it was still a great group of people. With the gauge in Husum at about four and three-quarters the Truss was raging. Everything was very managable at that flow except everyone did walk around Big, and Little Brother. There were HUGE standing waves throughout the run that I've never seen before and that made it a ton of fun and the run seemed very quick with the high water. The race consisted of 3 teams with 3 people on each team. Each team started about a minute after the other and your time was stopped when the last person on your team got to the finish (put in of the Orletta) Having teams made it a ton of fun and I felt very safe the hole way down. On my team was my brother, Tao Berman, and myself. The Truss made for a crazy fun race and it felt even better that our team won. After the Truss race was over, there was and Orletta race that was fun and everyone started 5sec. apart so that made it a ton of fun. After the races everyone headed back to the B+B in Trout Lake for a great party.

Metlako Falls: Junior World Record

2009-05-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about Metlako falls ever since I heard about it. It's always been in my mind that I would want to run it sometime but I never thought that I would any time soon. Then one weekend a crew was going up to run it and unfortunately I couldn't go but my brother went with the group. It was an exciting day for lots of people, including Christie Glissmeyer who set the women's world record and my brother Todd Wells (toddwellswhitewater.blogspot.com) who set the junior world record waterfall.
A long way from the bottom...

Both ran it clean and had great lines. After my brother came back stoked about the stout drop I was anxious to get there. Pretty randomly Eric Boomer called up my brother yesterday (5-21-09) to go and get some more pictures of the drop. We headed out there and met up with the Huckin Huge crew and started rewarding hike up. When I got to the first view point I saw that the flows were perfect and knew I was gonna give 'er. After scouting the lip and getting your line dialed in my brother and I hopped in our boats and ran the 10ft. boof before the drop. We sat in the pool and waited for all the cameras to get set up then we were ready to go. I was pretty scared at the lip looking over the huge horizon line and watching my brother disappear so quickly but confident that I would stick it. After Cody Howard gave my the OK I peeled out of the pool and paddled slowly toward the lip. Giving a little right rudder and slowly tucking forward as I fell over the lip I let go of my paddle to prevent injuries and kissed the deck. I counted to about 3 mississippi before feeling the hydraulic spin me around a couple of times and flush me out. I really don't remember taking much of a hit at all but resurfacing quickly and sticking my first hand roll, stoked. As soon as I came up I saw and grabbed my paddle. I was happy to come up with my skirt intact and no injuries at all. After a nice paddle to the take out we headed home with a great end to the day.

Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival

2009-05-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

The Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival is a great event for anyone who likes being on the water. With many events to choose from, I was set out to compete in the all of the hard shell kayak events. The day started out with the hard shell playboat mass start. Unfortunately there wasn't a huge turn out for the mass start but it was still rowdy. Starting out with trying to negotiate through the holes, it ended up with trying to avoid swimmers. Next was the kayak relay, which wasn't a very popular event. My brother and I found a two other people who wanted to be on our team and competing against only one other team we won. It was a fun race and I was ready to get practicing on the big air ramp. The ramp was huge and water levels were low so it was gonna be BIG. Stepping it up this year, the engineers of the ramp made it longer, steeper, and made the lip steeper as well. After a few practice runs it was on to the competition. Competitors had two attempts to go as big, and do the coolest trick as possible. Neither my brother or I placed but it was a fun event to compete in and watch. I'm looking forward to next years festival and hope to compete in sundays competitions next year as well.

1st D- Summit Creek

2009-05-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

I've gotta thank my dad for this one. Some years ago he flew over this small little creek that had a bunch of beautiful waterfalls that he could see from his plane. After he figured out how to get there, he took my brother and I hiking to look at these waterfalls. I was young enough I can't quite remember the trip but looking back my brother remembered the waterfalls and from what he knows now thought they might be runnable. After finding where to go to find the goods he made his way to explore the creek. He came back that night telling me all about how awesome the run would be and that we needed to get out there soon. So the next weekend we called up Cody Howard to come and explore the unrun creek with us. It turned out to be an amazing run with many awesome features. That day we only explored the lower section but know that we would be back for the upper gorge soon. The run started out with a short hike down to our put in then a lot of bushwhacking and walking around log jams. The creek didn't look too promising until we got to the first few slides. All fairly simple but very fun then we got to the first major horizon line. This was the monster skate park quarter pipe drop. It consisted of a 40-50ft. vertical drop into about a 15ft. slide that launched into a HUGE rooster tail and spit you out into the pool below. Below that was "the well" and then a couple more slides until the run flattened out to the take out. A few days later my brother went back to explore the upper gorge with Eric Boomer and Evan Garcia. This time you hiked a little down a steep hill and bushwhacked down the river to where there was a few fun warm up slides then the first major drop. This first big one consisted of a triple-tier drop then quickly catch an eddy before Summit Creek Falls. This was the biggest drop in the upper gorge. It was about a 50-60ft drop with a sketchy slide lead in. Eric Boomer made the first decent of these drop, followed by my brother, then Evan. Every ones skirt imploded and they all had to be quick to get somewhere safe before sliding down the next two large slides called "fat chicks." This finished off the upper gorge and we made our way down the lower section with a great end to the trip.

