Whitewater Haitus

The fall is in full swing and Old Man Winter is starting to settle in with nightly frost and some Snow! I have moved to Colorado since my last entry and i am having a pretty bad ass time here. The mountains are super pretty and the town of Crested Butte is very unique. There are a whole plethora of recreational activities to invest time into here. I have been doing a lot of mountain biking and four wheeling hell I even went skiing already! It is soo rad here!

Any how I have been having these withdrawal symptoms lately dreaming, day dreaming, having drunken conversations with people about River Rafting you know how it is...

I thought it might be an opportune time to tell a story. This one dates back to July of 06 (right about the time AL Gore invented the Internet!) So as all Raftin' stories begin this one will too. ready?
So No SH*T there we were the Upper Black River in Hawkensville, NY was running as high as it ever gets (even bigger than some spring time runoff) ARO had all operations closed due to dangerous water levels and we river guides were getting antsy to do some rad whitewater. The crew consisted of myself of course, Lynne, Scott, Lindsy, and Gwen. Lynne and Scott were the only two who have seen this stretch of whitewater before. Gwen was just a Guide in training and Lindsy is a Black River Guide. We hit the put in around noon and the river was HUGE I think the water level was about 14 plus feet. One can check the level of this gauge here http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?04252500 . So we got into the yellow 14 foot NRS raft with extra paddles a first aid kit and a huge pre trip adrenaline buzz. It was rockin. The first set of rapids had huge waves from 12-14 feet tall and holes that dropped about 6-8 feet a solid class 3 rapids it was big but every hazard seemed avoidable.

We encountered some crappy flat water but even that was big! We paddled through a cookout shelter and over the fire pit next to it and the tables were swirling about aimlessly in the eddy current. Houses were on the brink of floating away. Full size old growth timbers were barreling downstream in quantity. The net rapids was the big one. Power Line Is a somewhat long set and it has a 3/4 river wide hole. Pretty burly paddling if you ask me (and I'm a professional). We start our drop with the most innocent of intentions when we lost our line we didn't panic cause we were all guides (except Gwen). We dropped into a big hole followed by a 18-20 foot wave. We definitely failed to negotiate that wave and flipped the raft. I surfaced moments later under the capsized boat. After less than a second I was out from under it and bracing in the safe whitewater swimming position grasping the rafts chicken line. A series of equally tall waves proceeded to pummle the raft and us. I was trying in vein to climb onto the overturned raft. After a series of failed attempts at scaling the overturned boat i noticed a tree still attached by its roots to shore protruding into the river as the river made a sweeping turn to the right. This strainer was quite the shock. I was aware of the situations deadly importance. I'm thinking if I go under this tree I'm stuck there for the rest of my to be short life. I made a quick grab onto the tree with my left hand and with my right hand I clenched the chicken line with all of my might. Nanoseconds later the trees branches pulled at my face trying to bring me to a watery grave. I held strong however and somehow made it over the tree. I definitely saw stars!

My adrenaline was at the highest level I have ever experienced. Super human strength and concentration overcame my body. From the third person I saw myself climb onto the still overturned raft pull Gwen first then Lindsy then Lynn onto the overturned boar. Scott by this time had climbed onto the boat. we had but one paddle left. I was bleeding from my face. A part of the tree still out for blood was entrapped in my helmet. We still had a quarter mile of some of the most terrifying whitewater id seen to that point in my life. The four of us who dropped paddles were using our hands to negotiate the overturned raft around the hazards. Scott still had his paddle and was trying to steer. Lynne was saying over and over "This isn't Good!" followed by "Big Hole" (The 3/4 river wide hole was coming right at us) as if we couldn't see the drop followed by a massive torrent of recirculating water with full size trees tumbling around like bath toys in a toilet.

Lindsy and Gwen had lost it freaking out because my eye was gushing fluorescent red blood. I was not yet even aware I had been badly injured. By the grace of God we avoided the hole to the right. We finished the rapids and managed to creep into an eddy which was on someones front lawn. I remember they were watching Jerry Springer in their livin' room. We were in water up to our waists and flipped the raft back over. We opened the med kit and rapped my head in some flashy pink KoBan. We used the extra paddles and finished the run.

You might be saying pretty rad stuff Chaz! But alas the story is still not over. We went back to old forge Via Moose river road. By this time the moose river had overtaken the banks. and my old ass Audi was up to the hood in water...we did make the move however. got back to Old Forge and Gary gave a big chuckle and waved his index finger at me and said something funny with a hint of irony...I wish I remembered what it was. Then my little brother max drove me to Utica to See our friend Dr. Sleeper who stitched me up while his sons graduation party was going on at his house. I ended up with 28 stitches from me eye to my hairline. then I went to the graduation party with my dad and had a few beers and told my story! people think I'm an idiot but I'm just trying to have fun.

Last Weekend on the Black Sep 27/28

The fall rafting season has come to a close for this Guide. Thanks to all of the gusts who came to support my habit. Thanks to the people I work with for keeping the job fun and enjoyable. And thanks to ARO adventures for Employing people like me!

The weekend started off a little rainy, cloudy, chilly and remained like that more or less. I got to 140 newell st around 10 am for work. As the other Guides came to work we noticed a new scent to the air. After working the whole day we finally realized that it wasn't a new scent but the actual lack of a foul odor which can only be pinpointed to one man. Chris (the General) koll was absent from the scene. We never even noticed until after the trip. I was the only one at work with a trailer hitch so i pulled the trailer to the take out and shuttled back to the HQ for some last minute preparation before disembarking for the day.

My crew was from Syracuse University. The were the SU Women's Hockey team (Division 1). I had a boatload of girls in my raft! It was interesting chain of events. I wore a really old wetsuit and it was very tight on me. It helped me to express my fine masculine form. Well, I supose Canadian chicks dig that (SU Girls hockey is 80 % Canadian). The asked me if they could ride along in my boat. I was ignorant enough to allow them into my rubber dingy. For a group of varsity athletes i have never had so much trouble on the Black River. These women didn't know their left from right or forward from reverse. We had terrible lines down the River all day. That was fine though because nothing could ruin my day. Saturday night was the ARO end of season staff party! I have to back up a second though. Knifes Edge was crazy I was in second from last. i got a huge hit at K2 and wound up stuck on the ledges on river right pretty badly. I decided rather than push out into the current id let the last boat pass first. I sat patiently and waited for Mike to pass. As soon as he started through K2 I became free! I couldn't do anything about it with the paddlers I had. Mike and I ended up running two abreast over the third drop of the rapids. I narrowly escaped with my wits! The girls in my boar were scared for the rest of the trip!

We also had a real nice line through the Cruncher. I was going a little slower than id like to when I hit the most aggressive part of the drop. We slammed forward and I think a girl may have hurt her wrist. We had a good rest of the trip and ate BBQ and then they finally left.

THE COMPANY PARTY WAS AWESOME

If you never had the experience of partying with River Guides then you are missing out my friend! We had for ourselves made up 130 jello shots a bottle of whiskey and infinite amount of beers. there were about 12-15 people partaking in the drinking portion of the show and all involved wound up quite drunk! We were partying with cops too! (the police in H2O town like river guides) after way too many drinks it was like one am and when we should have gone to sleep for the next days rafting we decided to go rafting to hole brothers and surf. Mind you I had trouble seeing and walking at this point. So we rafted the first three screaming and shouting the whole way down the river. We surfed for a while then drove back to the shop to finish off whatever food was left in the building and pass out for the night.

