Waterfalls of the Dinky Creek

Its been too long since I have updated my blog, but it's not because I havent been kayaking. I have been so busy going to rivers and boating that I have not even had the time to get to my computer. I left my house after graduating high school and winning the mens belt buckel in the Best in the West rodeo this year. I spent a total of 20 hours at home before getting in my Subi and driving 16 hours to met my friend Justin Patt for the Dinky creek. 1300 miles from my front door later I reached Ross's crossing after being lost for a bit due to fuzzy memories from last year.

Me on the second part of the huge triple drop boofing the froth.

Tucking through the kickers on Willie's drop oh baby light my fire???

Mr. Patt going backwards down the Tiering Monster after watching me run this one twice (once backwards)

Dinky Creek has proved to be my favorite run in California. The pool drop nature and sickest drops ever have me at hello. Nothing in my mind beats this river. A long shuttle is needed but it beats the heel out of carrying your boat up the river. It was just the two of us on this run and I had done it last July with Lane Jacobs and My older Brother Ian so we went fast and safly down stream past the normal camp to a crazy tight slot into a huge hole, which was where we camped. The hike in maybe took a half hour of some manzaneda infested trails where I almost stepped on a rattler. Between the putin and our camp lies some of the biggest and cleanest drops ever!!! All stacked right on top of eachother. Willie's drop, Cirtin call, Tripler, Camp Slide, Tiering Monster, and so many more drops are all in a row ready to be run for the most enjoyable day of kayaking that can be had. We finished off the short second day with running the biggest drop of the river (the one Niki Kelly smashed herself on)

Justin on Niki's drop ready to make contact with the wall.

The 25 foot perfect cirtin drop which is right below a perfect 20 footer, get some.

We got to the take out at around noon only to run shuttle and end up back in the San Joaquin valley dizzy from wondering what it is about people that make them not go do fun and beautiful things in the mountains instead of living their lives sheltered in cities and lights. For me this summer is more about what I stand for and want out of living than a kayak trip. Going out and throwing your self into the wild not know what is going to happen, weather or not you will run out of gas in the middle of no where, or crash your car down a steep embankment because the forest service locked the gate to the putin. Thats what its all about going on a sick adventure and this markes the start of my summer of freedom and kayaking. Take it easy E.G.

World Championships of "THE WORLD"

T.Faux bouncing huge for a 2nd place finish in the womens finals.
Me #59 in the ahh part of a pan am on my way to first in the finals
Me using the tow rope to get out on to the wave another part of the event that added a new element for some competitors.
Andrew Holcomb getting off the water for his 9th place finish in the mens simi finals.
Marlow Long hanging a clean out huge in the perlims steezy skillilz.
Me clean blunting in the simi finals.

Just on my way home from the Ottawa river right now I'm stuck in the airport in the heartland of America. For the last 10 days I have been staying at Wilderness Tours and competing in worlds. I didn't really have much training for the event due to the lack of time in my playboat and amount of time creeking in California but I still pulled off the win over the rest of the worlds jr. men. I had to use a friends boat and skirt while competing because of a lack of organization skills packing for the trip. The competition was set up in a good format for a big wave comp. The prelims were 4 rides best 2 counted. Simi's were 2 best 1 was taken. Finals were 3 rides best counted for the win. Overall it was a good time and I'm totally excited that I took first now I am off the graduate high school this weekend then I'm back off to California for the summer loving. late EG

Early Season Colorado Creeking

Now back in Montana, "Gods Country" i look back over the last year i spent in CO and i am sure hapy to be home with clean rivers and the big sky. but in the last week i was fortuante enough to hit up one rarely run section of the Uncompahgre River above Ouray. Featuring one of the coolest gorges i have ever paddled through. The river was low and was flowing in the small window that will barely allow you to pass through the gorge successfully. It was a pretty crazy place with mile long gorges of never ending class four, and a gorge only about fifteen feet wide and 150 feet high. . The multiple gorges made for a full dayh of scouting and advice to anyone dropping in, it would be recomended to scout all sections on each and every run. After that while finishing up my finals, the early hot weather brought the ultra classic Oh-Be-Joyful creek in crested butte in and provided some good steam blowoff aside from the never ending sudying.
But i will say it is great to be back in Montana and see the beautiful mountains and begin thinking about the large drops and sick play spot coming fo rthe s
ummer

Early Season Colorado

With the slowly warming temps and the end of April upon us we have started paddling. Fluffy Muffin a super sick hole on the upper black canyon of the gunnison has been consistantly in and has provided some great entertainment as we are finishing the school year out.


