A Snow Filled Day on Canyon Creek,WA

Dan Thurber takes flight at Hammering Spot with Champagne in the background

With low snow levels and not much water, we decided to do Canyon Creek again. Dan Thurber was in town and it was one of the only class IV runs with water and access that I could find to take him on. We were all a little surprised at the amount of snow when we arrived at the take out . The snow fell all day making for some difficult scouts. It was a great trip with the creek running about 6" below the unit. Mike Long grabs a few photos of the drop zone

The crew at the take out

You can see more pictures from the trip on Mike Long's site, Mike Long Photography.

TR: Canyon Creek, WA.

With the local rivers running low because of the lack of rain and a low snow level, boating options have been limited. The decision was to do a low water run down Canyon Creek, WA. It's always been a fun run and given we had a relatively new boater coming along it seemed like a good fit. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a great run. (For those of you familiar with the run, the creek was running about 12" below the unit.)

Alex runs Prelude to Thrasher without a problem

Dropping into Thrasher

Markus throwing down at Thrasher

Big Kahuna was a lot of fun. This was going to be Markus's largest falls, 18' to 20' depending on flow, and the rest of us were interested to see how he would do. He cleaned it without any trouble. Great run Markus.

Alex showing us how it's done

Markus dropping in.

Markus at Champagne and Hammering Spot, a couple of 12' falls back to back.

Alex at Hammering Spot

Back Home: Return from the Grand Canyon

Nankoweap

Pictures are starting to come in from everyone and the video should be underway soon. Here are a few more pictures from the trip and a brief story. Check back often as I will continue to add pictures and video as I soon as I can.

Danielle and I at Havasu

Keith and DeeDee

The Power of Lava Falls or: How I Lost My Sock

Lava Falls is always exciting, however it was just a little more exciting than normal this time around. A couple of guys in the group weren't up to rowing through Lava so we had two brave volunteers step up to hike back up and run the boats through. Well, after a long wait, the first boat appeared just above the ledge hole and dropped in. Things went well at the start, but the boat ended up too far right, caught a wave and flipped. Nothing special for Lava, lots of boats flip here. However, as everyone jumps into action to go after swimmers and a flipped boat things don't make sense. As the oarsman climbs back onto the boat he looks incredibly pale, not the bright yellow of his drysuit. OHHH!!! HE'S NAKED!!! This now explains the long wait for the boats to come along, but wait, there's another boat coming and he appears naked too. Fortunately, the second raft makes it through without trouble. Some how, a throw rope appears floating right next to the boat the naked rafter throws it to shore and we pull in the boat above Little Lava. Of course, I know they are going to need help to flip the boat back over (it happens to be the kitchen boat). Unfortunately for Danielle, the only eddy I can catch is also were naked rafter #2 is stopped. So, I left Danielle to talk, take pictures and find something else to look at while I scramble up shore to help out. By the way, the first boat over to help rafter #1 is Will and Laura, the trip leader's 17 year old daughter. Well, this was supposed to be a learning experience, a Grand adventure to help her see the world and learn about life. I have a feeling it exceeded everyone's expectations. (We'll talk about the sauna later) Everything worked out well, the boat came back over easily and everyone got dry and warm without too much trouble. Oh, the guys were wearing socks they found on the boat as a last minute attempt at modesty though the river had other ideas. This brief description doesn't do the story justice, but here are a couple pictures.

Rafter #1 post Lava Falls

"What's everyone looking at?"

Rafter #2: "I make Lava look good"

Danielle and I enjoying the canyon

North Canyon

Sunset at South Canyon

Enjoying the Redwall

Danielle hiking Nankoweap Creek

Anasazi pottery shard near Nankoweap Creek

Danielle about to rule the world from an agave pit

Tanner Butte

The author hiking Shinumo Creek

The man that made this trip happen

Tappeats Creek

Thunder River as it emerges from the redwall

Thunder River heading towards Tapeats Creek

The author exploring Travertine Canyon

Danielle shows off her mad climbing skills in Travertine Canyon

Alan enjoying the water of Travertine Canyon

Sunrise on Christmas EveThe setting moon on Christmas Eve

Bighorn Sheep

Danielle and I at Elves Chasm

Sunset at Lower Bass Camp

Keith and DeeDee enjoying the canyon

Will and Laura at House Rapid

The author motoring out to Lake Mead

You can also read Dan Thurber's write up at Team Kettle Chips.