Home for the big water

I have been putting off writing this post because I wanted to make sure and have enough time to include all the whitewater experiences in the same post. My trip home started April 16th. I drove with a friend from Crested Butte CO to Burlington VT in about 37 hours. We went non stop it was kinda crazy but not bad. After I dropped him off in Burlington I went home to old forge NY where I had just missed the weekend of whitewater there.

Next Sunday however, I entered my 2009 whitewater season with a 4.6 Moose river trip. I wasn't planning on guiding as this was the weekend for my annual alumni Rugby tournament in castleton VT. I was very happy however to get the call into work Saturday night. I drove back to old forge by about 1 am and went to totes tea house for some Foosball with my brother max till 2 the went home and rested up. The day started off nicely with a fine line through iron bridge. I had a 14 foot raft with a crew of four from Michigan. One guy was now living in Aspen CO. I told him that CB was way more rad. We ran tannery with a little bit of difficulty. If the river was any bigger we would have been in a tight spot. No big deal though everyone had clean lines. The following rapids called Rooster Tail is a pretty long rapids and probably my favorite on the river. This rapids has two holes very close to one another at different angles which can be technical then some huge crashing waves for the last 100 yards or so. We ran perfectly until i hit one wave off square and that forced my boat onto a nice pinning rap rock. I shouted for a Hyside Left to prevent the boat form folding around the rock and flipping over. We maneuvered off the rock and then watched john eddy and crew do the same damn thing. Froth Hole was the first rapids to have some carnage in it. I remember seeing my guest tumble over the edge of my b oat into the hole. he must have been under for a good 15 seconds as my boat stopped paddling and drifted into the guides prison. our safety boater Marty picked up the swimmer as I worked the raft out of the violently swirling eddy. Mix master was rad Larry and I flipped over although Larry's flip was more extreme because he got it in the room of doom and swam mix master itself whereas i flipped in mix master. John Eddy had a perfect run dumping his crew and staying in himself. Millers Falls was our last rapids to speak of and since it was such a nice day we decided to stay and play. we surfed and dumped people into the river for over an hour. I had never been able to play here for so long because it is usually much too cold by then in the trip. We ate and drank after the trip for quite some time enjoying the late afternoon sun. After that i went to slickers with Steve B and Marty for some party pitchers.

Locals day on the Hudson Tuesday the 28th of April. The gauge read 5.5 feet providing the perfect river. At this level one can go into every feature on the river which at any higher water level is far too dangerous. I was paddling a crew of 5 in a 14 foot boat. Also at this level the waves are still aggressive and relatively large. I had a crew of young people from Old Forge some I know like Sarah Moore and some I didn't know new to town since I moved away. We had a spectacular day then we flipped in Bus Stop. It was very cold but well worth it. Everyone in my boat had the best time and promised to come back next year they really enjoyed the trip i provided for them. I felt good after the trip it was nice to be back home and on the water with my friends.

Friday we had a trip on the Hudson again. We had a high school group from south of Rochester. the river was a bit lower but still above 5 feet. I had a crew of 9 in a 16foot boat these kids were fun. they come every year and have a rockin time. there wasn't any carnage on the river. Critter dean and I guided this trip. Saturdays trip we took Sienna College outing club down the river. I hit Jim Swedburgs Photo wave sideways to spice up the hit and a girl caught her paddle blade in the current and the 'T' grip hit her nose and she bled all over the place. She was fine though she told me she was a Rugby chick so I figured she had been hit harder! We had a nice day however with a 10 load in my boat it can be hard to hit everything because there isn't any room for me to go sometimes except out.

Whitewater Derby was sweet even though I didn't stay the night. Cathy came with her famous cookies. It was great to see her. Don Curry came as well but he didn't bring any cookies. we drank a bunch of beers at the shop then went to Laura's for more then went to the train tracks to listen to a band where Gary found a free keg of IPA I drank alot of it! Gary drove us back to old forge around 9 we got home about 10 then I raced over to H2O town breaking the land speed record over the Moose River Road. I got there just in time to drink more beers hang with John Steve and Marty. Alex made a bunch of rum infused cherries and they were great I ate a handful before bed and it turned my gentle buzz into a drunken spin. it was great to sleep on a raft. No other aspect defines one as a river guide more than sleeping on a raft between trips.

