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...

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...

Aug 21, 2011

Meet Switzerland’s “Jackson family” of class V shredders. Felix Lammler (46 years old), and his two sons Lars (18) and Sven (17) assaulted California’s “creeking circuit” this Summer on a hardcore kayaking binge/family road trip. Instead of spending their Summer holiday lounging on the beaches of Cyprus, these kayaking heros...

Aug 12, 2011

I recently dug deep into my savings account, purchased a 15″ MacBook Pro laptop, and downloaded the latest version of Final Cut Pro. This new set up is infinitely better than the combo of Ubuntu and OpenShot, which I had previously used for my video editing needs. This edit from our July kayaking trip through the Royal Gorge is the first product from my...

Jul 31, 2011

The headwaters of the North Fork of The American River drain the backside of Squaw Valley and the surrounding peaks. The river cuts through a beautiful, challenging, and isolated canyon dubbed the Royal Gorge. In the late 90s, the Driftwood Productions Crew made the first descent of this incredible river, and was amazed at the abundance of waterfalls on the...