Sunday was rainy and cold. we were all pretty tired and this strange man walks into the building. he was a solo rafter who wanted to come on the days trip. I still had jello buggers in my eyes and must have smelled awful. I told him to talk to Steve up front. Then i felt sick. Then i got sick. Then i felt better and then i drank some water and felt fine all before 930 am. not bad considering the damage done the night b4. i had a much better crew on the water and told them to rag on the hockey team if they saw them at all for being weak paddlers.

Then i went home and went to bed where I stayed for many hours.

What a weekend. I'm sorry that I don't like to type cause there is a lot more to it. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them or email me @ whitewater_chet@hotmail.com

-Chaz

Sunday the 21st Black River 2200

The day started fast. I drove 95 in my Toyota Tacoma all the way to H2O town. it was pretty sweet. I almost hit a turkey in mid flight. That would have really bummed me out. Sometimes people get some serious car damage from those crazy birds. I thought I was going to crash though because I was drivin' so fast. The leaves on the trees changed overnight i think because they weren't so nice the day before.

So I arrive to the outpost and it was 49 and cloudy. Bummer, I thought it was going to be a great day for Whitewater.

Next thing i knew, the General was kind enough to let me do the safety speech. I really like doing it and plus i'm way better at it than he is. He is so old and boring. Plus he has a minor speech impediment which makes it hard for people to understand his S's and CH's which can be amusing. So, after a long hiatus i gave the worlds most perfect safety talk. people were engaged and educated all at the same time.

I had a really nice crew of girls that requested that i be their guide so i was. and Scott (the SU coordinator) was also in my raft. We had really rad lines through knifes edge. I caught every piece of K2 and it gave me a semi. then i punched the flimsy rubber right into the deepest part of Mary's Hole (the bottom drop). Next thing I knew I was flying thru the air into my gusts in front. good thing we were all squared up to the drop or it could have been trouble. I then found out that the river was running much higher than i had thought. I was informed at that point that the river was about 2,200 CFS.

I had really exciting lines through zig zag and panic rock as I almost killed myself and my crew of girls (and Scott). we hit the cruncher with very little momentum thereby crunching my raft the best i can imagine. Following the Cruncher i was rushing into rocket ride because we were to catch a Tsunami*

I totally messed up that drop because I went over too soon my raft hurled sideways and it was sketchy. Had nice lines through square rock and shave ending the day with some sun was nice also.

All the girls on the raft last Sunday contacted me thru The Facebook which i though was cool....Usually i scare girls


*Tsunami - a rare and exciting occurrence on the Black River. Here is the scene: we are the last of 4 companies to use the gorge for Whitewater. When we get past rocket ride the "dam guy" switches the flow from the gorge to the diversion canal which runs along side the gorge and comes out through turbines at the bottom. This in effect doubles the flow of the river for a 4-7 minute window. We can ride that 'Bubble' down through the next two Rapids and have higher waves therefore more excitement. Bottom Line - The Tsunami on the Black River is the tits

Sunday Sept 14

Black River was running around 4,000 CFS and it was good water. I was not that upset that the trip didn't get there on time, however, I get paid by the day and it added a couple extra hours to my work time. Not that big a deal though, me and the Guides sat around and broke balls all morning. It is a fun crew over there and no one really cared that much.

We have been putting money into a pool. We all pick numbers that we think are coming on the trip. And whoever guesses correctly wins half the money. The other half goes into another larger pool from which previous winners will be drawn from a hat to determine the winner of that pool. This was created because it is customary for SU trips to show up with different numbers every day and we don't know until we go rafting.

The Trip (once it began) was sweet. Water was up and people were happy. Mike mixed up with the ledges and Mary's hole. That was interesting. He fell out and swam after the bottom drop. I wish I had it on film. Larry had a swimmer in the cruncher which was pretty bad ass.

I caught guide air in hole brothers, Zig, Square rock, n Shave and a Haircut. The best one was zig i think. I dread the day i fall out in zig due to guide air. It is fast shallow and sharp. Plus the wave to catch air is near the top of the drop. Yikes.

Look forward to rafting this Sunday

Buy lamps

WOW YIKES MAN-O-Man

What a day on Saturday. I was like WOW YIKES MAN-O-Man. I had a heavy boat of ten bulky SU students and the level was circa 1,700 CFS. These folks could paddle, ill tell you what! We hit everything in the River. It was too bad though my friend Hallie never came to work so we were all kinda stuck and had to divy (divide or spread around) her crew. That forced all us guides to take maximum loads. Not a big deal for guests usually since all of us ARO guides are the S&^T. But, it does put a damper on the guides ability to have fun him (or herself). Any how, we all ran clean except Larry got stuck on the far right of Knife edge, and Branden almost maimed his entire crew on the ledges by Molly's Crack. Everyone was fine, these events happen in whitewater...that's why we call it high adventure!

It was a great day except i had to Zoom back to old forge for to help gramma with the mini golf course. After mini golf i went home had a beer with my folks who had company over and promptly hit the hay. I had sweet dreams of skiing and falling (my fave). I woke up to find a dreary day on Sunday.

Sunday (today) was very good times, The level was 1600 CFS. All the guides rested up from a heavy day of rafting and we had some old time reserves come out to help lighten the load. The weather at the start of the trip was splendid. It got dark and chilly towards the float but that is the beginning of fall rafting I suppose. I helped Brendon off a ledge on Knifes edge and then we went to the carry (portage). At the dam the Canadians were dumping something in the river to kill some sort of eel. I think it is known as the "lamper EEl" but I'm not too sure/i don't care. All i know is the stuff stank made me have a headache and turned the water a fluorescent yellow color. Yikes. I still managed to catch some of the most perfect guide air in Zig at my favorite wave. I launched so perfectly and landed solid. I cant explain. what it feels like to do that sort of rad stuff, man o man wow. (my boss Gary told me i need to get a life cause all i do is rad shit)

So after i landed i went into panic rock a little soon cause i thought it would be sick. Then a boat pinned on the cliff on river right and i was like whoa crap. I called a hard forward to try and make a small eddy on River right halfway down the Rapids. I totally missed the eddy and the other boat drifted away and i slammed into the wall also. How embarrassing! i was like "hyside right Effin hyside!" None of the crew listened and i almost flipped my tube was sucking under more and more then for some strange reason we became free and drifted int Cruncher where i hit the meat so slowly that the boat folded and snapped open and it was killer. Totally bitchin'. I then caught more guide at at shave & a haircut. We towed out cold and i used my fleece binky to keep myself as well as some others warm. I went back on bus # 2 and met a nice girl from long island. I think her name was Michelle...some of the nicest eyes i have seen in some time. She asked to share my fleece blanket with me so i said sure. It was a pleasant ride back to the shop where there was warm chilly and hot coffee and tea waiting.

A side story from this morning...

Tony and i were joking around and we put a spoon full of ranch dressing in the vat of chili. Like 20 mins later B.O.M. Ate a cup. It was so spicy he was sweating. it looked as if he was having an allergic reaction. Erica and i told him to mention to tony that he tasted ranch in the chili and say how allergic he is to ranch. BOM played along and we found tony. Mike said "man i think someone put ranch dressing in this!" with a uncertain tone"I'm super allergic to Ranch" (as sweat is pouring off his face!) Tony looks at me I couldn't try any harder to hold a straight face. Tony finally crapped his shorts. As poo was sliding down the back of his leg he said" Mike I'm sooo sorry it was all me!" we fell down laughing.

Also BOM (big ol' Mike) couldn't start his Harley cause he never turned the switch to the on position. he was bustin his nut kikin that thing for at least 5 mins b4 he realized it. we laughed . i got it on my digi cam as a video. if i ever decide to dump my data onto a computer maybe you can watch the clip it is funny!