Sunday i had another college outing club the river was running 5500cfs or so and we had great lines all day. Ran the high water skate at Knifes Edge and had about 1700 cfs in the gorge. I had to run 3 rocks backwards cause my crew want listening but we were fine except on girl dropped her paddle. almost hit panic rock in zag which was sweet cause i hit the big waves in front of it which are kind of off limits as the generally lead int a bad situation with panic rock. I don't know how I avoided it but I got around it and then went to cruncher. I had the biggest hit of the day in the cruncher it was sweet except for the fact I was not aiming to hit the deepest part of the hole. The rapids changed since my last visit and I wasn't expecting such a powerful wave at the bottom of the first drop. the same girl who dropped her paddle in 3 rocks got launched pretty hard into the person in front of her and was shocked a little bit. After the rocket ride we waited for the tsunami and hit up square rock and shave and a haircut. We didn't have any beer on this trip because it was a college trip so I had a grape soda. it was a good soda. Just have to thank Larry for the brownies after the trip! they were very good.

It was great to be home for a couple weeks. It was awesome seeing everyone. thanks to Gary and Steve at ARO for putting me to work on the rivers. Thanks to Marty for keeping it safe. John it is always a pleasure to raft with my brother in Whitewater. Alex, Erica, Mike, Larry, Brenden and Mary black river crew great to see you. Tosha thanks for takin pics and vid...email me with a couple I will upload them to the blog. Mark Critter Dean Dick and the my ducky sister Lynn it was a pleasure paddling with ya! Have a great summer and stay tuned for new stories from a new river.

Moose River 4/25 and 4/26. Two good days on the river

We wrapped up our Moose season this past weekend. We had great weather on both days but somewhat low water (water levels did come up a bit for Sunday, however, which was nice and made life a lot easier).

On Saturday it was about 75 degrees out and sunny but the river was running at about 3.8 feet when we got on the water and had dropped down to about 3.6 by the time we got off (really low, in other words). The rapids were still good in my opinion, despite the low level, it was just getting to each of the sets and through the flats that was the difficult part. I had a group of young kids from Oswego State College (although I don't think the trip was actually affiliated with the college). They were a lot of fun and down to be little crazy. I had one swimmer in Rooster Tail just above the ledge on river left at the upper section of the drop. I kind of think he was almost trying to fall out, we hit a little wave and he went head over heels (kind of like you see the Navy Seals do in the movies). Anyway, we got him back in real quick before we actually went over the ledges which made me happy but my run through the rest of the drop was pretty iffy after that. We got down to Mix Master without any other major issues and we scrubbed down all the crews pretty good there. Miller's Falls was also pretty good surfing and people were flying out of boats left and right there. Erika and Larry had 14 foot boats and Miller's Falls was just destroying them with people swimming all over the place.

After the trip I went and picked up Heather and my sister Cae and we chilled out at the rafting base for a little longer drinking nice cold Blue Lights. From there we went to the Tow Bar for the annual Spring Fling where Roy Cooper was cooking up some food and they had some music going. After a few drinks there, we mosied on down to Slickers and had a few more drinks and we made it home by about 1:30 or so...all in all a good day and good times had by all.

Sunday was another good day, Chaz arrived back in town later on Saturday night to raft guide for Sunday's trip. I got to the raft base and I was thinking "oh man, 3.5 foot river, jeez" but as it turned out the rain finally started to bring the river up a bit and it was at about 4.5 feet by the time we got on the water. It was good seeing Chaz back in NY and he popped his cheery guiding customers on the moose and he did a pretty awesome job I think. I had a small 14 foot boat with 4 guys in it, which was awesome considering that the river was coming up and with the light boat the rocks wouldn't really be much of an issue. There were no major issues on the river at all, a few swimmers here and there above Mix Master but the vast majority of them happening at Mix Master and Miller's Falls. (When we can keep people in the boat until Mix Master, it's always a good thing). Chaz and Larry flipped their boats in Mix Master. Larry actually flipped in the first of the two holes, he was pretty close to the room of doom (that's what we call a whole bunch of nasty rocks just to the left of the tongue dropping down into Mix Master) and he hit the meatiest part of the first hole in Mix Master without actually being in the room of doom. Chaz had a more traditional Mix Master flip, by hitting a bit of the meat in the first hole and being slowed down by that hole before dropping into the bigger, stickier second hole. Pretty sweet stuff. I did not flip in Mix Master but I did have what we refer to as the 'perfect run' where all customers fall out and the guide stays in the raft. At Millers Falls, Big old Mike was the only person to swim on the hit going over the falls. No one from his crew fell out but Mikey found a way to slip out of the boat. It was pretty hysterical and we all got a good laugh out of it. I flipped my boat on the surf paddling back up into Elevator Shaft (another name for Millers) and calling a low side towards the hole. I was getting frustrated by having no swimmers surfing when everyone else was dumping people left and right so I said "screw it" and low sided them. It was well worth it. After the trip I had a long drive back to Albany where I got a hot shower (first in a few days) and slept like a baby. Next week- two days on the Black River, stay tuned...