We have also been slightly pushing our luck with the M wave. due to massive amounts of sediment that have piled up in the canal below the wave we are stuck waiting for the wave to change back to its epic green self, but until then it looks like we will continue to get throttled by the massive pile that scares the shit out of most who are willing to paddle out on to it.


Otherwise little bits of creeking have begun running such as escalante creek near delta and a few others.

Only other news would come from two weeks ago in Reno NV where jonny meyers won the collegiate nationals freestyle competition and Lane Jacobs took the overall winning the boater cross and taking third in the freestyle.

South Silver

Justin Patt porn staring it out on the last tea cup.

Yesterday being the 4th of April we went up the SF American and hit South Silver. We were expecting fairly low flow up that high in the mountains, but with the blasting California sun hitting the slopes the last week the level was actualy pretty high. There was still snow up in the drainage but there was not enough to stop us from getting to the parking lot where we started to hike. The road to the put in is still snowed in but the hike from the bottom is worth it. We hiked up to the top of the tea cups and started our laps of the classic steep section of drops and slides.

Billy looking quite primal on the last boof.

Billy running Sky scraper in the afternoon light.

It has got to be one of the best feelings ever to be at the top of this set of drops ready to boof all the way to the bottom of off ramp. The rest of the run everyone knows all about I'm sure. This is one of the most classic granite water parks on earth.

Me on the second tea cup on our first lap.

Me at the bottom of Skyscraper after lap 2.

Justin catching some air on off ramp.

This is a must run...period. It is a run that makes me love kayaking. If you are starting to get bored, just come do this run and it will be like your first waterfall all over again. It's da bomb!!! We got some beautiful HD video of this ruun so there may just be a cali video coming soon. Today I had a good session at 1st Threat on Chilly Bar, so we had a mellow day planning for the next mission. Later E.G.

Golden Gate Redemption

Yesterday we woke up and ate a good breakfast preparing us for a good day on the river. After last years run of GG, when we had way to much water and almost the entire run was a big portage and sneek route, I was a little worried about returning. We drove to Pullock Pines and met Lil' Dave to run shuttle. We put on the river around noon and had a pretty low flow. Maybe around 500-800 cfs in the canyon. A little class IV leads up to the first big drop Drain pipe. At this level it was a fun slide into a hole into another slide.The top of Drainpipe after about a mile of class IV.

After this point the run kind of blurs together. There are tons of good rapid all the way down the run. The bigger drops that stand out are numerous including: Stright shot, Brain fade, taco bell, rose, all fucked up, F-111, and some more that I can't name. Bill hanging out at Taco Bell.

Lil' Dave blasting through the bottom of Brain fade

F-111 looking a bit different from last time after sliver creek kicked in 1000cfs alone.

There were some rowdy rapids and some interesting lines across the board, which made a fun and entertaing day of cali creekin' for everyone. After we arrived to the take out and shuttle was run we hit the world famous Tiajuna Tacaria. CHECK!!! another classic, what a place california is. Take care E.G.

Cherry Creek

Cherry creek is one of my new classic favorite runs in the world. The flow was around 1400 cfs at the put in and 1800 at the take out. The water was a bit chilly but it was a beautiful sunny day and about 70 degrees outside. The water level seemed perfect to make everything soft and padded.

Me dropping in to the last drop of Mushroom rock rapid.

Billy Boylan at the same spot hitting the move to the right to avoid the big hole.

The run was full of good drops with big holes and sick boofs everywhere. The run surprised me quite a bit. I was stoked to get on something with lots of water and gradient. The best drops were Mushroom, Lewis's leap, and Lumsden Falls.
I was a little nervous to get a look at Lumsden because of all the stories of the rapid being huge and V+ and sketchy. We ran the Flat rock rapid and took a look at the beast. Justin Patt and I ran it and both had sick lines to finish a great day of boating.

Justin dropping into the top of Lumsden falls looking good and staying left.

Me in the mist of the biggest rapid of the run. One of the best and biggest boulder rapids out there.

The rest of the run is maybe 1.5 miles of class III-IV until you reach the take out. A great run which I hope to do many more time this summer. Now we are at the South American and hoping for some south silver and golden gate. Later E.G.

Southern California Update

A mid-night shot of El Capitan by Justin Patt we showed up late at night for some moon light photos.

We continuously lapped Hospital Rock for a few more days before getting a little interested about what's upstream of the put in. The Upper Middle for the Kaweah, which was first D'ed by The Kerns and Polk Deters, not Lingren and his crew in the summer of 2001. A little fact not told in Burning Time II.
The road was closed from H.R. up to the Buckeye campground so we hiked a short 1.5 miles up above Chuck's drop and put in after hiking threw a massive forest with a ground layer of poison oak. The first drop we hit was a cool slide with a auto boof at the bottom, followed by another 1/2 mile of fun steep drops. We walked Chuck's drop, that thing is burl at any flow. I thought it might look better than it did last year, 2000 cfs @ Three Rivers, but to my surprise it looked possibly worse. A lot less padding for the rigged rock.
After Chuck's the valley opens up for some cool sliding drops down to the put in of H.R. The best drop on this section is called "Takin it to China" a slide into a seam which will send you deep if you hit it right.