World Class Kayak Academy

2009-05-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last week my brother and I spent some time paddling with World Class Kayak Academy. This is a school that travels around the world to study and paddle. Last week I was lucky enough to meet all of their staff and students and had a great time paddling with them. All of the students and staff were great people to be around and paddle with. I'm looking forward to spending two weeks with them this summer during their "Summer Session's" where I'll get a little taste of the World Class lifestyle.

Money Drop

2009-04-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

The unstable soil of rock creek makes for great waterfalls. Rock Creek Falls has changed a lot in the past few years. It has gone from a huge 80ish footer, down to a 20 footer and has slowly washed away into the 60ish footer that it is now. The drop has an extremely fast lead in but it's not a huge deal if you boof out far. When my brother and I arrived here there was a group of paddllers huckin' the falls. They had a great time on it so it was our turn. I ran the falls first with a near perfect line, unfortunately Tate, who was taking pictures missed the shot because I came in so fast and was down the waterfall so quickly. After I watched my brother run it I fired it up again hoping for the shot I wanted. I didn't have quite as good of line as my first run landing a little more flat. Luckily it turned out beautifully which was a very good thing because I was about done after hitting my nose on my arm resulting in a pretty painful and bloody face. I'm excited to go fire it up again and hopefully hit up the other falls on rock creek.

Below, definately my favorite shot of the day.

Bridal Veil Falls

2009-04-19T10:22:00.001-07:00

Bridal Veil Falls is located about 30mi. away from Hood River, OR and flows into the beautiful Columbia River. All of my kayak buddies have run this falls and they never have anything bad to say about it, except the rebar running down the middle of the falls. There is also a man made concrete lip at the top that was all built to be able to easily carry logs down the falls. Luckily there no threat from these unless you go down the falls upside down. After helping with a class fundraiser, my brother and I packed up the gear and headed to Bridal Veil falls, hoping of good flows. After scouting the falls and setting safety my brother was the first one to run the falls. He made it safely down and I was stoked for my turn. Again I ran it cleanly and we were off to the next falls.

Northwest Creeking Competition

2009-04-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

The weekend started out with leaving right after school hoping we would make it in time to do a quick run. After having no idea what the fastest way would be, driving to Stevensen to find directions and asking a few different people along the way where to go my brother and I found our way through Baddle Ground and on our way to the East Fork of the Lewis River for the Northwest Creeking Competition. We arrived just as it was was getting dark and we still had to set up camp. After we set up our hamocks and tent in case it rained it was dark so no time for a paddle. We got up the next morning for a practice run and had some fun on Sunset falls. Finally the race started and I was pumped for my run. Later that night I found out that my brother had placed first, beating me by 5 seconds and I placed second, still not too bad and I was happy with my performance. I had a great time chillin' that night and was pumped for the huck fest the following day. Unfortunaelty it was cold and rainy that day and most people went home. Again, my brother showed me up again with his paddle throw at the lip then stuck a beautiful donkey flip, and I wish I could have got it on film from my angle. I was still happy to have placed second and I look forward to next years races and the upcoming Clackamas Whitewater Festival.

Looking back, Summer 2000

2009-03-01T22:21:00.001-08:00

I just came across an old disc with a bunch of photos from one of my first extended raft trips with family and friends. Here's some fun pictures from my first days in an (inflatable) kayak on the Green River, Utah, 2000. This was also the first time that I ever sat in a hardshell kayaking, loving the feeling since I first sat in it. Ever since I was born I spent lots of time on the river, my dad Jim Wells had a company in Alaska called Alaska Wildland Adventures and was one of and still is my favorite places to spend time. I grew up floating down the Kenai river, where my dad's company was based off of and spent many summer days on that river fishing and learning out to read water and row a raft.

