Silver Falls, Packwood WA

Getting a bit tired of the oh-so sweet L-dub and Truss I was in to heading a bit further north in to the backwoods of Washington and checking out some big hucks and beautiful creeks. So with some serious motivation we drove about 3 hours up to Mt. Rainer and the Ohanapecosh river.

Having run the Silver falls last season near the end of July, I figured it would be at a higher flow. Looking at flows off the Cispus/White salmon/L-dub, I didn't think it would be drastic. When arriving at the falls you must walk down a short trail to see the first view of the monster rapid.

The first view of the Silver Falls.

It was quite a bit higher than the last time I had been here and run the drop. What did this mean....??? A lot of scouting and a hard choice to make.

More contemplation off weather or not this was going to be a good idea.

The crew.... Myself, Nate, and Davis all looking at what we came for.

Nate getting himself down to the safety ledge in the room.

Talking it all out, before making it all happen.

Safety first....

After a while of looking and checking out the consequences of this rapid. I decided to give it a go. We set up some steller safety instead of getting good media. I was more interested in keeping the whole situation safe. So with all this in mind and everybody in place I got in my Garnde and spalshed my face with the cold, blue waters.

Made it through the entry, upright, on line, and going fast.

Giving her as hard as I could.... going flat.

So the rapid was about as hard as it looked... The first part of the falls was smooth and I subbed out in the seem like I predicted. Coming back from that I hit this crazy boil thing above the lip that pushed me left and then gave her a double stroke off the lip and boofed out. Landing flat and super soft I back endered under water and resurfaced quick hitting a fast and necesary roll.

Paddling away from the frightening walls at the base of the falls.

Safe in the nice calm waters below the falls.

Stoked to be all good and happy that all went as planned. It was a fun ass rapid.

Big water raging down big Gradient.

I was happy to have run the falls at this level with such success.

The biggest mountain in the state of Washington. Rain-dogs flow freely from its white snowy glaciers.

More coming soon.....

Later E.G.

EG's Top 10 Eddies "L-dub"

EG's 10 Eddies "Little White Salmon" from jared seiler on Vimeo.

Come and hit the Little White with me.... We can lay some treats. Which does not mean "going big". Only running something with good style, sick lines, and a smile on your face. Lay some treats on um'. These are my top 10 favorite eddy moves on the L-dub. Plus a bunch more sweet shots of the river. Enjoy the movie and keep checking the blog, because I'm updating it almost daily.

Later E.G.

I LOVE THIS PLACE

Southern Washington... Husum to be exact is where I'm hanging my hat for the summer. Already with 16 Little White runs and maybe 5 Green Truss laps, I couldn't be lovin' life more. Today I'm going out on the Little White to shoot and edit a cool section I've been thinking about for a while... I will try and get it up soon as I can. Here is a small sample platter to taste the beauty. Right before I went to Cali, I led a few people of Metlako Falls Which was a good time. Here are a few Photos to show our days work.

Stop and take some time to smell the flowers. Eagle Creek Trail. All right here comes the well written english everybody loves....

As the sun shone down upon us from the heavens, a glimmer set way from the pupil of my eye. Then all of the sudden, from across the canyon, a bird chirped the sweetest melody... and we "hucked" the falls with quaint angelic form.

I love Stouts.

Christy and myself in the pool... throwing the paddle was the way to go.

More Photos By Erik Boomer!

I have some more updates to throw up soon, but I don't want to overload the blogger-world with too many of um too quick. All is well.

Later E.G.

California Love Tour part3

A state where the pimps be... never find a dance floor empty. The last leg of my three week journey brought me to new heights. First up was the unknown Yuba Gap run of the South fork. Starting off with a bang this run never lets you relax... with many siphons under the water and big drops numerous and abundant this was a truly quality piece of whitewater I can wait to visit again.

SSSSiphon sity.....

A hot hot ski jump slide early in the run.

The first rapid of one of the major gorged in sections.

Geoff plugging in deep on a seem falls.

A nice smooth slab of granite for all to enjoy.

The Gap is a classic with some dealing out there... I portaged more than you had to no doubt, but still got to run a ton of sick whitewater. Next time I have a few more good drops to run myself.

Then we went down to Yosemite and I set a new World Record!!!!!

for the most fun ever had in a kayak.

The whole view of the monster slide.

The top move is the crux....

picking up mad amounts of speed.

The G forces of connecting with deeper water, choice line.

Celebration with the prize all the way to the pool.

Shannon Carrol running after me... with a good line.

Then she hit the deeper water and flew why up in the air... doing flips and shit.

Davis Give running the last steeps of the slide.

Nate-dog about to launch some nasty air time.

Tenaya Creek Slide..... need I say any more? The top 150 feet you drop in only a few seconds. Scary no doubt, then you have football fields after football fields of clean sliding to do. The only rapid I can compare to this stout is the put in slide of West Cherry. This one was less scary, less involved, making it in my mind, more "pure" fun.

After the drive back north and a successful mission to the Tenaya slide for my final day in Cali.... I would have to say the Love Tour was once again one of my better trip to this area. It can't compete to my 07 or 08 seasons in the Sierras.... but in its own way it was just as good. Getting to paddle with my little brother, running some of the biggest/hard rapids of my life, I was truly stoked to get to put in my time down here.