Entering takin it to China with some afternoon light. Photo@Justin Patt

Polk right about to try and take it to Asia. @ Justin Patt

After getting down to Hospital Rock we picked up Glenn Daggle and routed down the classic one last time before heading down further south to Kernville. We almost ran 0 to 60 in the dark but luckily we went fast and got to the take out right as darkness fell.

Kernville was a bust. We did Brush creek at the lowest flow ever, which did nothing for me. The group also did a class III-IV section of the Kern river at low flows as well. The only good part of that was hitting the 80 degree weather down there by LA. It didn't last long. Before we knew it flash backs of China came with the falling snow and we packed up and headed for the Tule. That was a bust with only a 100 cfs we opted out of running it and drove to Yosemite to enjoy the freezing temperature and a day of hiking.

Hospital Rock Kaweah

We spent the last two days on the Middle Kaweah running a good section named Hospital Rock. Fun classic California class V run. Speaking of hospitals Alex Daggle, one of the twins, dislocated his shoulder on the first slide of the run. Both Daggles in one year aye!

This drainage has tons of different runs to get on. The East fork is also running, on the low side of good, but it would still be a dope day on the river. The river is fun with tons of cool boofs and slides. It starts in the center of Sequoia national park in the southern Sierras. The entire run is continuous and butter smooth. The best drop is called zero to sixty. Which is a cool smooth slide entrance into a 10-15 footer at the end of the run.

Dropping in to the second slide of the day, tuber.Bill...420....you know what I'm talking. Big boat on a lil guy.The pillow heading into 0 to 60. New shinny boat
JPatt lining it up at the bottom of 0 to 60.

The first two days here we had 80 degree weather. Today it rained all day but the level was still holding. Cali should be treating well the next month so I will try to stay updated on what I'm up to. Take it easy y'all EG

Zen Wave: Salween River

After we completed the upper sections of the Nu Jiang river we moved down stream to a small Chinese village where we spent the last week of our trip boating the best whitewater yet. We had a 8 km long run with t ons of sick play and big rapids. The best wave we found on the Salween was given the name Dredger, due to the Chinese boats with cables suspending across the river in both of the eddies. The wave has a huge surging right shoulder and solid foam pile. We sessioned that spot for a few days before heading up to the run to drop into some big holes. Doin' the cirtcy thing on the Dredger. Photo@LJ GrothJustin Patt porn star NEVCOK kayaker doing his thing. Photo@LJ GrothJoel Kowalski hitting a huge backside Cali roll 582 style. What a sick a** wave!! Photo@ Adam Elliott

The run had 7 bigger drops on it, including 2 great hole punches. The last rapid was just two phaty holes you had to charge through. 9 runs on it 9 surfs. It was a goodie.Polk Deters on the top hole of the last big rapid of the run. Look at the focus and determination, he's fired up like a spider monkey high in the canopy looking for dinner, if you know what I mean. Photo@ Alex Daggle.

After the last day on the Zen Wave run we started our 4 day travel from the Salween home. Lots of bus rides, planes flights, waiting in airports, and a sleepless night in Washington I made it home and back to the great land of American food, blound women, and sitter toliets, it's a beautiful thing. I be heading to California in a week or so and I'm ready for some good hard creek boating to wake me up from my China trip.

Arounious on both charges
Later E.G.

LLancaghue and pics

after returning from our nilahue mission i looked on the internet to see that the other part of my group that had gone south to the rio baker was having an epic time with perfect waterlevels and the monster take out wave surfing perfect. damn. but it wasnt that bad i had run multiple massive waterfalls and been enjoying every minute of it. the first is from the middle llancaghue river that has been looked at many time but still has no takers just the first 60 footer and this perfect 30 footer that we ran. that same day we also made it to the rio fuy and looked closely at salto de la puma a huge 80 footer that is runable but the entrance was just a little to stout for any of us to be the first taker.
then a few more classic runs brought me back to the middle palguin for a second run on the 70 footer that we first decented two weeks ago. the down fall came as my paddle exploded and i took a swim. not to bad and always good to put you in check. after myself gerd sarrasoles gave and his paddle broke as well. another expensive day, but all in good fun. but here are some more photos from the last couple weeks.

later
ian g