River Dayz

Money Drop

2010-01-15T00:44:00.000-08:00

Lance Reif

Boofing the Money Drop (not recommended)

Photo by Joanne Gallagher

January 11th, 2010....It seems so strange that we are now in 2010! According to movies growing up there should be cars that fly, skateboards without wheels, and how come no one is wearing neon colors? Oh, wait, neon is coming back in...alright, enough of the ramble. On that fine Monday myself, Trevor Sheehan, Scott Baker, and Dan Laham loaded our boats up and talked our friends John Coles and Joanne Gallagher into jumping in the cars with us and heading to Stevenson Washington.

Dan Laham

Photo by Lance Reif

Our destination for this trip was to head to Rock Creek, specifically the Money Drop. The four of us had paddled an upper stretch of Rock Creek the week before with some other Hood River locals, but didn't get a chance to check out the big drop known as the Money Drop, so we were fired up to check it out.

Scott Baker

Photo by Joanne Gallagher

This area of Rock creek is obviously a big flood deposit. The whole area surrounding the falls is a mixture of rounded river rocks and dirt. This waterfall has fallen in several times, and even while we were there you could see the hill sides crumbling away. The feeling of this place is pretty strange, and the waterfall itself looks pretty interesting.

Trevor and Scott Scouting

Photo by Lance Reif

The lead in to this big drop is pretty shallow and sloping, thus you come to the lip at a pretty high speed. I personally found out at this speed it isn't necessary to take much, or any stroke, but more on that in a bit.

Dan decided to fire it up first. I was down river with a rope and camera, so I was not able to see his lead in, but he came hauling off the lip of the drop and ended up breaking his paddle. The impact of his boat and the water was pretty loud, and he ended up self rescuing himself to the shore in one piece (well...the paddle wasn't in one piece anymore, but you know what I mean!)

Trevor Sheehan

Photo by Lance Reif

Trevor went second and had a great looking line. Plugged in at the bottom and resurfaced upside down a second or two later and immediately rolled up pumping his fist. I went next with a not so ideal line. I am still trying to figure out the waterfall thing and am working on trying to not over pitch. So I tried to hold a blade in the water at the lip to keep myself from landing on my head, but with the speed I had headed to the lip I don't think it was necessary. I ended up landing pretty flat and taking a pretty big hit, but not so bad for 50 or so feet.

Trevor about to plug

photo by Lance Reif

Scott went last and did a barrel roll but entered the water with a nice angle. Being a perfectionist I was pissed that I blew my line and decided I couldn't take much of a harder hit than the first time so I hiked back up to run it again. Turns out people were trying to get me to stop so they could set up for video and photo, but I missed any signals and headed to the lip hauling ass. For the first time I decided my paddle wasn't needed anymore, so at the lip I hucked it with both hands into the air, hugged my boat and tucked up. I had a much softer impact at the bottom but still ended up blowing my skirt. Luckily I surfaced upright and didn't have to attempt any hand rolls. Unfortunately no one got any photos of my 2nd lap and the video barely caught it.

Well, a few days later and I have to say my back is pretty sore, but hey, you don't get to carnegie hall without practice!

Video coming soon!

Cheers,

Lance

British Columbia!

2010-01-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

Looking into the Box of the Ashlu

photo by Lance Reif

This fall I was able to finally head north of the border and experience some of the amazing rivers that BC has to offer. After working a weekend guiding on the Tieton river I headed north to meet up with Michael Shields and LJ Groth at the Ashlu drainage. The previous week some of our buddies had been getting on Tatlow creek but unfortunately levels had come down so we got to paddle some other classics in the area.

LJ Groth in the Mine section of the Ashlu

photo by Lance Reif

I arrived at the Ashlu drainage at about 4 AM after getting lost in Vancouver for a while. With the rain coming down, I drove up the dark canyon of the Ashlu river outside of Squamish. The brown star (aka Michael's car) was parked where they said they would be, but being about 4 AM there was no sign of the other guys, so I just decided to sleep in my car. LJ and Michael woke me up when the light was entering the canyon. After cooking up some food we started to scout the Box section of the Ashlu. It is a pretty committing stretch of whitewater. As the name suggests, the canyon boxes up and opportunities to walk off the river are limited.

