More Minnesota photos

Here's some random shots from paddling around Minnesota.
Click photos for hi-res.

Superior Panorama.


Kiffy runs the first falls on the East Fork Beaver with Loren Moulten filming.


Andy hits the boof trigger on waterfall #2 EF Beaver.


The boys below the first two falls on the EF Beaver.


Unrun slide on the Cross River.


Trespassing to scout some drops.


30'er on the Manitou.


Looking down the superior coast from a prime camping spot.


Dogs on Carlton peak.


Looking up the Superior coastline from Palisade Head.


Andy looking very small in the Devil Track canyon with Lake Superior on the horizon.


Kiffy dwarfed by the Devil Track canyon.


Minnesota wolf.


Kiffy on the Two Island.


Nate Herbeck on the same drop.


Cascade classics at high water.


The last one on the Cascade with some serious juice.


The gorge on the Temperance river.


More Temperance.


St. Louis river dam at high water.


Me on Manabezo.


Zimny took a shot to the elbow on the Split Rock.


Me getting ready to take a shot to the shoulder and thereby giving this rapid a name: "Touch Down ToneBone".

A couple days on the South Shore of Lake Superior

After getting some high water action on the North Shore some of the crew headed over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the South Shore of Lake Superior for the annual Jim Rada Memorial Race on the Presque Isle. We ran the final mile of the Presque which has a few nice waterfalls and finishes with a big water rush called the Zoom Flume.

Kiffy giving Manabezo the elbow flick for a little extra air time.


Johnny "Utah" McConville styling it before taking 1st place in the race.


Me on the Red Dangler - a river right channel that opens up at higher levels.


It's always fun to have some lake surf at the takeout.


The day after the race we did the full run on the Presque Isle which is about 15 miles. This run has some really cool drops separated by a flat water stretches, giving it a kind of Boundary Waters feel. Photos by John McConville.

Kiffy and Max ready to roll.


Me subbing out in a sliding falls.


Max watching Kiffy disappear in Nokomis.


Max on Nokomis.


The next day we headed over to the Black River which was about double the "maximum" runnable flow. We sat around and talked about putting on, but we were all pretty beat so after a couple beers we lost motivation and pretty much just hung out and talked about lines and chilled out.

Gorge Falls is happy to give you some serious downtime at this level.


The namesake of Rainbow Falls.


John scouting Rainbow.


Is there a line in there somewhere?


Rainbow is very burly at this level - from 60mph to 0mph in less than a second.


A photo of a photo brought to you by Pam, Big Sky Brewery, and of course PBR.


Loren Moulton is working on a film highlighting the whitewater of Lake Superior. See a preview by following his link > Videos > Kayaking Superior's North Shore.


Utah taking a nap in the sun.


Jedi in his element on the shores of Lake Superior.


Andy in his element burning ants.

Cascade River, MN: The L-Dub of the midwest

The Cascade is one of my favorite rivers and I was stoked to get on it at a very juicy flow. Kiffy, Maximus, and I put on at about +3" which provided a lot of excitement. The first drop is a huge slide that is pretty much a roll of the dice at this level. I lost a lot of skin, but managed to surf out of the hole. My companions weren't so lucky and both swam.

Hidden Falls is the first drop.


I recommend staying upright when possible.


The entrance to the Moose was pretty busy at this level. The horizon line is a slide with a huge pillowy airplane turn that dumps into a small pool that continues down another slide into a big hole.


Maximus pondering the Moose Cock.


Long John Silver Rapid, "Boing!"


Me and Andy warming up with a nice fire at Long John.


Long John has a long fun entrance with some big waves and holes, here Andy is nearing the end.


He's stoked to be upright and on line in this one. The pillow off of the river right wall swallows you and spits you out.


An "Oh Shit" moment for Andy on Screaming Stingl Falls.


I plugged the left side of Screaming Stingl giving our group a 100% swim rate!


After the takeout for the upper section, the Cascade falls over a series of 5 stout waterfalls. They are usually only ran when the upper section is too low or at a bare minimum. There's lots of wood in there right now so hopefully it cleans up a bit by the time they are safely runnable.