May 13, 2012

To many, Idaho’s capitol is the land of potato farmers and blue football fields, but the vibrant city of Boise also boasts an expansive trail system, numerous local crags, nearby rivers, skiing, and just about everything else you could ask for short of a coastline. After a day of work, depending on the season, you can choose between night skiing at Bogus...

May 6, 2012

California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains are geologically blessed with some of the best Class V kayaking on the planet. The combination of sunny weather, beautiful canyons, long wilderness stretches, smooth granite and excellent whitewater beckons me back from Idaho to my home state nearly every summer for a paddling pilgrimage. The best and hardest stretches of...

Dec 13, 2011

The two most luxurious pieces of kayaking gear are drysuits and drydecks. Most paddlers are familiar with the wonders of drysuits, but the beauty of drydecks is much less well known. A drydeck is a one-piece combination of a drytop and a sprayskirt. Imagine no water leaking between the folds where your skirt and drytop meet; no more struggling to squeeze your...

Nov 17, 2011

The Green River Narrows; Asheville’s bread and butter creek; a South East ultra classic; the host of the “Greatest Show In All Of Sports;” this fine three mile stretch of falling water has inspired, trained, beat down, and entertained hundreds of kayakers over its 25 years of paddling history. My personal history with the river began 10 years...

Oct 19, 2011

With my face pressed to the mirror I plucked 13 stitches out of my nose then got some help from Jared with the last three. After giving the wounds a few more days to heal it was time to go kayaking again. After a surf session at Scudders hole on the Delaware River we left Pennsylvania to chase the rain to Ithaca, NY where several large un-run drops awaited us....

Oct 4, 2011

It’s been a while since my last update here, which is a sign that I’ve been having too much fun. There has been a lot to see and do so far, and we’ve been making the most of every opportunity. After a week on the Gauley we visited Baltimore and New York before landing in Pennsylvania for some creeking. Unfortunately I didn’t last long in...

Sep 15, 2011

The rivers of the West dry up in the fall forcing paddlers to look elsewhere or turn to another sport. In many years I would simply trade my kayak for a mountain bike or some climbing shoes, but this year I decided to keep living the dream and drive out to the East Coast where dam releases and rainfall provide great fall whitewater. In high school I was...

Sep 1, 2011

California beckoned once again and I made the ten-hour drive South to Bishop California to revisit one of the most physically demanding rivers in the state. The Middle Kings drains the high peaks of the Southern Sierras and is usually the last major California river to hit a prime flow. This season’s extra thick snowpack pushed the window for this classic...