Michael Shields at the 30 footer on Callaghan Creek

photo by Lance Reif

The put-in rapid on the Box is called 50/50. Its a 30-40 foot stout drop that the 3 of us decided to put in below. So we climbed out way down to the river and committed ourselves to this magnificent gorge. The first rapid we ran felt a lot bigger than it looked from the rim of the gorge 100 or so feet up, but lines were good. After several more big rapids the three of us began talking about how big it felt. We were only about 5 rapids in and we came to a point where we could hike out. We scouted the next rapid and after some talking we decided that flows were pretty high and we should hike out and come back another time. Michael was the only one in the group who had been on this stretch and remembered hiking off last time with some locals and he thought the flow was lower than what we currently had. So off into the jungle of BC we headed.

Lance Reif on Callaghan creek

photo by LJ Groth

We all felt good about our decision to hike off the Box, but without beta on the other stretches of the Ashlu we headed into Squamish to find an internet cafe and find some other rivers to run. Michael and LJ called some friends and with the help of the internet we were able to get beta on Callaghan creek, the Cheakamus river, and the Mine section of the Ashlu. So the next few days we were able to get on these classic runs.

Callaghan creek was awesome! The flow we had seemed a little low, but all the good rapids went. There is a sweet 10ish foot waterfall the is followed up by a nice rapid that leads into one of the best looking 30 foot drops you will ever see; super clean, into a nice pool. LJ and Michael were scouting from the lip when I got there. I asked them what the line was and they replied "do whatever you want." This seemed strange to me with such a big looking horizon line, so I stepped out of my boat to take a look for myself. They were right though, it looked good to go, so I got right back in my boat and fired off. All three of us had great lines. Michael and I dropped our bows into the pool while LJ decided to boof the crap out of it and stomp it down, making it look easy.

LJ Groth stomping the 30 footer on Callaghan creek

photo by Lance Reif

The Cheakamus river was super fun. The road to the put in was pretty rough, so we were not able to drive all the way up it. Having a bum knee, LJ decided to pass on hiking his boat up the road but Michael and I shouldered out boats to the put in. The first rapid was a nice big 10ish foot boof and then from there to the takeout was continuous class IV+ whitewater. I was having so much fun on this stretch, and just when I didn't think it could get any better a group of girls hiking alongside the river decided to drop trow and give us a full moon. I pulled into the eddy formed by the rock they were on and thanked them for the beautiful view then pealed out and headed to the take out. Quality stretch of whitewater and what a view. Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos from this stretch, sorry.

Lance Reif

30 footer on Callaghan creek

photo by LJ Groth

We then returned to the Ashlu and were able to get on the Mine section. We knew of 2 portages and that one of them kinda snuck up on you, luckily we got good beta from a friend of LJ and Michael's. So we got around the first one easily, and then the 2nd one had 2 options. Hike early and through the woods, or catch a must-make eddy right above the portage. So we scouted the eddy from the rim of the gorge along the other portage trail. It looked small, but not too hard of a move. I volunteered to go first, mainly because I had no interest in hiking my boat through the BC jungle again. I was able to catch a smaller eddy than we scouted from above and then hiked down to the next eddy and signaled them in. The whole run was sweet, I got tooled a few times and swear that is the fastest I have ever moved downstream while upside down.

The dam on the Ashlu

photo by Lance Reif

Overall BC impressed me. Quality runs, and tons of them. Unfortunately the Ashlu river is in danger. Currently they are working to dam it up and divert water through a tunnel carved in the mountain to create hydro power. The project is nearly complete, so get up there to check out this amazing river. In my opinion, the Ashlu is one of the most beautiful river canyons in the world.

For my parting shot I give you Spirit falls on the Little White. This is in Washington, but it reminds me that although BC is sweet, the Gorge aint so bad!

Lance Reif

Spirit Falls, Little White Salmon

photo by Max Blackburn

Celestial Falls: another classic PNW park n'huck

2009-11-22T14:02:00.001-08:00

committing myself

Photo by Scott Baker

Fall here in the Columbia river gorge was better than I had imagined. I guess I expected that I would miss all of the colors of fall, but the Pacific Northwest didn't fail me. The many orchards in the area were a variety of brilliant colors and to keep me occupied my staple run, the Truss, was in at a low, but good flow.

Big Brother in the Fall

photo by Scott Baker

Although I do love the Truss, I was itching to get out and run something else. Unfortunately not much else was in, but we got a little bit of rain and the White river in Oregon came up a bit. There isn't an epic whitewater stretch of the White river, but what it does have is a nice park n'huck 40ish footer, Celestial Falls.

