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!