Everyone please prey for John Eddy's safe return from prison so he can guide once more...John we miss ya. Tell bubba i say hello!

last weekends adventures on the Black River

Last weekend was the kickoff of SU (Syracuse University) season with the Raft trips on the Black and the losing football game. (a side joke: Little Jonny is in a courtroom as his parents fight over his custody rights. The Judge asks, "would you like to live with your Dad?" Jonny replies "no Daddy beats me!" the Judge then asks " would you like to live with Mommy?" Again, Jonny says "No, Mommy beats me too!" The judge then asks sarcastically "well who do you want to live with?" Jonny states with excitement " I want to live with the Syracuse football team because they don't beat anybody." (end side joke))

So Saturday was a fun trip. I had 7 SU students in my raft with m'little bro Ben as a guest. We had fun the whole time. I was kinda in my zone as far as guiding is concerned. I attribute that to my mass consumption of coffee (I spilled on my lap) on the drive over. I was a little crazy and hyper but my lines were clean. (there is a joke in there some where) I saw Brendon's (rookie guide) raft come through Panic Rock Rapids and crash into the cliff on river right. He never called high side and then Larry crashed into him causing what I thought for sure was going to be a complete flip! There were a bunch of swimmers and it was clean good carnage. The rest of the trip went smooth as a baby's butt.

After the trip Steve (Black River manager) asked me to work Sunday. After a few calls I arranged it and spent the night there in H2O own on an overturned boat. So needless to say i drank some beers and went out for supper and had some good conversations with my guide friends as the night grew old. I wish John Eddy was there to share in the Glory that he knows it is to be a River guide. (John we need to buy ARO) I love sleeping on rafts!

Sunday I brought this group of ten. I had a good trip. we surfed the Cruncher as these were not college students but "real people". we drank beers on the tow then some more @ the BBQ and then i had to zip back to Old Forge to work at Gram's Mini Golf course (the nutty putty). OhOhOh i just remembered (and I'm too lazy to put this in above as it chronologically happened) that Brendon had a mix up at 3 rocks and almost dumped/pined/screwed his boat on the rocks on river right! It was crazy i thought for sure he would flip but he didn't even have one swimmer. It was a good weekend. Happy fall! Ill be on the Black again this weekend for more SU trips and stuff. I hope I don't forget to bring the extra gear over in the morning from Old Forge (sometimes I do that and hopefully I help to remember better cause' I wrote it down someplace)

See you on the Riva!

Black River 8-23-08

What a glorious day for all of mankind! We as Americans have the Right to go Rafting in big water in august! What a treat. I must say the levels are up for ARO and the Black River in particular provides everyone with thrills spills and Chicken BBQ after the Trip.

The adventure began with blue skies and sunny weather. The temp was about 82 so the water felt really nice when the huge waves crested the bow of the raft! We ran clean lines all through the trip. There were two moments on the trip that i deeply appreciated as a whitewater aficionado. First, surfing the cruncher above 2000 CFS. Thanks to an adventurous trip leader (Chris Koll AKA General) we got in there and I held the nose of the raft in the meat as long as i could. The river sucked off the 4 gusts up front. Then it was just me and another st side surfing getting pounded by water. We were the only raft out of 8 on the trip to get pulled out via rope! I was super stoked after that. The next rad adventure was in the very next rapids 'rocket ride' we got the privilege to run the 'poop chute' on the right side f the dam. It was spectacular i caught some guide air on the wave below the drop. That was pretty fun. I also fell out of the raft in 'shave and a haircut' because I wasn't paying any attention andIi was horsing around!

what a day. I ended the trip and zipped back to old fore where i bar tended for Malloys until 930 then out for a night of boating. we caused quite the scene at the bars on 4th lake!

Sundays Hudson Trip

Sundays trip started off in Old Forge, Raining and cold. I drove up to the Hudson River and the closer I got the nicer the weather became. As my coffee burned my tongue and mouth I was thinking to myself with the water up we may as well go to OK Slip Falls. I met up with my old friend Jon Jost and we were set to R2 the River. We ran good clean lines throughout the day and drank beers and smoked cheap cigars. We pulled out at the beach where OK slip brook comes into the River. We started walking into the forest along the stream. It became pretty steep and difficult. I had heard there is a trail to the falls so we bushwhacked until we found the trail. Finally after hiking out of the gully to the top of the ridge line we found some marked trees and a seldom used overgrown footpath leading uphill. After about 20 minutes we came to a fork in the trail and guessed that the left would bring us to the falls. We crossed a bridge hiked to another ridge line and seemingly away from the falls. Shortly thereafter we found a clearing at the top of a rock face cliff where the falls could be viewed from top to bottom in all the glory that they deserve. I give credit to the rainy summer we have had the falls were cranking out water. We sat for some time ate some cheddar cheese and drank bush light.

That's when the thunder started off in the distance. we decided to make a mile before the storm hit. We reached our boat and the River to find our paddles gone! Some A$$ stole our gear. After a brief panic I found the paddles under the raft. I figured someone was just breaking chops. We ate some lunch then put in the River to finish up the trip. after sitting on the tube it was apparent that a significant amount of air was let out and beers were stolen from the cooler. I wasn't mad though, there was a lot of thunder and lightning by this time. We cautiously paddled the rest of the river trying to be near shore to avoid being struck in the openness of the center of the river. we got lucky and made the takeout just as the weather started to turn back into a nice day!

It is hard to reflect on this sort of trip. The falls are unseen from the River and i have only ever imagined what they might look like. This sort of place makes one forget about the rest of the world and become more in tune with a different sort of reality. i don't recommend going for this hike as it is private property and we were trespassing. but enjoy the picture!

Big Water Alert! Come Raft!!! Hudson Aug 7th

The River was cranking today as we have had a bunch of rain. All of the Rivers in New York are up and if you need to go Rafting this weekend will surpass your every expectation with nice weather and spring like runoff. Check the link on the right side of the page for current stream flow data to see what the River is doing. Anyway, the Hudson provided me with the trip I have been looking for since this past Spring. The weather was perfect the water was high and I caught guide air in almost every Rapids. I'm sure John Eddy wants to be here this weekend but he is in Long Island on the campaign trail. Or was it prison? I cant remember what he said. Hopefully we get more rain at night so the River maintains a strong flow. Maybe this weekend will be another one of those River trips I will be telling stories about for years!

Hudson Aug-5

The Hudson river was very busy today for a Tuesday. ARO had a 4 boat trip down the river. The level was 3.7 and dropping. I had a crew of 7 in my raft. One family of five and another couple. The family of five was from new jersey but the father was originally from Rome NY. the other couple, they were from Switzerland. The guy wasn't used to being told what to do so I kinda let him do his own thing the whole trip. I also knocked him outta the raft just feet above Chucks hole. He pulled back in before the drop however. The only other notable event besides a pleasant day on the River was Surfing the third hole in mile long. It was a good surf...nothing like the Cruncher... but it was nice. I will be back on the water Thursday but probably working for another outfitter as ARO has only a small trip. Hopefully we get more rain to bring the Rivers up more and add some adventure back into the trip!

Im Back! Hudson on 8-3 Moose 8-4

After some time away from home I have made my triumphant return to the greatest place I have ever visited, The Adirondacks! Gary was happy to have me back working on the Hudson River. Yesterday, we saw 4 feet and rising as we began our adventure. The level was a very friendly level with waves ranging from 4-7 feet tall and a few great surf opportunities. I had a light boat with only 5 gusts. Three were from Utica, a father with two boys 13 and 11. He was a really nice guy, a fireman by profession. The other two gusts in my raft were a mother and son from Binghamton. I was sure they were all one big family when the trip began. By the end of the trip I realized they were two separate groups. I guss that explains why they were almost awkwardly quiet. Well at any rate it was a nice easy day as the water level was up and the people were good paddlers.