Lance Reif

photo by Scott Baker

Celestial Falls is a state park, and it is technically illegal to run the falls, so just don't get caught! So early Halloween morning myself, Scott Baker, and Dan Laham headed out of Hood River and towards this classic park n'huck.

Scott Baker looking like he is about to boof it

photo by Lance Reif

fading it down

photo by Lance Reif

We knew the park ranger was there, luckily Scott and Dan scouted out other put in options the day before. So we put in at an alternate spot and paddled downstream towards the falls. There are two falls, the top one is about 80 feet or so and lands on rocks. So we portaged the top drop, seal launched in above the 40 footer and each gave her a go.

Dan Laham

photo by Lance Reif

Dan went first and had is paddle knocked out of his hands at the bottom and was able to hand roll up. Scott fired it up next with a similar line. I went last, tried to melt it but my stern got kicked and I ended up with a not so perfect line, but no harm no foul.

Now the rains have come! The Gorge is full of things to do, but unfortunately I am out with a bad back for a few weeks. So I am working on getting better so I can get back out on the water.

Until then......

Cispus river: Scary moments on The Upper Upper

2009-11-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

Looking back upstream at the 1st rapid

photo by Lance Reif

The Upper Upper Cispus is a great run that is in late season. Of Coarse when you live in the Hood you run the classic Little White and Truss all spring and into the summer, but when the flows get low head up through Trout Lake to 23 and in a little over an hour you are at the take out for this great run. These photos and trip report are from several weeks ago, but I currently have TONS of free time, so here it is.

1st rapid, Lance Reif

Unfortunately for me most of my paddling buddies had already been on this run, but I was going to get my chance. So myself, Trevor Sheehan, and WV Garrett loaded up in Trevor's truck, through a bike in the back for shuttle and off we went. With shuttle set we put on the river to see what the Upper Upper Cispus was all about, and it was going to be a personal first decent for all of us!

Behemoth and the rapid after

It might look small here, but Behemoth is about 30 feet tall

After about 100 yards or less of class II and you get the the 1st rapid. It is a sloping/cascading 15ish foot drop. It looked like it would be hard to style it, but it dropped into a small pool that had some wood issues for the exit. Luckily a week or so prior to us getting in here, our buddy Drew Austell climbed out on one tree and cut off some branches to make the exit runnable, but by runnable, you have to duck hard while in the exit rapid. So I decided to go first, had an alright line, but plugged in and resisted the stern squirt. I quickly paddled over to river right where I got out to take photos of Garrett while Trevor remained holding a rope.

Garrett in the 1st drop

photo by Lance Reif

Garrett dropped in, plugged like me, but had this epic looking blast out of the water. He then missed a few rolls while Trevor and I looked on as he floated upside down towards the rock garden with trees. He ended up swimming around the corner from my view and while I was trying to get back in my boat Trevor let me know that he had gotten into an eddy. Turns out Garrett dislocated his shoulder in the drop and that was why he was not able to roll.

So we hiked him out of there and back to the car, which luckily for us was really close. Trevor and I decided to continue on and look for the lost kayak and Garrett would drive to the take out and meet us there, or atleast that is how we thought it would go...

Garrett launching out of the water upside down at the 1st rapid

photo by Lance Reif

Well the next few miles are supposed to contain various low volume rapids and lots of tree dodging. Just around the corner form the 1st rapid was a nice sized log jam, and in it, floating upright, was the boat that Garrett had swam out of. So I climbed around on the tree pile and was able to hook a rope to the boat and throw it to Trevor whom pulled the boat out. We hiked up upstream a bit to the same spot we hike Garrett out at and decided we would come back for it once we finished out run.

After some small rapids and tree dodging, we came up to a small rapid that had a tree in it. It looked good to go but I had remembered my buddy Curt telling me about a tree that he just barely made it out, and I pulled into the eddy for a second look. The eddy was small and as Trevor approached the eddy he looked and decided to go. I watched him enter the rapid and was about to pull out of the eddy and follow when I saw him get rejected by the tree, roll, and then suck under it.

I quickly headed to shore, looked back downstream to see his arm in the air moving, his bow pointing upstream from under the tree, and his head was underwater. A lot of things started flying through my mind. I tried throwing him a rope, which he was only a few feet from the bank, but that didn't work. I tried hooking my rope to his bow and pulling, but i didn't give. So while I was grabbing gear out of my boat to try something else I could see his hand signaling me. So I ran back to him and in a last effort jumped on the tree he was pinned under and tried pulling him up to breath. My body made an air pocket big enough for him and I to talk and I asked him what he wanted me to do. In the end I was able to provide him with a big enough pocket of air that he could breath and rest in between going underwater and pulling himself out of his own boat.