Little White Salmon

2009-02-25T21:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had one of the best paddling experiences of my life. I got to paddle some of the best whitewater in the world. I had no idea what I was in for when my brother told me that we were gonna go paddle the L dub. I thought the Green Truss was big, but the second I got on to the rapid called "getting busy" my view of kayaking changed, my view of kayaking kept on changing around every corner of the river. One down side was I was crazy nervous so I definitely wasn't paddling my best for the first hour or so. After that I was enjoying myself so much all my fears and nervousness went right away so that was great. One of the other factors that helped make one of the best days of my life was the crew that I was paddling with. They were some of the nicest guys and girls that were totally cool with whatever happened and whatever your decision was. I felt completely comfortable with the Huckin Huge crew and was very fortunate to have Cody Howard leading me down the river for my first time. I had a great end to the day with running Spirit falls with the plugger.

Green Truss

2009-02-23T22:13:00.001-08:00

Last week my brother and I took another run on the Green Truss hoping for a warm up run for the following weekend that we were planning on running the Little White Salmon River for our first time. We had a clean after school run with little time to spare before the sun set. Our friend Tate Taylor came along with us and took a few shots of us running Big Brother and Upper and Lower Zig-Zag.

Big Brother

2008-12-19T06:40:00.000-08:00

This is the waterfall called "Big Brother" on the Green Truss section of the White Salmon River. Here's a series cool shots that my friend Tate Taylor took of me running the 30ft. falls.

Husum Falls

2008-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of shots of havin' some fun on Husum Falls.

Orletta

2008-12-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick slideshow of a fun hole on the Orletta section of the White Salmon River that my brother and I caught at lower flows. It's just a little ways above "The Flume."

Lower Falls on N. Fork of the Lewis River

2008-12-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I went up to the North Fork of the Lewis River for a bike ride. I had been up there once before and remember seeing some cool waterfalls. That was when I was just starting out kayaking and learning to roll. I remember saying to my brother, "when we get older, we are definitely gonna run these." Remembering that I brought along my kayaking stuff just in case anything was runnable. The bike trail paralleled the river so I got to see all of the features. There are four waterfalls along the way and they all looked runnable but the top three just needed some more water. However the Lower Falls looked absolutely perfect. I didn't do it that day but today I came up here with my brother and our friend Tate Taylor who got some cool shots. We measured the drop and it was almost exactly 40 feet. That was a definite step up from anything that I have ever done. My brother ran it first and he came up ok but with a cut nose and throbbing head but that was about it. I was pretty scared to run it after seeing him but I went for it, we had a great safety setup and everything was good to go. I got my line going down the first little drop then took a little much of a right boof stoke and probably shouldn't have tucked on my left side. That caused me to start a barrel roll and land a little sideways but I came out all right. Unfortunately my skirt imploded on impact so I had to paddle as far as I could then swim out. It was a great day and I can't wait to run the other falls soon. I'll also have more pictures up when I get those.

Green Truss video

2008-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

This is a quick video from the Green Truss section of the White Salmon that our friends took. I am in the yellow boat and my brother Todd is in the green boat. This is my first time running Big Brother.

The Wind River

2008-12-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

One day after work my brother and I decided to go meet up with friends from Portland and paddle the Wind River. This was a new river and I was really excited about finding a new spot to paddle. There was some fun but challenging rapids like the flume and throughout the whole run there was boulder gardens and low water everywhere. We finally got into the set of three falls and a slide. This is the part that I was looking forward to the most. They were all straight forward and pretty simple, the first one is about a 14 footer, then it goes into a 15+ footer, a 20+ slide, then a low head dam. We all got out and ran the set twice although it was getting dark. Luckily we were off the water right at nine so we managed to find the way to the car.

Junior Olympics '08

2008-12-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

The Junior Olympics are one of the funnest events for me that I have gotten to go to. I loved to see all of my great paddling friends that I only get to see sometimes once a year. The main thing that I look forward to is the Freestyle. I like the other events and I do well in them but freestyle is by far the funnest. Here's a couple of pictures from the JO's in 2008. I also went to them in 2007 but I don't have many pictures of those.

C2 partner Brian Iltis

1stin freestyle prelims

3rd in finals

First "drop"

2008-12-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

This was the first big drop that I have ever ran, it's the one that really got me started into wanting to run the big stuff. It took a while for my brother and I to convince my dad that it was safe even though the guys down at the Bend Alder Creek shop assured him it was. This is right by the Riverside Motel in Bend, OR.