Today we had two Moose River trips. Middle section Moose River is a great solo ducky adventure consisting of class 2plus whitewater. The trip is short enough so we can run two times per day. the first trip Sarah slept in so I got to run the trip with Gary. We had good fun and not much trouble. Sarah B was there for the second trip. She is a strong paddler for a girl. Lynne says she is probably better than Chipp G from H2O town! we took camp Owahtha from Cortland area. they were cool. they used to give us t shirts whenever we took them Raftin' but the director Goose didn't make it for this trip so neither did our free garb. all in all it was a busy day on the moose. For kicks I swam the last Rapids known as ' The Wall" named for pink floyd I think?

Well I have to get back to work at Grandmas nutty putty but I'll be on the Hudson tomorrow the 5th so hopefully i see you there! -cHAZ

rafting in thailand

Last week I was Rafting on the Mae Hong River. It was pretty rad. I would have written about it sooner, however, my travels have left me far from Internet. The River trip was pretty sweet because they don't have anything known as 'liability' here. The guide 'Dan' gave little to no safety speech and could hardly speak English! Dan was a more experienced Guide however. we ran what I would consider clean lines through most of the Rapids. We would have flipped in one Rapids if I hadn't hysided in time though. We witnessed 3-4 other boats flip and many scared gusts not knowing better tried to stand up in the River. The River was a very intense two hour run. The Rapids were steep and narrow with many rock sives. There were numerous Guide prisons and very technical maneuvers. I would rate the River a constant class 4 with a touch of 5. I do have pictures and video of the trip but don't have the time to upload them here so I will do it @ home.

Hope everyone is well. Hopefully if my plane doesn't crash ill be home on the 2nd of august and be rafting on the 3rd or 4th.
-chaz

Last trip of the year for John- Black 7/26

We had a good trip on Saturday. I had a group of people from the Syracuse "Miata Club"- a bunch of people who drive Mazda Miatas. The water was big, about 5,900 CFS and we all had a real good time. We ran right, right, right at Knifes Edge, had about 2,100 CFs in the Gorge and ran Three Rocks and surfed the Cruncher. I was in one of our bigger rafts, a Maravia with real big tubes and my surf was just in and out real quick after a couple of swimmers. Erika, who was also in Maravia, had a similar surf, but for the people in the smaller NRS boats had real good, violent crunches. The people who had been there in the past were like 'let's surf, we did it last year, etc.' They didn't realize that the river was significantly bigger than the last time they went rafting with us. So we paddled 'em up into the hole and I don't think some of those people were prepared for the crunch.

We got the tsunami beyond Rocket Ride. That's when they release the rest of the flow from above the dam in two man made water falls just below Rocket Ride, so we were back up to around 6,000 CFS. The waves were real big in Square Rock and Shave and a Haircut. It was my last rafting trip for the year as I have to go away for a few months and al in all, it was a great day on the river.

I had to shoot back to Old Forge after the trip because it was my younger brother Dave's 21st birthday. So I said my goodbyes to all the guides and hit the road. I went to my brother Olin's house and had a sausage, peppers and onions sandwich and started drinking beer. We walked to Slickers, a good joint in Old Forge at around 9:30 and started it off right with a round of shots of Crown Royal. We drank a bunch of beer and both my folks ended up meeting us at the bar. So it was the whole family out partying. My dad bought a bunch of shots of Yagermeister for us. I also tried a Harvey Wallbanger for the first time- very similar to paddler's punch. Tasty! At the end of the night, we ended up going to Tote's and my little brother threw up a couple of times. I think he threw up on my sister Cae and Olin. My Dad jammed out on the harmonica with the band who was playing. Me and Heather left at around 2:30 ish and everyone else was still out. I threw up when I got to Heather's folks house. Good Times!

H2O, weekend of July 19, 20

This past weekend was pretty badass. I was over in Watertown to run the Black on Saturday and Sunday. Lots of good fun was had.

On Saturday, I had a bachelor party and I trashed them up pretty good, just like they wanted. We were the first boat to paddle back up into the Cruncher to surf (naturally) to show the other boats what they could expect. The river was running at about 2,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) and it was a pretty beefy surf. As soon as we paddled back into the hole, the three guys on the front right were gone. Soon after that when the boat spun, everyone on the left was gone. Me and only one guy (back right, in front of me) was left in the raft. We came pretty close to flipping the raft a few times and then we finally did go bottoms up on a big back surf. I wasn't even trying to flip the raft, it was pretty cool. We drank a bunch of beer on the tow.

After we got back to the shop, we drank more beer and myself, Erika Goodboat, Scary Larry, Brandon, Mary and the Cook Dave paddled a raft down to play at Hole Brothers. The raft surfing was kind of boring (we were in this giant 16 foot boat) but surfing on the boogy board was a real good time. At one point I pushed the Cook out of the raft and he swam way down river. I probably wouldn't have done it if I knew it wold be such an ordeal. We drank all of the beer we brought and paddled down to Vabnduzee street to Larry's truck. Erika and Alex then were going to dinner so I tagged along with them to the Texas Roadhouse. Last time I was at th Roadhouse was last year for a Guide Party. We basically tore that place apart and I'm surprised we didn't get thrown out. That time, it was really busy and we had to wait a while to sit and we were drinking at the bar (you can imagine like 15 guides squeezing around the bar and drinking heavily). I know we were upsetting some of the people around us as we were spilling beer and drinking and cursing and the like but whatever, we were there to have a good time. When we finally sat down we ended up throwing food at each other for a couple of hours and breaking basically every glass that was put in front of us. It was a good time.

This time with Erika and Alex was quite a bit more laid back. The restaurant wasn't busy and we got a table pretty quickly. The hostess said 'Someone will be right with you' and I said "thank you so much" she thought for some reason that I was being sarcastic and she was like "are you being sarcastic?" and I was like "what? no." but whatever, she was nice and we sat down. I wasn't really hungry (I really only came to drink) so I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, a pulled pork sandwich. I was not really interested in eating and after my first beer and first shot of bourbon I was even less interested in food and more interested in the Maker's Mark and Sam Summer. I picked at my sandwich and poured drinks into my belly. It was a good time. After leaving, Al dropped me off at another rafting company down the street and I proceeded to drink quite a bit more with the General Chris Koll and those boys. I believe I even shotgunned a few PBRs. I left at about 2 to walk back to ARO. The combination lock on the door was incredibly hard to open as I couldn't see very well (both because of the drink and because it was dark). I eventually closed one eye and focused and opened it up after probably 15 minutes of struggling. All in all, it was a good night.

Nest morning the General woke me up at around 8 and we headed over to this little diner A&J's I think it was called. I usually go to Mo's but this was better and not as busy. After breakfast we headed back to the shop and got ready for the trip. The raft trip was broken up in half, about half normal people and half Syracuse University. I had a group of 10 people from the YMCA of Oswego. They were alright. At Knife's Edge I ran the meatiest part of Mary's Hole and swam half the boat, including myself. I was sure we flipped but, no, we didn't. We had a little surf at the cruncher, it was bigger than Saturday and harder to paddle up into. All in all, it was a real good weekend. I believe next Saturday will be my last trip of the year before I have to go away until November.

Black River- Death Trip Resurection Trip- Saturday 7/12

Yesterday I was on the Black. It was a great day on the river- probably one of the best ever with customers (as opposed to a fun run, with other guides or my buddies). We had a group of like 20 guys who were on a bachelor party. The General Chris Cole set it up. The guy who was getting married was the son of one of the original 'Death Trippers', a bunch of guys who used to do pretty badass stuff like 25 years ago and go crazy big. The Death Trips are pretty legendary stories at ARO.