Now I'm back up in Hood River... after another 6 runs down the Little White and a few on the Truss, I'm stoked to be home and making some money for my next kayak adventure. Look for more updates soon... I have some really good ideas in my head for some entertaining movies and hucks for the near future.

Later E.G.

California Love Tour part2

I have two favorite things.... Big rapids and beautiful canyons. Two rivers.... Dinky Creek and North fork of the American... What more do I need to say. Dinky Creek is up there with my favorite rivers in the world. Ranking in my top 10 classics for sure. Now adding Upper Dink to my hit list I really love that creek. It's my number 1 recommended run for the Cali season... I will go far enough to say that.

With West-side melodies playing throughout my head we mobb'ed down the smooth beautiful canyon with style and grace. My first time on Super-Dink and forth run down The Waterfalls. Dinky was reading 550cfs on the gauge. (NFkings B/L dink)

Demshitz scouting out the Super Dink slide.

Myself and Isaac running the Infini-slide.
Isaac Running the Stoutest drop in my mind... that not just because I broke my tooth on it.

Nate-dog having a good line down the Willie Kern falls in the first gorge of Dinky waterfalls.

Doing a quality Salmon jump in the Nikki Kelly slide... lots of water!

If it don't look easy it ain't steezy.

Misty off the throw and go portage... dinkler.

Ben Luck staying warm on our granite hotel.

Then the Hall of Fatties, Cream of the Crop, Sharpest Crayola in the Box.... Royal Gorge. Going in to the Royal gorge means a lot of things for different people. This being my third time dropping in to this three day wilderness canyon, I knew what I was in for, and what I wanted to get out of it. I put the Gurrrrr!! in Swinger baby! 950ish (NFAmerican @ Clemintine)

Ready to go in to the Royal Gorge.

Monkey man strikes again.

Myself scouting the heart of Heath Springs gorge.

Nater having a good line down the first Heath.

Heath 2. A Scary place to be going big.

A glimpse of freedom.

An afternoon scout of the snake.

Isaac Levenson running his tallest waterfall to date... Rattlesnake.

Wabena Falls. Third Descent EG.

Even though all you ever see of Royal is scary stouts... There is tons of great whitewater in there as well. I have a full segment of pretty much all the goods in there, in the new "Cali Love Tour" video. It was by far my most successful trip down the gorge to date. All the drops I wanted to run, I ran... except for 9 Lindgren's high. Scott's Drop. Which I will maybe go for someday, that day was not that day, if you catch my vibe. That wraps up the second part of the Love Tour... 7 days in a row, it's madness what you can get done in California that time of year.

part3 coming soon.....

Later E.G.

California Love Tour part1

So I don't want to start any biggie/pac drama up in this blogga, but the Westside is still the best side. Even though BIG's east coast rhymes are untouchable... There is no comparison to the shear amount of good artists coming out of Cali.

I'm going going back back to Cali Cali..... I'd like to welcome all y'all to the wild wild west..... No? Not firmiliar? Well let these photos do the explaining....

First thing we hit was the "South Branch of the Middle fork of the Feather"
...long name amazing results

The Fabled "50" footer on the S.B.M.F. It make for some really sweet times and lines.

Stacked waterfalls may be the best thing in the world?

I found myself out on a log one time... making my movie film.

The night brothers finally named this guy... I got "99 problems" and this drop is one.

The hucking huge boys... Check there site it's always updated with good content.

More falling was done...

After that we went a little south to the South Yuba river... for so much amazing kayaking. Three different sections in two days (East meets West, Purdon's to 49, and 49 to Bridgeport) All a little bit different, but all class V. It was all just a tease or more foreshadowing for what was to come on the Yuba Gap.

Rocking them big boofs on the East meets West drop of the South Yuba.

Jake and Freddy running Three Blind Mice on the upper South Yuba.

Miguel getting into the big stuff on the Purdon's run of the South Yuba... 1400cfs!

Then it was over night time... This is better than Hanukkah, Christmas, Dia de los muertos, or any other time of year. So it was off to the Clavey for a two dayer on this classic.

Max attacks while he stacks them treats high.

The last rapid before the confluence of the T.

Boogie nights on the Lower Calvey.

This run had game. It was my first time down this canyon and we all enjoyed how we could boat scout our way through hundreds of class IV-V drops. The camping was good, weather 100+ degrees, water was at cooperating... good mixture for good times.

Charlie running our camp drop.

Making good memories...

Then we were off to set the records straight. South Merced goes very well high. The run got better with the extra 800+cfs we had this time. There were a few holes in there that were hidious, some we ran, others we walked around, 2 portages. Not bad? Our little point and shoot camera ran out of batteries so we got one shot of the thing....

Max running the high water hyurm on the South Merced as I film for the Cali love tour video. 1200-1600cfs at the put in 2000-2200 at takeout... It was still good in there maybe better??

So that's it for part 1 of the California love tour 2009... Stay tuned for the next 2 parts creating the saga of my trip to the land of promise.

Photos are all by Max Blackburn and Fred Norquist RFK check dat blog to.

Later E.G.