River trips that make you who you are (part 2)

It's been a long time since I shared one of these stories. As I said like a year ago, there are river trips that definitely make a person who they are. Last time I wrote about one of these stories was to share the story of my first real whitewater trip and my start in the whitewater business (you can read about that here). Today, I'd like to share a story from a few years ago. I believe it was the 2005 rafting season. That was the summer before I got this real job and we were on the water everyday, working 7 days a week from the Moose to the Hudson or the Black or Sacandaga. It wasn't uncommon that summer for Chaz and I to run three or four different rivers in a three or four day stretch. We were driving around the state raftin' and partyin' and just having great times.

It was during this summer that we also had use of a 12 foot Puma raft from Aire (a demo boat) and we had some great times in that thing. One particular day me and Chaz were working up on the Black River (we had run a Hudson River trip the day before and I believe we may have even ran the first three drops on the lower Moose on the previous evening). I'd be lying if I told you I remembered anything really from the trip on the Black that day (I couldn't even tell you what day of the week it what the water level was). All I know is that after the trip about 6 or 7 of us piled into a few cars and made our way south to Pulaski to catch one of the releases on the Salmon River, bringing the little purple Puma along with us. I rode with Larry and I believe Chaz was riding with Erika but can't really remember. Also along for the ride was Bernie (a great guy and our safety boater at the time) and Toshia (our photog). There may have been a couple more people but it escapes me now. What I can tell you is that myself, Chaz and Erika took the Puma down the river and had a great time. The Salmon River is not known for any really crazy whitewater sections (basically all class II) but it was a beautiful evening trip with the sun about to set and the weather was just perfect. We surfed at this one little poorover for quite a while (I can't remember the name of it now, something like the terminator or something like that...can anyone help me out with that?). I actually fell out just goofing around low siding and having a great time. We also drank a couple bottles of red wine on the river that I brought with me. I even brought a few wine glasses to enjoy it properly. That was definitely a trip that has made me who I am and it goes to show that it's not always the trips with the biggest and best whitewater or the craziest carnage that you remember forever (although plenty of those days stand out also) but that good times with good friends will always be forefront on the best trips of a boaters life... That was a river trip that I will remember and cherish forever. Thanks to everyone that made it happen

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...

Hudson River 4/18. Pretty good water, really good times

I'm in the office enjoying a lunch of a chicken sandwich made with leftover chicken from the rafting company (which is really good and I think I might make this a habit; It gives me a little taste of whitewater I guess you could say, in the middle of the week). This past weekend I was up on the Hudson for the Saturday trip. ARO had 12 boats on the river and we got a rather early start and beat most of the other companies on to the river to ensure that we were not in the middle of the mass of other rafts out there. It was good to see all of our Hudson River guides again, like Lynn, Mark and Critter, but there were also a few newer faces that I didn't really recognize (again, too much time away from the water I guess). Stevie U, Alex Erika, Larry and Mike also made it up which was nice. It was just nice seeing everyone and having some good times out there.

The Hudson was running at just below 5.4 feet with the dam release. I had a smaller 14 foot raft with six college girls from Mansfield College (it's in Pennsylvania, but near Elmira, NY I'm told). They seemed to be nice girls and I was on my best behavior careful not to curse too much or tell any really dirty jokes or talk too much about crazy partying. They seemed to have fun and I had a blast. We went a bout as big as we can at these levels without anyone falling out of the raft. In fact, the only swimmer I saw all day came from Erika's boat of goofballs (She and Alex had one big group and one of the boats was dressed as Indians, like Native American Indians, and the other was dressed like Cowboys, like with guns, not the Dallas Cowboys). Anyway, she had a swimmer at the top of Big Nasty but the guy got back in the boat pretty quickly.

So anyway, I'm being really nice and respectful to these girls and not crazy or too loud or cursing, basically, not really being my normal self at all. And at the end of the trip they gave me a $40 tip. Now $40 is not great or anything but I was thinking the whole time that since they were college kids I wasn't going to get a tip at all. So I was thinking "wow, I guess I was right to be a little more mellow out there for this group." But then, after we put the boats away and hung up the wet suits and did all the other work around the shop, Larry comes over and tells me how he got an $80 tip from his cllege group (part of the larger group from Mansfielf College). And I'm like "Damn! Larry's being his usual crazy self out there and he gets double my tip!" Hahahaha! I guess the moral of the story for me is that I always have to be just be myself to get the best tips. After the work was done I drove home to Albany and enjoyed a couple of scotch on the rocks's. I actually turned down work with another rafting company for the next day because I had a few things to do around the house with Heather, namely plant our recession garden out on the deck. We planted tomatoes, zucchinis, green beans, egg plant, bell peppers, cilantro and chives and Heather planted some wildflowers. I'll post pictures of our container garden as things progress.

For next weekend I'm hopeful that we'll be back on the Moose as we're supposed to get some good rain all this week. I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed. Also, I'm working on getting out with Chaz one day maybe run the Hudson or something rad, I guess we'll see.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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...

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.

Weekend Plans

Chaz and I are planning some pretty rad stuff for this weekend and I can't wait to get out of the office and get up to the river. It's supposed to be rainy all weekend, which suits me just fine- I really dig being out on the water in the elements- any weather is nice on the river, be it rain, snow or sunshine.

On Saturday we will both be guiding on the Hudson River. The river levels are starting to dip into the dog days of summer, right now the Hudson is flowing at about 3.23 feet, as measured from the USGS gage station in North Creek, NY. I hope we have some good groups and I know we'll have some good times, despite the lower levels.

The plan for Sunday, however, is even radder. Chaz and I are going to drive across the state to get to Watertown (H2O for short) on Saturday night and start the party. (I have to remember to wear my boxer shorts with the Tequila shots and lime wedges and salt shakers on them, they're my party boxers). The plan for Sunday, as of now, is to R2 the Black River. R2ing is when two people paddle in a raft together. Right now the section of the Black we run commercially (from below Mill Street Falls in Watertown to Dexter, with a short walk and lunch break around Glen Park Falls and the Glen Park Hydro Electric Damn) is a sweet class IV run. Chaz and I are planning, however, to run the Glen Park Falls, a nice class VI drop and the poopshoot, another nice drop in the Black River Gorge. I hope all goes as planned and all goes well.

Hudson trip May 29th

Today the River was a swell level of 3.3 feet. I had a crew of 7 in my raft. What better crew could a guide ask for than a bachelor party. They were a pretty fun group of people and definately knew how to have a fun time. I dumped the idiot getting married this sat out of the raft in the rapids Harris Rift...he didn't swim far but he sure looked suprised. We saw some people in another raft trip so a couple of the guys mooned them it was classy. I am very happy that the wind was blowing to keep the bugs away and even more pleased that it was a tail wind. We had an excellent trip and I hope they come back the next time one of them gets hitched!