Anyway, it was a private trip so we went pretty big- we ran True Path at Knife's Edge and also surfed the shit out of the Cruncher. I believe every single guy on the trip swam at the Cruncher. Chip, one of the other guides, flipped his boat while surfing. Great Times! We drank a bunch of beer on the tow too. At Hole Brothers, the third rapid on the trip, we surfed a bunch and Larry Lafavre popped his boat on some churt (super sharp rocks that are all over the place on the river). So we ran over to another rafting company and borrowed a boat. I was jealous of him once he got the boat because it was a sweet little 14 foot sotar and the rest of use were in 16 foot boats.

When we got back to the shop, after the BBQ, me, Scary Larry Lafavre (another guide- he'll scare you but hopefully not hurt you), Mary (the front office girl in H2O) and Brandon (a trainee in H2O) paddled the boat we borrowed down to Hole Brothers and surfed around and drank a bunch of beer. The Death Trippers and the other guys from the bachelor party and the General were down there chilling. We also were surfing with a body board- pretty good times. Larry, The General and myself then proceeded to drink a bunch of beer at a couple of bars. We even got the bartender to mix up a bunch of 'Paddler's Punch'. Paddler's Punch is awesome stuff, basically pure alcohol that tastes like juice (Vodka, Peach Snapps, some other liquor, Orange Juice and a splash of Grenadine). We had a great time and I got a a sweet Death Trippers t-shirt out of it. Chaz would have enjoyed it, but I'm sure that Southeast Asia pretty rad too!

laos

I am i Laos. There is a pretty cool tourist thing here called TUBING. sorry for the caps but I'm too lazy to retype. any how tubing is basically sick. you go like 100 yards and arrive 2 a bar. they throw you a rope and they have a sweet swing. so one drinks then swings. the whole river has like 7 bars and each is more perfect than the last. the beer is cheap and if you ask nicely you get a free shot and cigarette. i am pretty drunk now and am about to hit the town but i assure you ill fall asleep @ the bar b4 the night is over. again i don't have the chord to upload the pics but i assure you they are sick!!!!

Thailand

Hello all from Nong Chai Thailand. I have no idea where I am or what the F is going on here but it is a pretty rad trip so far. Spent a few days in Bangkok the capitol of Thailand. It was a total party town. I met a decent amount of world travelers and got pretty drunk with them at various venues. Everything is extremely cheap here. I purchased a killer pack from Lowe Alpine for like 52o Baht which is like 12-14 dollars...I think this pack goes for like 99 back in the states.

Although I'm having a lot of fun seeing the sights here, I'm pretty bummed I missed the fourth of July weekend in Old Forge. It is the first time i have been out of town for the fourth as long as I can ever remember. Sorry to all of you who I let down.

wish I had a chord to upload the sweet pics I have of things but I don't so you will all have to wait till I get home.

Well I hope all is well I have to go eat some supper before I shrivel up and die...plus the Internet cafe charges like 90 cents for an hour and I don't want to break the bank.

THe last days on the River

The past few trips I have kind of neglected to put up in a timely fashion. I'm going to try my hardest to remember all the details even though I had a few Gin n' Tonic's at Malloys with my dinner.

Thursday the 26th was a sweet day on the River. The level was under 3 feet so we had to make our own fun in places. My crew was awesome. I had Greg and Nicole (Mosca) Willbanks who were just married last night (congrats). I had some of Gregs family and also another group of 2. Gary and heather were great folks and i think they all had a really nice trip. We had a little bit of excitement in Harris Rift when Vincent (age8) fell out into a River feature dubbed Bubble Buster. He was totally sucked under for like 4 seconds and swam for a total of probably 13-15 seconds. It was scary for me as a guide because of his size and age. we managed to rescue him from the turbulent H2o and had a nice rest of the trip. I jumped out of the raft while surfing bus stop cause i was super bored and hot. It's a deep pool but i managed to violate myself on a rock somehow.

Sat June 29th. It was a nice hot humid morning. That all changed. By 12.30 or 1 pm it started to rain. We were just below Harris RIft when It started. I caught a metric crap load of Guide Air as we went down stream. I even saw John get some pretty good air( even though he is totally out of practice and getting stuck all of the time. ) My group was going to be an eleven load...yikes! but the gusts arrived with a girl who was too young and the gear wouldn't fit safely so Gary (my boss) couldn't let her on the trip. I had eight throughout the day and they were excellent paddlers. It was raining pretty much the hardest and longest i have ever experienced. Even older guides who have been around had something to say about yesterdays storm. Like John said every time you thought it was as bad as it gets it got more intense! I even listed in my guide log book how hard the rain fell. After the trip i had to zoom to a wedding for Greg and Nicole so it was a long day for me...but super fun.

Sunday the 30th (today). I had a group of folks from around Allentown PA. They were all from eastern Europe (i think it was Bulgaria) i cant remember. The five load in a small boat with all the rain from the day before made my day super easy. That was a good thing due to the fact I was up late with the wedding party. We couldn't for the life of us catch a surf but we had a fun time trying. The river just wouldn't accept our offer to play. It was a great trip, we were an excellent team and even though some of them were not so great at speaking English I feel like we all became friends a little bit on the river. The weather was great also!

If anyone got personal pictures...as always send em' 2 me ill post them

whitewater_chet@hotmail.com

Thanks for Rockin the Chazblog My next post will probably be from Thailand so stay regular and check ~Chaz

Hudson River, Saturday June 28

Real low water this past weekend. I believe the river was running somewhere around 2.8 feet. took a group of guys from Fort Ann, NY up there for one of the guy's bachelor party. They were alright, nice enough but they wanted bigger rapids (and I can't blame them) so I encouraged them to come back in the spring or to go down the Black River. I swam the bachelor twice and one and a half of his buddies. One guy fell out kind of in the Narrows (he still had his feet in the raft he was just under water, so he was the half). The other swims occured in Big Nasty (due, ofcourse, to a rock) and Mile Long. I kind of like it when people fall out when the river is this low- it adds a bit of excitement, which is nice. I got stuck on quite a few rocks, which can be expected at these summertime levels. It poured really hard for most of the river trip- it was really nice. At one point I was thinking that it couldn't possibly rain any harder and then it would rain harder. I liked it but the bachelor was like 'boo hoo I don't like the rain'. I called him a 't-shirt guy'. The rain brought the river up to about 3.5 feet so I'm sure today's trip was nicer. We got pretty far ahead of the bubble (that's what we call the extra water from the dam release in Indian Lake) and we all got stuck a lot. It was a lot of work out there this weekend. I hope the river comes up significantly as I'm planning on taking a few of my buddies down the river next Thursday. We won't go if it's below 3 feet ish. It's storming right now in Albany so hopefully it's raining up north too.

Me and Heather are going down to Long Island for the long July 4 holiday weekend, so I won't be on the river. It should be a good time, we'll be staying with Heather's sister and her Fiance. He runs a big farm out on the east end so that will be a good time and we'll do some fishing for Blue Fish in the Peconic Bay. Last time we went down we caught like 15 fish and grilled them up- pretty tasty!

I'll be going away until November pretty soon for my 'real job' (the term we use for gainful employment that's not raft guiding) so I'll be done with river trips for the year shortly. It's kind of a bummer that Summer just started and it's already ending for me. I'll just have to enjoy what time is left before I have to go away.