We're Back!!! 4/11/09 Moose River, first trip of the year

Well, we are officially back in the whitewater game and I'm back on the water for the first time since last July (jeez, can't believe it's been that long, this "real job" really pulls me away from the river more than I'd ike...). We're all still anxiously awaiting Chaz's return from Colorado, where's he's been since last fall. Hopefully he will be back soon for a little while to experience our (albeit diminishing) spring water. Water levels are extremely low across upstate NY for April and it is a huge bummer. This past weekend we ran our first (and hopefully not last) trip on the Moose of the year. The level was just above four and a half feet. Spring and big water seem to be coming earlier every year and I think we ought to consider booking our first trips of the year on the last weekend of March instead of in April, but I digress.

Anyway, we had a pretty good trip on Saturday, even thought he water was a little low for April. The whitewater was still narly and we all had a pretty good time. The weather was good and sunny and not cold. We had three boats of guests (Alex, Steve B. and myself) and then a 'geek boat' of guide trainees led by Erika. All in all, it was a good trip, no one swam anywhere besides MixMaster (which is always good). I had a group of young guys that all went to college together, they were pretty good paddlers and they were there for a good time so that was fun. They told me they wanted to go big so I took them into the meat at MixMaster and the raft flipepd pretty quickly and violently. Good times! One thing that kind of sucked about the trip was our safety boater Marty's boat cracked at Froth Hole and he was taking on water for the rest of the trip (but better t happen below Froth Hole than further up river like in Tannery or something). The geek boat also provided some entertainment at Miller's Falls with a couple of them swimming. Erika had pretty sweet lines all day and hopefully sh'll be guidng guests down next week (assuming the trip happens).

We had a tasty dinner and afterward I went and got Heather and we headed down to Slicker's to enjoy a coupe of drinks. We met up with my sister Cae and ended up chillin with her and going to Tote's for a little while. All in all, pretty good day... See yo next time!

Walking up river and a native orchid

First off, good job Chaz by creating this blog. Maybe someday someone besides us will read it- haha!

Well, with my first post I wanted to tell you about a little hike me and my wife Heather took on Monday along the Moose River. We started at the parking lot for Rock Island (which is where we put in for our Spring Class V rafting trips on the Moose River) on the Moose River Road south of Old Forge, NY. We had planned a short walk up river to this section of the river known as the Wall- it's a small class 2 ripple rapid this time of year but it has provided Chaz and myself with countless hours and days of entertainment in the past. There's also a nice big eddy on river right that serves as a big swimming pool when the water is warm enough. The picture at the above right is a view up river of the Wall. You can see there are giant rocks that have been worn away over the centuries by swift moving water-the Moose has a bunch of very big glacier deposited rocks in it which makes for big waves, big holes and big fun when the water is high enough. Anyway, my point is that this section of river is a lot of fun, it's perfect for swimming or a picnic or just relaxing and catching some rays.

Me and Heather made our way up river. When we had left it was about 80 degrees and sunny but by the time we got to the Wall it was much cooler and the clouds were rolling in- a storm was definitely coming in (which is good, we need some rain pretty bad). We did a little wading around and I took a dip in the river- it was my first intentional swim of the year and it was very cold. My 'swim' wasn't really a swim, just a quick in and out dip. By the time I was out of the river I barely had time to put my shorts back on before it started to drizzle so Heather and I began our hike back to the car.

On our way back I spotted a Pink Lady's Slipper, also known as Cypripedium acaule (thank you wikipedia!). This native orchid is beautiful and I had to snap a quick photo with my phone- here it is at the right. The Pink Lady's Slipper is relativly common in the forests of the Eastern United States but it is being victimized by uneducated pickers and habitat loss. It is listed by the United States Department of Agriculture as "Exploitably Vulnerable" in New York and it is on the New York State Protected Plants List. The flower is illegal to pick.

Anyway, by the time Heather and I made it back to the car it was raining and thundering pretty hard, but it was a good time. We drove down the road and stopped to have a look at a couple of the drops of the Lower Moose. Sadly, the rain has not had much of an effect on the river levels so let's pray for more to come.