weekend with cheese

Brooks and Cheese sleeping on a bridge 4 miles into our huge hike

This last weekend I had a friend come up from McCall Idaho. His name is Cheese, and he also goes to the kayak academy. (or went I should say) But he wanted to do some good stuff around Bozeman so in a short weekend we charged to complete 4 rivers. A play spot on the Gally, A day on Big Timber, a quick run down Hells Canyon, and a 1st decent on a river that has potential to be the best run in the whole state. Hells and Big timber were pretty low but were still fun runs.Cheese firing up the pinch

The 1st decent included a very long hike in and a long scout of a gorge. The main section of the river we went for looked all good, deep in a gorge, a cross between Cali and the Box of the Clarks Fork Yelly. We were shut down on running the main gorge due to a 50-60 footer that was the start of the section that looked way to boofable,The 50-60 footer at the enterence to the main gorge, check it!!This is the 1st D of the top gorge leading right into the big falls Ian scouting the inner gorge

but with a little work you would be at the top of a 5+ gorge where no kayaker or person has ever been before. So here are some pictures of our good weekend. Enjoy. Later E.G.

Royal Gorge of the North fork of the American

An experience that no one will ever forget. This 3 day 30 mile run that starts high on Donner Pass on I-80. We met Pat Keller who had just gotten off the same river 2 days earlier at a lodge close to the put-in. We started to get our boats packed for the run and all our gear ready. 20 minutes later the rest of our group showed up: Jason Hail, Jayson Holman, Josh Bechtel, and Lil' Dave. We loaded Josh's truck and headed for the put-in. I broke the run up into different gorges. The first gorge is boof after boof after slide after ledge, all clean class 5. That leads into Heath Springs gorge. Which has 3 huge waterfalls and a deep dark canyon, where escape is not an option. Then the dark granite of Heath Springs fades into the white gorge which contained countless 8 footers, slides, and waterfalls that ends with Rattlesnake Falls. We camped at the top of the falls and enjoyed the fire and wilderness. The next section has classic California drops, granite slides, and waterfalls. I was lucky enough to watch Pat fire up Scotts Drop and style it. (A 90-100 foot double drop) The rest of the run has a 30 footer, tons of sick drops, and one last portage around Wabena Falls. (70-80 footer) I found out later by talking to Scott Ligare that Rush stomped the hell out of Wabena 3 day before. (Props to him for steping it up) After that you are out of the Royal Gorge, and in to Generation Gap. I can't really tell you much about the next 2 sections of the run other than there are some big hard rapids, some very scary undercuts and sieves, some portages, some must make moves, and some class 3 parts where you can relax. We had a long day 2 and camped at a sandy beach in Giants Gap. We finished the 30 miles early the next morning. All though there were some quality class 5 rapids in the lower sections I was still happy to see the take out and our truck waiting for us at the bottom. In the end everyone had good lines no one was hurt and every one was happy through the whole trip. With one broken paddle (IAN), one swim (Holman), and a split open chin (PAT), our trip was complete and everything went well. The Royal Gorge is my favorite river I have paddled and the second overnighter I have ever done. I have to say thanks to Pat for leading the run and knowing all the portages, he made our trip that much more successful. If the level is right and you feel like going BIG far away from any help the Royal Gorge will always be waiting for you and any one who wants it. Later E.G.

A Sunny Day on South Sliver

Hey just got back from an amazing trip to California. One of the runs I got to do was South Sliver. Yeah the classic cali granite slides and waterfalls. I was told the level was really HIGH but it still looked and felt good. I drove to the top with Lane Jacobs and Travis Winn and put in. The run is classy. Smooth slides and teacups all of it is clean, I followed Lane down the whole run top to bottom. After the run we went to Lane parents nice ass house and had some steak and potatoes, A good day. Photos by Ian Garcia and Travis Winn.
Hope you like the pictures. This is a must do if you are in Cali. Later E.G.

Jackson Hole, WY

I spent the last 3 days in Wyoming competing in the jackson whitewater championships. There were 3 events. The down river race on the hoback river, a rodeo on the snake, and a boatercross on the grey's. I took home 3 1st place wine glasses. The short boat class on the hoback, the jounior class in the rodeo, and the jouinor class on the boater cross. I also competed in the mens pro class on the grey's and ended up in second place. I got to see a lot of good friends and hang out in a different area for a while plus the water was really high on all across the state so it was like I got to paddle 3 totaly new runs. Now I have to work for a few days then it's off to Cali for some epic over nighters in the sierras. sorry for no pictures. later E.G.