Hudson River June 24, 08

Today was another summertime Hudson trip. There was warm weather the level was just under 3 feet, and i got stuck on a number of rocks. I did have some awesome gusts though, the one family came b/c I took the daughter when she was in camp. The other two gusts were from NYC and they were nice too. The best part of the days trip was running bubble buster sideways. The raft defiantly caught some Sweet surf and spun all around. I'm pretty sure surfing there made the trip. I also caught a glimpse of a baby fawn on River left by the buss stop wave. It was pretty feeble looking I'm not too sure IT will be one of the survivors for the year. It was cute none the less to see him. I have to stop short as i have to get busy with the real world adult things like paying bills. No trip tomorrow but i will be out on Thursday one last time before my voyage to Thailand next week.

Stay tuned for more on rafting. I also plan on doing some Raftin in Thailand so ill post from there whenever I can!

Black River June 23, 08

Today was a nice day on the River, as always. I had a group of 10 in my raft and the level was 1700. We had good clean lines through every rapids. The group I took was Whitesboro HS Sr trip. I'm pretty sure they had a good time even though their bus driver fell while we were on the river and had to go to the ER. They had to hang around until another bus driver came all the way from Utica Area...about 1.5 hours. They didn't seem to mind, we kept them occupied and had to hold off on the consumption of labbatts blue until they left. (ARO is sponsored by Labbat! free beer after the trip fro gusts and guides alike!). So it was a nice time. I would like to have found the pictures (on wktv.com) but I'm not very good w/computers. Hopefully they read this and send them to me for more photos to admire on the blog.

Well tomorrow I have a trip on the Hudson River across the state SO stay tuned!

Black River 6-21-08

Today was a great day for all of mankind. I had a crew of 7 beautiful women from U of Rochester. They were involved with student orientation or something like that. I had a bunch of good memories from this trip even though it is already midnight after the trip and I have had a few Gin drinks. We paddled really strong and worked well as a consistent paddling crew. The River was flowing @ 1700+ so it wasn't too shabby at all...

The best part of the trip was obviously Surfing a class 3+ hydraulic called the Cruncher. It was sweet. My crew of ladies (except 1) thought I said abandon ship when I actually called hyside right. Needless to say I lost 6 into the depths of the Black River. Then It was just me and Hannah...or maybe it was Mandy....I forgot. At any rate, we surfed a little bit longer and finally got so in tune with the River that we both decided to follow our comrades to the murky depths of the sticky hole. I lost my paddle and throw bag temporarily, luckily however, the General caught up to them and brought them back 2 me. It was a wicked Psycho Surf. Defiantly recirculated me and we had dumped the whole boat. Something I'm not entirely used to doing nor do I intend to do in the near future. I would bet the River threw in something special cause' I hadn't seen it since last time I went down w/ John and paddled the glen park falls.

Ladies if you end up reading this I'm pretty sure I remember your names.
Hannah, Mandy, creature, Kate, Eleanor, Nicki, well I Guess I forgot one...sorry...if you bought the photo album from the days trip send them to me @ whitewater_chet@hotmail.com and by the way I wont ever forget this trip...Thanks again

What makes a good Raftin' company

Some Raftin' companies just don't get it. Some companies pursue the love of money over the love and respect for the Rivers in which they operate. Some organizations have found a way to find an equal balance between profits and passion. Other companies are strictly in it for the love and experience and do just enough business so the guides can have the joy of Whitewater (these are the hippies). Even though the same River route is commercially run by many companies the Gusts can have a distinctly different trip based on the company in which they choose.

There are a whole crap load of factors that make a Raftin' trip. The three most important are as follows. First off, Safety, second, the guide, and third, the outfitter. These factors stem from the type of outfitter one chooses. The small time outfit who goes raftin' for the love and not the money may have sub par gear and equipment and your guide may smell. Raftin' outfits that are profit oriented on the River have unhappy guides and sloppy trips and your guide may smell. The companies who realize the balance of profits and passion for whitewater tend to provide the safest, most clean, most fun trips available on the River and your guide may smell. That being said there is a good possibility that the same River run can provide different experiences for different folks depending on which outfit they chose. Well balanced companies have the best guides, gear, and atmosphere in whitewater for obvious reasons.

Companies who demonstrate these characteristics are easy to spot on the River. The guides run clean lines, the gusts are smiling throughout the day and if the need be they can react to a situation with confidence and courage. (At that point the smell of the guide becomes part of the trip.) Many times I have gotten complements on the River or after Raftin' drinks in the bar. Complements stem from actions that other guides see on the River and are always great to hear. The best complement I think I have heard was from a guide from ARC (another good Raftin' co) who made a mention that ARO runs consistent clean lines and has respectful and skilled guides.

Be sure to check out your surroundings when you raft with ARO and you may notice some outfitters that seem 'all over the place' out there and you might catch a glimpse of how great of a difference it is when an outfitter has the right balance between profit and passion on the river.

The glens falls 7th grade trip

Today we river runners had an exceptionally challenging day logistically. Our trip was in Lake Luzerne on the Socandaga (Soc for short) River. My boss, Gary, just secured a new outpost last week and it hasn't even been set up yet. Lynn Gary and I left Old Forge at 7am and drove to North River to fetch some extra gear. From there we completed our journey to the new outpost where we jumped right into action blowing boats (Johns Dog is called boats!!!!). Just kidding.

We had the typical day on the Soc which includes an hour trip with 12 or more in the raft. Lucky for me they were all grade 7. I hit the only wave on the River worth hitting and caught massive guide air as usual. after that we all swam and splashed in the flat water. My kids were the best splashers on the River. On the River there is a cable stretching from River left to River right 12-15 feet above the surface. As we passed under i made a mention that the cable was installed to get all the squirrls on the left side to the nuts on the right side. One grade 7 girl immediately shouted SQUIRREL NUTS!!!!! The teacher and I had a great bellowing bout of laughter. Noticing the attention one student got the whole raft flew into action repeating SQUIRREL NUTS at the top of their lungs. My ears are still ringing.

I then had a sweet move at the bottom of the River making it from the right to the left and hitting all of the waves. This move is not hard but with a crew of kids it could have put us right into John Dunkans rock pile.

All in all it wasn't a bad trip. the Soc even though it isn't really challenging or scary is fun...probably more so because there is no real danger. As a guide I am able to relax knowing it is hard to sluf up.

Until the next adventure...

Israeli Hitchhiker on the way to the Sacandaga

A few years back, Lynn (another one of ARO's Hudson River Guides) and I were on our way out to the Lake Luzerne to help on the Sacandaga River. The Sacandaga River is a family oriented trip of class II rafting and tubing. The tubing can actually be pretty adventurous and it is well worth a trip down the river. ARO takes a big trip of kids from some camp every week and we were on our way out to help out with that. On the way, just outside of Blue Mountain Lake, we saw a young man hitchhiking. I'm a pretty nice guy so I stopped to pick him up. Our boss was not very happy about that later because of the added liability, but I couldn't help it. Every time I see a hitchhiker I just imagine myself and the times I've been lucky enough to grab quick rides.

Anyway, it turned out this young guy was from Israel (I'm pretty sure his name was Adam). Adam was a former soldier in the Israeli army and soon to be engaged. He was a real friendly guy and he told us of his travels up to that point around the world and around the states. And he told us of his plans to travel around India with his soon to be fiance. He told us how he was on his way to Vermont- so it was perfect that we picked him up, Luzerne being on his way and all.

We had to stop in North River at our Hudson River base to load the trailer up with boats and load the van up with paddles, life jackets and other gear. Adam helped us load the boats and the gear and we were glad to have him there, because it made the work significantly easier. After we were loaded we were on our way to Lake Luzerne.

We got to Luzerne and I introduced Adam to everybody there. They all dug him and he told some more of his adventures and his plans. I offered him a free trip on the river as my guest and of course he agreed. He said it was the first time he had done anything like that and that he had a great time. He said he would remember it as one of the radder things he would do in the states.

