High Water in Minnesota: Spring Creekin'

Here's a few of the runs we've hit up here on the north shore of Lake Superior over the past week. There's been plenty of water and lots of drops got fired up.

THE MANITOU
is a class IV run with some portages.

The first drop hasn't been run, but definitely goes at this level.


Johnny "Utah" McConville.


The final portage - Rain Falling Up Falls.



You can see why it gets its name - it's incredibly powerful.


The Manitou channelizes and goes over this final drop into the lake. Props to the boys who fired it up and watch for it in the next LVM.



Next up was a northshore secret gem.

The first major rapid is a boof through a hole into this slide with the lip of a 30 footer at the end of the pool.


Chad "The Chizzler" Thurow dropping this perfect 30 footer.


Lake Superior has a rugged coastline with small islands, inlets, and even sea caves.


THE SPLIT ROCK
is one of the best creeks on the north shore and with the highest water level ever attempted it was really fast and sometimes furious.

Lots of big fast slides.


Typical Splitty.


Under the Log is the final rapid and it packs a punch.


This Burn was ghost ridin' and got destroyed.


Almost Always
used to almost always be portaged.

Nate Heydt dropping in to Almost Always on an urban creek run in Duluth.


Paddling to Lake Superior and doing a ceremonial roll is a tradition here.


ILGEN FALLS

A perfect 30 footer.


Andy "Maximus" McMurray setting up a zip line for a dynamic camera angle.


Kiffy hanging out at the lip.


This is a great drop on a sunny day.


THE BRULE
is a larger river with steady gradient and a few huge drops that are rarely to never run, definitely a must see.

Chizzler in front of the unrun entrance to Canyon Falls.


This massive curler is only a small piece of the puzzle.


The right side of Canyon is a sweet slide.


The left side is a full on big water slide, but it's hard to get over there at this level.


The Devil's Kettle was very full on at this level. Half of the river disappears into the huge kettle/vertical shaft on river right.


Reflecting on this magnificent drop.


Upper Falls lies right below Devil's Kettle and has never been run. Can you see why?


THE DEVIL TRACK
is an elusive north shore creek that meanders through a deep canyon as it roars down slides. There are two portages so you need to know where you're going because this thing moves fast when it's high.

The first portage is The Admiral, and has only been run twice. Two big slides are above it, but at a high level we were forced to portage all three.


Nate Herbeck catching a nice boof on Portage Down the Middle.


Trying to catch a glimpse of Pitchfork Falls, an unrun 40 footer with a shallowish landing. A pretty big portage to get around this canyon, and if you miss the eddy your stuck at the lip.


More photo dumping to come.

Canyon Creek Race Weekend: IV-IV+

After a week or two of camping up by Hood River and rallying the Truss and the L-Dub it was time for the much anticipated Canyon Creek race. This is one of the premier race courses in the country with a nice amount of gradient, but not too burly for the weekend warriors and newer creekers out there. With over 80 competitors and dozens of spectators it was a cool scene. Congrats to Brian Little for taking 1st in the advanced division and to Geoff Calhoun who swept the expert. Thanks to all the organizers for working hard to make this a great event and especially to Oly for having an awesome party at his riverside compound. The party featured lots of good food, an endless supply of beer, a live band - need I say more?

The crowd enjoying the sunshine at the finish line.


Boofing to the finish.


Paddling the flatwater to the takeout.


After a night of partying there was a waterfall huck contest off of Sunset Falls.

Nick keeping it real and repping the midwest in an OC1.


They had it all - hand paddles, OC1, Mike Olsen in a sea kayak, and rafts.


Todd Anderson wheeling his way to #1.


Todd showing off one of the less common lines.


Geoff Calhoun airing out the nomad.


Devin Morton full of water and ready to get some downtime.


Every man for himself!


Triple Threat.

Wind River Race '08: III-IV+

Long boats, playboats, cats, and rafts all came out to race the upper Wind River on Easter Sunday.

Joe Stumpfel warms up his Wavehopper while Rob Virostek looks on.
Joe easily took 1st place with a time under 20 minutes.


Austin Rathman keepin' it real in a sea kayak while Nate Bell is rolling the Corsica.


3, 2, 1, GO!


The long boaters fightin for an early lead.


ORT coming in hot to the finish line.


All these rafts and no carnage?


Style points for pointing at the crowd while crossing the finish line.