BOAT EATER

This is my favorite wave in Montana, and maybe even west of the Mississippi.
Big, fast, surgey, and steep. Ian and I hit this wave at the perfect level this last weekend and did some filming for our Montana movie. After 2-3 hours here you are spent. There is a eddy, but with 2 people there it's non-stop surfing and action the whole time. If your ever in the Bozeman area this is the spot to go. If the Yellowstone is running 10,000-11,000 cfs your golden and your about to have of the best play sessions of your life. Plus I garentee you will be the only people there. It's Montana. later E.G.

a BIG day on BIG T

Saturday, June 3. We looked over the Big Timber creek bridge to see a very low flow down in the plains where the creek runs into the Yellowstone river. Still wanting a good day of creeking this weekend we met Jon and Cam in Big Timber and drove to the campground. The flow looked good in the runout zone of the canyon but we were still
not sure. When we got to the falls we knew right away that it was HIGH!! After the 3 mile hike in the 90 degree weather I was ready to get it on. I roashed Ian and won, I was droppin in first. It starts off fast with a 25 foot dobble drop in to a 50 foot slide after a few boofs.

It slows up for a few hundred meters then takes off under the first bridge with a few long fast slides. Ian and I both had good lines in the first section with Jon and Cam taking pics and vid. The next section starts off with a portage around some logs and the enterence to Fine Line. I opted to go first and stuck the huge drop without a scout. It's very crazy dropping in to such a big drop without seeing it for a year, it's always bigger than you remember.
After I watched Ian go we rallied the rest of the steep boulder section and met our friends above the Pinch. We decided to run the 20 foot drop right above the Pinch so I set our boats up for the sea launch while Ian went down to look at the monster slide. Ian went first launching a strange looking boof off the 20 footer, I couldn't tell what it did to him but it looked like he go some air. I could just see him disapear in to the Pinch when I got in my boat. With the high water the 20 footer was very misleading. I took a righty off of it and bounced off the kicker lip. I got the most air I have ever gotten off a boof in my life, I rotated a full 90 degrees in the air and landed on my side. After shaking it off I was already in the Pinch.That baby is off the hook, especialy at high H2O. You go through the first pinch, fly over kickers, speed up, and explode through the air after hitting the ture Pinch. 10 meters after you exit the slide you drop in to Z. A tering slide that starts off with a 10 foot drop and ends in a huge hole. The Gambler looked like too much of a gamble so we quickly walked and ran the run out to the second bridge. This section is one of my favorites, you run quality slides and boulder gardens in the most beautiful setting you can imagine, The Crazy Mountains. The day was absolutly epic both of us stuck all our lines and run all the big drops, but there was one more drop to run. Big Timber falls, the biggest and hardest drop on the run. The short walk down to the falls is all down hill and easy, but once your there reality kicks in and you see the monster your going to run. With high water the one of the hardest parts is fairying in to the slot the way you want to be. Ian fired it up first had a little troble with the fairy but stuck the line. He got a black eye and recieved quite a beating at the base of the falls. I did not see the bit of carnage so I committed to running it. I didn't want to waste my energy with the fairy so I charged out hard and dropped in on my first try. I came in to the kicker that is usally the front of the island, but at this levle is a 10 foot fish tale, I hit it stright on, flew in the air doing half a berrel roll and landed upside down on the slide. I drug my body about a hundred feet on the rocks rolled up and flew off the main drop backwards. When I resurfaced I rolled up and started to paddle out of the boily undercut room when I started to sink in my boat. My skirt had imploded on impact with the pool. I quickly got out of my boat a grabbed my brother, he pulled me up on to the cliff and got me up to the flats. Jon and Cam were already gone and ended up getting my boat and paddle in less than 10 minutes. We walked out to the car and I was still so adenilized I didn't know if I had really hurt myself. By the time I was at the car I thought I broke my arm. But later I found out my arm, hand, and shoulder were just banged up. I committed to running the falls and I messed the line, shit happens, just stick the line next time. This is still one of my favorite runs in the world, just get ready for a day of steepness and speed. later hommies E.G.