Category: Whitewater

After running the Upper Wind for the first time last week at 5.7 feet, I just had to hit it again, this time a bit lower. I love the first two miles of this run, it’s called four different rapids but it’s basically a non-stop class 4 boulder garden with a couple of eddies....

The lush and scenic Salmonberry river flows through a remote valley in the northwest coastal mountains in Oregon. A now washed out railroad line runs the length of the river, but only two roads cross it, lower Nehalem river road at the take out, (now also washed out at the Salmonberry bridge), and Beaver Slide...

After weeks of pouring rain I was elated to wake up to a clear blue crisp June morning.   My feet barely touched the ground as I flew out the door and across the street to my shop. Boat, paddle, drysuit, pads, helmet, skirt, check! Wait, I need coffee… Food is optional, coffee is not. Crossing back...

Last weekend if you were a boater in Portland you did one of two things, you either went for a meaty class 4+ run the Crooked River, (hey, invite me next time) or if you were a super hardcore bad-ass sick kayaker, you ran June Creek! On the roadside next to Bob’s, Mike gives his best, “whatchu talking about...

Sunday afternoon I arrived at the White Salmon River as the last kayaker in the Northwest who hasn’t run the BZ section. Basically I’m a surf kayaker and I live right on the beach so the gorge is a bit of a haul for me, but hey, I was in Portland, so what the...

Thursday morning I started calling around looking for a mid-week adventure, which basically means going anywhere anyone else with a pulse is paddling that day.Michele “Come run the Farmlands!”Me “Are you sure I’m not gonna die.”Michele “Nah, you got it.”Me “Ok.” Waiting at the Flying J gas station I came across this hilarious bit of...

5:09 AM, two hours after I finally got to sleep, I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. I roll my tongue to the back of my mouth where half of my tooth is broken off.  Reaching across the bed in the dark where there used to be a girl, instead I knock a...

It’s been a rainy spring. The skies delivered a biblical deluge the night of June 1st, and the next morning every coastal river was bankful and brown. I put out the call promising ‘plenty of push and unrivaled verdant scenery’ and by Friday morning we had a few takers for a run down the Devils Lake...

Last Thursday I tried to put together a Breitenbush trip with no takers, as a consolation prize I decided to throw on the Sandy Gorge at a pretty healthy flow. With the Marmot gauge at 2300, and the gauge below Bull Run reading 3700, this was about twice the flow I’d run it at before. The following is...