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