At the end of the day before we took off back home and he headed down the road towards VT, we snapped a quick photo and he actually emailed it to me months later when he was back home. Here's that picture. I'm second from the right in the black life jacket and Adam is next to me in the jeans and that's Lynn to the left of him.

We had a great day with our hitchhiking friend Adam and it just goes to show you all the rad people you can meet when working in a real cool environment, at a real cool job doing what you love.

The Middle Moose Whitewater Run

The Middle Moose river is the baby brother to the Lower Moose springtime run. This run is a class two section and can be very enjoyable for the novice and expert alike. We tend to run this section in self guided kayaks called Duckies. There are one man duckies and two man duckies. One man duckies or "singles" are awesome, they are maneuverable light and very stable. The "double" duckies are a little bit more cumbersome we have nicknamed them divorce duckies.

I was on a Middle Moose trip last week and it made me remember all of the great times I have had on that River. Being in self guided boats, gusts often get stuck, flip over, swim, and even though it is a low class whitewater it is shallow and fast moving. The rescue scenarios on this River are always different, very involved and can be dangerous...well not that dangerous but bad none the less.

This past week we had a trip with a young family of four. The mother and 6yr old daughter in one double and the father and 7yr old son in the other. The level was 2.7 which is not too low but it still provides plenty of rocks to get stuck on. As with many trips involving young kids, the daughter started to cry because her mom was a crappy paddler and they hit too many rocks. She was scared so Lynn traded with the mother and they had more fun. There was a really nice husky on the side of the river and he followed me down for about half the trip. I wanted to keep it if it followed us the whole way but he got tired of us. I hope he found his owner.

The highest water I have ever seen the middle moose was like 9.5. I don't remember the exact date but it was the first time I wore a dry suit on the River. It was a fun trip. John and Jon were there. John eddy yelled at Jon Jost, he missed the best hole in the river...the one on the bottom right of the wall. so we paddled back into it and surfed the crap out of it...the other two fell out I stayed in and it was fun as heck.

Camping on Piseco, Hike to T Lake Falls

This weekend we went camping on Piseco Lake (in the South Central Adks- near Speculator). Heather and I went with a few friends. Our site was in the Poplar point campground- I wouldn't recommend it- the old DEC Ranger who was managing the joint hassled us a bit and the site was right on Old Piseco Rd. It was kind of strange, I felt like we were camping in peoples back yards. We weren't doing anything to deserve the hassle besides having one too many people in the site and one too many cars parked there- which has never been a problem before at other state sites. I think he just wanted to hassle us, thinking 'oh, here's a bunch of young kids, there going to be trouble'.

Anyway, despite all of that, it was a pretty rad time, all and all. We got down pretty good on Friday night, ate some good food and drank some tasty drinks. On Saturday we hiked into T Lake Falls. T Lake Falls is a 660 foot waterfall, about 5.6 miles in from the trailhead on Old Piseco Road. The trail is maintained by the DEC to the Lean-To at T Lake (about 3.6 miles), but they no longer maintain the trail from T Lake to the falls (another 2 miles). So we bushwhacked our way through the the woods, sometimes on the old overgrown trail, sometimes through the woods. It was a nice hike, although long and pretty strenuous at points. Heather says she doesn't want to do something like that ever again. The falls were crazy- the trail kind of just ended at the waterfall, with a couple of warnings of people dying by falling off the falls. The waterfall starts as a slide drop and I can imagine people trying to get closer to the edge to see down and then slipping off and taking the big fall. We tried to get down but couldn't figure out the trail down- we tried from either side of the water fall but the way down both times just ended with a rock face and a big drop. There's a nice pool below the waterfall which would have been nice to swim in. We chilled out above the falls and had a snack and did a little swimming in the stream- it was pretty rad.

The hike was obviously an all day sort of thing and we got back to our site around 6:30 and had dinner and got down pretty good again with tasty food and drinks. I forgot my camera but thankfully my buddy Ben remembered his...here's a couple of pics. One of a pretty cool flower we saw (anyone know what it is?), another of a smaller waterfall about a mile upstream of the big falls (we were all pretty beat and the smaller falls provided a nice quick cool off spot) and finally the third picture is of the view from the top of the falls.

another trip on the Riva'

Todays hudson trip was sweet. Well, the River was sweet, my crew was a bunch of grade eights from the NEK vermont (the NEK is the north east kingdom.. theres somtin in their water). At any rate I was on point throughout the day and had a f-in blast. I hit all the big waves, caught massive guide air in big nasty! (guide air is explicitly explained in a prior post) it was rockin. The level of the river as of this morning was about 3.93 and dropping...approx. I was the only boat with the power and the only guide with the ability to surf bus stop at the level. It was a wet surf but not very sticky. an aside...we tried a new technique for cooking the chicken bbq and it was a nice change of pace...you should try it!

Hudson River 6-7-08

The River was really nice on Saturday. The rain from Thursday night brought the level up quite a bit. The weather was perfect and the rapids were moving swiftly. I had a crew of 9 girl scouts from Ithaca area. The waves in the narrows tossed the boat because I had no weight in it which made things exciting for me. I also got guide air in a lot of places on the river. I had to make it home quick for my dads surprise party that night which was a nice time as well.

Big water! Book your rafting trip now!

With all of the rain yesterday and today, the rivers in the Adirondacks are finally coming alive again! You can check the levels with the links on the right. As you can see there is a nice upward spike and it will be a great weekend on the Black or Hudson Rivers. Book your trip now by calling 1-800-525-RAFT. No time is better than now!

Sadly, I won't be on the River this weekend. I've got some plans. It figures that the one weekend I'm not on the river is running at great levels-just my luck. Chaz will be on the river I assume, however, so request him as a Guide. Have a great weekend!

Guide 'Air'

There are many reasons one can enjoy the Guide lifestyle. Some like to simply entertain others, some like the outdoor recreation aspect, others enjoy the thrill of the unexpected. As for me however, I enjoy doing things that some would consider careless and/or reckless. Guide Air can provide many thrills to a river trip (for a Guide) on even the most mundane (yes the low water gets boring for us at times) of White Water adventures.

For the ignorant, Guide Air is a guide technique that utilizes the flex of a raft as well as timing to launch oneself into the air. The forces and effects are very similar to hitting jumps in the snowboard park! This can generally be accomplished even off of the smallest of waves when the correct technique is applied. Let me go no further without saying this is for experienced guides ONLY and can/will lead to dangerous swims through any rapids where 'Air' is 'caught'.

I cannot remember the first time I remember seeing this or using Guide 'Air' as I have been rafting 1/3rd of my life now. I will reflect on one memorable takeoff and landing, or lack thereof, in the following paragraph. I will also share with the community of river rafters some of my favorite waves to practice guide aire dangeriously.

