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spotbryant
Latitude:50.30454
Longitude:-125.23766
GPS location Date/Time:09/28/2012 09:52:42 PDT

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Check-in/OK message from spotbryant SPOT Personal Tracker

spotbryant
Latitude:50.21004
Longitude:-125.14507
GPS location Date/Time:09/26/2012 08:41:51 PDT

Message:This is an automatic post from my SPOT tracker. All is well and here is my position:

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spotbryant

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Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
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Feather Fest

A quick note before I get into the meat: I'm heading out to BC tomorrow for some sea kayaking in the tidal races around Vancouver Island. I'll try to update my location through my SPOT while I'm up there and hopefully will have some great pics, vids, and stories when I get back.

But first, this weekend was the Feather River Festival, held on the North Fork of the Feather River. It's a great festival put on by American Whitewater and the Chico Paddleheads. It's the first time I've made it to the festival, and the first time I've paddled the river (I normally busy teaching this time of year). The paddling was fun - I only did the class IV-V Tobin section, but there's also a class IV and a class III section as well. And the party Saturday night was pretty good, too.

The real great thing about any festival, though, is the people. My normal paddling buddies couldn't make it (they had to work this year) so I headed up just assuming I'd find folks to paddle with. Thirty seconds after arriving at the put in I had my first invite to join a group. Ten minutes later a dozen of my friends were there. I got in a couple laps but also took some time to shoot a few pictures before setting safety for the race.

While I expected to see friends up there (it's practically the only river running in the state right now), I was surprised by how many random people showed up who I did not expect at all. Plenty of former students, some sea kayakers I know who are just getting into whitewater, people from SoCal who made the long drive, people who flew out from the east coast. It made the weekend a blur of whitewater and conversation. Hopefully it won't be another year before I get to see all those great folks again.

Not much time to edit photos, but here's a few from the Tobin section:

120922 Feather Fest

Back at it on BRG

It's good to be paddling again. And on something of consequence this time. I headed north to get on the only class V river still running in California: the Burnt Ranch Gorge on the Trinity River. It's not exactly the hardest of class V runs (it may be the easiest, in fact), but it's still a solid run at a decent flow. Twice the flow of the only other time I've done the run five years ago.

A picture of me for a change

Considering my lack of paddling in general, my recent experience on class V runs (a paddle to my face on a portage, a hike out after a friend breaking his boat, not to mention the Rubicon epic of last year), and that there were only two of us, this definitely had the potential for disaster. But I'm happy to say that this day (almost) everything went smoothly.

I drove up in the morning and we put on by 1pm. After a mellow warm up section we hit the first significant rapid. We snuck it last time at low flows but this time we took the heart of it. I got flipped in the hole at the bottom but quickly flushed and rolled up. Sometimes the best thing that can happen is an early flip - it settles you down, you remember your roll works fine, and it's not so bad getting your face wet.

The finish of #1, vertical log and all

The heart of the run are Burnt Ranch Falls numbers 1, 2, and 3. None are actually falls, but each is a multi-step class V rapid. We scouted #1 and it went fine. We scouted #2 and it went fine. We scouted #3 and decided to walk. The bottom hole looked a little sticky and the lead in was a little junky. But the portage is on steeply sloped granite and our only injury of the day was when I fell and landed hard on my butt. So I decided it was safer to run the rapid and it went fine.

After that I was more relaxed. It felt at home being on a river again, leading down rapids I barely remembered, enjoying some lovely scenery, watching the salmon jump, the eagles fly, and the otters play. Now if only there were some more rivers running...

The next day we drove out to the coast just checking out the area. I got in a little photography practice (still loving my Nex-5n) and then had dinner with friends in Arcata before heading home. It's good to be back.

And here's a quick edit of the video:

River folk

I really haven't missed the paddling that I haven't been doing this summer. But I just spent a weekend up on the river doing some teaching and paddling with friends and I realized that I have missed the people. Paddling is a small sport, and as such creates a special community. We recognize each other (or at least each other's boats) just from seeing the same people in the same place. We may have absolutely nothing else in common besides paddling, but that's enough.

I paddled class II whitewater all weekend. First with my friend and his fiancee. She was warming up for a couple of days of class III and wanted to work on her roll. She hit every single one - even the three I made her do at the end of the day. Then we had some pizza a beer before crashing in the back yard of a local friend. Doesn't get an simpler and any better.

The next two days I was teaching a beginner class. One student was the son of a former student; one was the wife of a former student. On the river I ran into another half dozen former students and more paddlers I know, from fellow teachers to folks just out enjoying a holiday weekend. Everywhere you turned it was warm smiles and friendly hellos. In the evening we had a farewell dinner with a British girl off to Africa for the season, talking about grad school, wedding plans, and beat downs.

It's really the time off the river that makes whitewater kayaking so special. It's getting away from everything else and spending a few days immersed in a different culture, a friendlier, better culture. It's just the joy of being one of the river folk.