When he got himself out he was no longer wearing his skirt. Turns out it was pinned between the cockpit rim and tree even though I pulled it for him. We were able to get the boat un-pinned and as I was putting the break down together realized my paddle was no longer by my boat. somewhere in the craziness my paddle floated down stream.

Within a few minutes of hiking out river right we came to a road. We followed the road downstream and found some friendly campers who offered us a ride back to our truck. I did get back on the Cispus several more times this season, even found both of the lost paddles.

By far this was the scariest moment I have had on the river. Guess it was just one of the days, maybe we weren't supposed to be on the river that day. I did learn alot that day though. I am glad I have the training that I do for situations like that. If your going to boat class V make sure you have proper training, so be responsible, take a class if you need to. It will help!

Ecuador Video

2009-11-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

This is an older video from a few winters ago when I got to travel to Ecuador. I just figured I would post it up here so people can check it out. Cheers!

Ecuador: A Glimpse of Its Waters from Lance Reif on Vimeo.

Mexico Video

2009-10-26T11:35:00.001-07:00

Finally, after nearly a year of being too lazy to take the time and put this together I have finished! So here it is, a video from my Mexico trip last December....enjoy!

Mexico 2008: Veracruz & San Luis Potosi from Lance Reif on Vimeo.

Who needs a backyard run when you got one out the front door?

2009-08-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

On line at the lip of Big Brother

photo by Curt Joyce

So some town boast about having great backyard runs. Asheville, NC has the Green. Boise, ID has the North Fork of the Payette. Crested Butte, CO has Oh Be Joyful. I can't say I have been on all of the backyard runs, but I am fortunate enough to have the Little White as a backyard run, and to be correct, the Green Truss is my front yard run.

Falling at Big Brother

photo by Curt Joyce

I have to admit that it is pretty sweet to have 2 world class runs in my area. Both the Little White and the Truss have easy access for put-ins and take-outs, and both of them run for the majority of the year. The Little White is a little far, but I usually put up with the 15 minute drive to be able to paddle such quality whitewater. The Truss on the other hand is about a 5 minute drive to the put in and I take out at my house (tent to be exact).

Curt Joyce at Big Brother

photo by the author

So here are some photos from this season on the Truss. Unfortunately I still have no photos from the Little White, but enjoy these.

Curt Joyce at the 2nd ledge of Bob's Falls

photo by the author

upright and on line at the bottom of Double Drop

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell getting the salmon launch at Double Drop

photo by the author

Tyler "fast-lane" Houck at double drop

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell dropping into Lower Zig Zag

photo by Curt Joyce

Drew Austell at Lower Zig Zag

photo by the author

Stay tuned for the next post...a lot has happened recently.........

Eagle Creek, round 2

2009-07-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Waiting to take my stroke

Skoonichuk falls, Eagle Creek OR

photo by Nicki lynch

So I know that I already posted some photos from Punchbowl falls on Eagle Creek, but a group of us headed back up there to check out some of the other drops. The group this time included: Heather Herbeck, Tyler Houck, Curt Joyce, Ryan Copenhagen, and myself.

Skoonichuk falls from below

photo by Curt Joyce

This time up Eagle Creek the group stopped off and hiked to the lip of Metlako falls to check out the 85 foot beast. We scouted the lip and entrance for awhile and decided to keep on hiking past Punchbowl and up to Skoonichuk falls.

Curt Joyce below Skoonichuk falls

The group scouted out Skoonichuk for awhile before sitting down to rest after the 4 mile hike. The drop looked to be about 35-40 feet with a small pool then off another 10-15 feet. We talked about the drop for a bit before returning back to check it out again. After several more minutes of scouting we again stepped back to talk about it. By this point our friend Nicki and her dog had caught up with us, and people were making their decision on whether or not they were going to give 'er a go.

Tyler Houck tucking up for the plug off Punchbowl

After scouting the drop and walking away to think about it several times I decided to gear up. Ryan and Curt hiked their boats down to the pool below to set up safety while Tyler held rope from the top. Nicki and Heather grabbed the cameras and when they gave me the signal I dropped in.

Ryan Copenhagen firing up Punchbowl

It felt like a long time to wait to take a stroke, but I hit it right when I wanted to and resurfaced upright and headed towards the second part of the drop. I was so stoked to nail the big part that I kinda forgot about the second drop and managed to kinda fall off it and roll up in the pool below.