My most memorable launch into the air is by far on the Hudson River this past April 08. So no s%&t there we were 8.5 feet in the Narrows, I had another perfect line as it was my 3-4th time of the season on the river, I saw out of the corner of my glory seeking eye a camera man on River Left. For those who don't know I'm a sucker for the moment, my moment, being captured on film. Knowing the rapids was at least half over, I waited for the perfect second, as the stern of the raft sprung onto the crest of a 20-25 foot wave my legs leapt with all their might. I was like a rocket ship launching from the forces of gravity. I was airborne at last. I felt nothing, not gravity, nor fear (of swimming or the wrath of my boss). I was looking around from the crest of my jump at the cameraman in disbelief on river left, to the kayackers picnicking on river right. I spotted my landing in the raft many feet below me. As I began to descend however, I realized my mistake. I never told my gusts in the raft to stop paddling hard forward. Sure enough the well oiled crew paddled my landing pad right out from under my feet. As I came to the realization that I was going to make a water landing I quickly snapped my legs into a tucked position to ensure they didn't penetrate too deeply into the river. I would describe the scenario as a poorly executed cannonball. due to a thunderous torrent of whitewater I held my breath as I submerged. My tattered vest brought me to the surface a little bit more slowly than I had wished. I surfaced with paddle in hand and swimming for my life (literally! the Narrows at that level is proven deadly). I was going from troth to crest of wave, after wave, no smaller than the one I had used to execute the maneuver. My adrenaline elevated my level of awareness to unimaginable heights. after swimming the remainder of the rapids I finally caught up to my raft (which was still paddling) and climbed in.

No Sooner did I regain control of the helm of the craft did I notice 4-6 gusts from Mikes raft swimming the rapids. I don't know what happened but I helped them out as well.

Some good waves to try it as far as im concerned:
Hudson
1) the indian river has a one glassy wave downstream from mels pic wave in Indian head rapids just right of center
2) No name rapids has 2-3 great potential waves as it is an easy wave train
3) the rapids by the sandy beach just up stream of the narrows has one on river right
4) Big nast has one center river in the steep section
5) fox den if you go down the waves rather than the ledge on river left

Black
1) Hole brothers river center
2) Zig half way down
3) the big wave at shave & a haircut
4) K2 @ Knifes edge - I have not done it yet as the swim can be very ugly and im a puss

Sac
The wave on river right in the first rapids I know as vesouvious (after the volcano that wiped out pompai)
any of the number of waves in the second rapids.

Moose
Yeah im not doing it in any of the named rapids but there are a few in between the big stuff that are good for a few feet there or there as you see them. maybe one day ill throw down in tannery or somthin' (for the video)

So folks keep an eye out for the flyin guide!

River trips that make you who you are

Chaz and I were talking the other day, during our epic trip down the Black that there are a few River trips that make a person who they are, that you will remember for the rest of your life. I've got a few of those sort of trips and I wanted to share one with you today.

My first real whitewater trip was a trip down the Hudson River Gorge section with ARO. It was the Senior Class trip for my High School and I had just turned 18 a couple of months prior. I call this my first real whitewater trip because I had gone down the Sacandaga River a few times as a Cub Scout with the Old Forge Troop and of course, I'd done plenty of goofing off in the rapids and drops of the Moose River growing up. Anyway, it was June and the weather was just getting warm- it was a beautiful sunny day and I was in Gary's boat along with a few guys from my High School class (Gary is a principle owner of ARO, we call him 'the big guy'- if you know him you'll know why). We had a great time with Gary taking us down the river. He told a lot of jokes and shared a lot of information that I still use on the river to this day.

The sun was hot and the Hudson can be a very long trip in the low water days of June- I got sunburned on my hands pretty serious. We surfed at Bus Stop for a while, all piling on in the front of the raft and keeping the water flowing over the bow. For the last two miles we drifted out. At the end of the day, at the barbecue, Gary asked me about working (he knew that I was looking for a job guiding). I told him I was for sure up for it and started guiding Ducky trips on the Middle Moose the following week (this was about the time Chaz was starting at ARO also, in June 2001).

So I went home and told my mom that I knew what I wanted to do for a weekend/summer gig through college- I told her I was going to be a Whitewater Guide. She was a little nervous like mothers are even though she's been rafting in some pretty big stuff along with my dad (like Moose River at nearly 9 ft and Hudson in Spring) and she told me "Johnny, I want you to be very careful out there...you came into this world on a busted rubber and I don't want to see you leaving on one."

I hope to share a few more of the river trips that have made me who I am in the future.

John's perspective for Sat Hudson, Sun Black

I just wanted to add a couple of things to Chaz's post about this past weekend. It was super-cool and super-badass.

Saturday, I was also on the Hudson. We ran two waves of trips. I was out on the first wave with 'regular people' (not boyscouts, school groups or camp kids) and Chaz, as he mentioned, was on the second wave with boyscout group. I was surprised that Chaz wasn't on the first wave with the other half of my group as we work pretty well on the river together and show people a pretty good time. Just a couple of weeks ago we both had rafts of the same group and we had a good old time splashing and goofing off, even during the drops. Anyway, I had regular peopl, a group from the city and Syracuse, led by a couple of people who have been rafting with ARO on numerous occasions this season (they love us, what can I say?). The weather was a nice solid rain for most of the river trip and turned into a solid downpour after lunch, just above the Narrows. Noone fell out of the boat and we all had a great time. I hope they come back and raft with ARO again soon.

As Chaz said, we drove to H2O ready to party and we got down pretty good. The river trip was also one of the best ever for me- Chaz and I went real big, as big as we could possibly go on the Black. It was a great time and I'm sure Chaz will post pics/vids as soon as we get them. I suggested to Chaz after the trip that we quit guiding people down the river and just do rad shit like that from here on out. Basically the only way to go bigger would be to run the Bottom Moose in a raft and I'm hoping we can do that before the end of Summer. As I've been telling people lately, Chaz and I are basically the two coolest and most badass Raft Guides you know.

Update: Here's some photos from the trip...Sarah was nice enough to send them along.

Sat on the hudson, Sun on the black

So this weekend was super rad! Well, today was rad any way, yesterday was kinda beat. On the River yesterday I took the boy scouts raftin' on the Hudson River. It was alright. We need a lot of rain to bring that River back up to adventure class levels again. We did have a lot of fun though, we hit all of the best parts of the River. I did see one of the best f--- ups by another guide that I have seen in some time though. A guide from wild waters wrapped their boat around a rock in Harris Rift (the steepest and most technical Rapids on the hudson). This chick was stuck in a really bad way. At any rate, her crew was falling out left and right taking nasty swims. I was able to play hero for a second and pull one of them into my raft. I told the fellow to pay me 20 bucks after the trip (he never did...jerk!). so that was all the rage...not really, but fun none the less

From the hudson John E and I drove across the Adirondacks to the Black River. We rolled into H20 town hot and ready to party! We got down pretty good then crashed in the boat room on an overturned raft (its pretty much the best air mattress). After waking up bright eyed and excited we got a serious breakfast at Mo's in H20 town. We prepared for our trip on the black with a metric crapload of coffee and some fine tobacco products. Our plan was to R2 (two men to a boat) a 14 foot boat and do all the rad S@#$. We left the put-in eddy before the customer trip and scampered to Hole Brothers. We surfed their for like 30-45 mins. Shortly after surfin' we had a clean line through Knifes Edge (class IV) via the true path (the most rad line in the rapids) to warm up for the Glen Park Falls. Glen Park Falls is a class VI (6...the highest in the scale of 1-6) is a series of 3 drops. First is a 4 foot drop, we ran in the center so we could drive left to the second drop which is like 8-9 feet. We got through that drop and set up for the third drop. We hit that mofo with alot of power and leaned back to bouf off of the crest of the drop. The whole thing was over pretty quickly. Needless to say we rocked that crap and cheered to 'tittie fu$*in' as loud as we could! We ran the Black River canyon and hit the Cruncher (Class III) sideways. We surfed pretty hard. I'm going to put the video on the blog soon. After that we ran the Poop Chute...a class V+ rapids. I was really nervous but John talked me into it. We nailed that then finished up the river with no trouble! We got a couple beers from the tow boat and shotgunned them for some added fun. It was basically the most exciting trip I've ever had down a River and I have had many River trips. I want to thank Tosha who got some rad pics and video of the trip and as always ARO for letting me borrow the boat.