Shootin' the shit after a fun race.


RACE RESULTS:

Long Boat Kayak
1st Joe Stumpfel 19:17
2nd Austin Rathman 20:04
3rd Nate Bell 22:06
4th Christie Glissmeyer 22:48

Kayak (Under 9 feet)---Times “rained out”
1st Greg Mallory
2nd Tony Skrivanek
3rd Rob Virostek
4th Jim Kennedy
5th Roberta Grant
6th Luke Spencer

Cataraft---Times “rained out”
1st Dave Hagmeir
2nd Zachary Collier
3rd Val Shaull

Paddle Raft
1st Oregon Rafting Team (ORT) 22:44
2nd California Women 23:17
3rd Bigfoot (R2) 27:09
4th ORT Rookies (R2) 28:55

Happy Easter... The PBR egg is crucial!

The Northshore Project: Video by Fluid Groove Productions

Thanks to Cliff Langley and Joel Decker of Fluid Groove Productions for providing this glimpse into the whitewater of Minnesota and the Lake Superior region. This film features Devil's Kettle, Rainbow Falls, the Cascades of the Cascade, and much more. Spring is almost here!

Rock Creek, WA: Video and pics

Rock Creek, WA is a classic grade IV creek with a couple Vs and a couple optional portages. Sunday March 2nd we had an estimated 400-600cfs, slightly above the minimum. We were able to drive about a mile or two through the snow before we started hiking the rest of the 5 mile road to the get-in.

I'll kick it off with the vid.



Chris Arnold, Allen Satcher, and Eli Loper pondering the road after part of Chris's undercarriage ripped off.


Left, Left, Left Right Left. Eli braves his second hike-in of the weekend.


Runnable 35 footer - a little low for my taste.


The first major rapid - an 8 foot boof into a canyon.


Looking up at Heaven while standing at the gates of Hell. This series of ledges is a ramping 10footer(Heaven) and a sliding 25footer(Hell).


Eli and Chris scouting Hell.


An aquamarine colored hole blocks the entrance - at high flows it has a 5 foot face!


We all aimed for the kicker, but only Chris nailed it.


Paddling up to this waterfall is really cool when it's high.


The scenery is great, lots of waterfalls and moss-covered canyon walls.


3 Swims Falls, we portaged. This falls drops into a very tight slot.

Panther Creek into the Lower Wind, WA: IV-V

In its last mile before it meets the Wind River, Panther Creek is a steep boulder garden that has some serious gradient. It's compared to Gettin' Busy on the Little White and to a cleaner Trout Creek. The level was between 21-24" on the stick gauge which seemed like an optimal flow - some pretty chunky holes, but still plenty of eddies. Mostly boat scoutable with the exception of 2 or 3 rapids. Eddy hoppin', boulder garden steepness - it was really fun. Eli Loper and I put on just in time to catch up with Ryan Cole, Chris Arnold, Garry Truyens, and Eric Arlington - a good crew!!

Scouting the entrance to one of the steepest sections. Avoid small F-U logs, rockslide the tight slot of your choice, punch the big hole, repeat.


The second part of this section.


Chris catching his breath after some steepness.


Ryan boogying and enjoying the amazing scenery. Moss-covered trees, rocks, and mini-gorges characterize this section.


Garry enjoying some more good clean boulder bed.


Ryan snarling and looking hard with a bloody face. It's not all fun and games here!


Gary and Eli polish off some steepness before Panther meets the Wind.


Once we hit the confluence and got onto the Lower Wind there was some serious volume. None of us had ever seen the Lower Wind with this much flow before. The flume became a big water rapid with some huge breaking wave-holes. Beyond Limits was awesome - ride the tongue into a huge thrasher, then hold on for the next big one. Eli and I were the only ones who ran it and we both cleaned it. Shipherd's Falls looked insane.

Chris probes the Flume.


Beyond Limits with a fish ladder "sneak" on the left.


The entrance to the fish ladder was sketchy at best.


Eli probes Beyond Limits, rated V+ in the guidebook. Kind of like a juicy BZ Falls.


Keeping it together through the last hole.


The first falls at Shipherds is unrecognizable compared to summer flows.


The second falls is super burly at this flow.


If you survive this set of drops there is still a lowhead dam to contend with.


Garry probing the mandatory cliff jump on the portage.


Eric was happy that hotsprings were waiting just downstream of this swim.