Tyler Houck boofing into the high bridge canyon

I was stoked to nail my line off Skoonichuk, I had looked at this falls last year and it had been on my mind for a while now. The rest of the group put in below and we headed on downstream. There are several cool rapids after Skoonichuk and then the high bridge gorge. This is one of the most amazing places of the run. The water in the gorge is flat and there are these huge trees all in one stack stuck in about a 10 foot wide 200 foot tall basalt gorge.

Curt Joyce about to tuck up off Punchbowl

After the gorge there are several other rapids, 2 tree portages, and then you arrive to Punchbowl falls. We scouted it for about 2 minutes before Ryan decided he had seen enough. Up to this point the biggest falls Ryan had been off of was about 18 feet, and Punchbowl is easily 30+ feet. So, I ran up with him and we got in our boats. I had been off of the drop twice earlier in the season so I offered to go first. I didn't hit my plug like I had hoped, but I did have a soft landing so it went well. Ryan then followed, threw his paddle and tucked up. He kinda twisted off of it, but managed to re-submerge upright and celebrating.

The crew in high bridge gorge

Tyler fired off next with the textbook tuck and plug. Heather also had a sick line off of it. I guess she wasn't going fast enough because she paddled the whole way down and tucked up just in time. Curt was the last in the group to fire off. He got the highest up on the boil and tucked up nice for the deep plug.

Heather Herbeck making it look easy

At the beginning of this trip I kinda told myself I would consider running Metlako if I hit all my lines, but I didn't stick Punchbowl like I wanted to so I decided to pass on the big one. I guess I will just have to return to Eagle Creek next year....

Owyhee River, OR

2009-07-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

This Spring I got a chance to take a trip down the poor man's Grand Canyon, otherwise known as the Owyhee. I, along with 2 other guides from Wet Planet Whitewater took the alternative high school from Hood River down this scenic stretch of river for 4 days. The first day was by far the worst wind I have ever experienced on a river trip, but the trip overall was great. This high school kids were awesome, they cooked all of the meals and helped out around camp. We did manage to wrap a gear raft early on day 3, but luckily we didn't loose all of our food. So here are just a few photos to check out and I promise I have more updates on the way!

PNW classic: Punchbowl Falls

2009-05-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Tucking up to go deep on my 2nd run

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

photo editing by Nick Franchi

Punchbowl falls on Eagle Creek in Oregon has to be one of the most photogenic waterfalls in the world. I hiked the trail beside the creek last year to check out all the falls and haven't been able to get it out of my mind since. There are 2 more big drops on this creek that will have to be run at a later date, but for now 2 laps of punchbowl with a bunch of people was pretty fun.

Jesse Shimrock approaching the lip while WCKA students watch from above

The World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) had been in the gorge for a few weeks taking classes and firing up the goods in the area, when I got word that they would be hiking up to punchbowl. This sounded like a great opportunity to hike in to the drop since I would get to watch several people go off the falls instead of just a few. Normally the park n' huck style of boating is not my first pick, but sometimes your just in the mood to hang out with a bunch of people and huck off a sweet waterfall.

My first time off this thing

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

So Drew Austell (aka Drewguy), Susan Hollingsworth (WCKA teacher), and I loaded gear into good 'ol Linda and drove on out to eagle creek to join the show. Unfortunately for Susan, she was nursing an injury so she was just along for the ride and to take some photos.

Eric Parker sticking his line

Head coach and teacher, Jesse Shimrock was the first to run the falls this day. Jesse made it look pretty easy in his new baby blue Biscuit, but ended up taking a hard hit on the nose. Next up were a few of the WCKA students. Each of them had different lines, but all fared well in the end.

Drew Austell boofing the $#it out of it

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

After taking some photos and watching several of the WCKA students go off the falls I Drew and I decided it was our turn. I felt really good coming off the lip and tucked up at the end but slightly over-pitched and took a small hit. Drew then followed and decided plugging was not his thing, so he fired off a huge boof and stomped it down at the end.

Drew Austell trying the plug on round 2

photo by Susan Hollingsworth

The WCKA only hiked up a few boats for the 13 students so Drew and I both offered up our boats to some of the students and again watched and took photos. Both of the students in our boats stuck their lines, which was pretty sweet since neither of them had paddled those boats before.

Nate Garcia proving that he might be the youngest brother, but he can still fire it up

Once we got our boats back, Drew and I hiked up to run it again. Drew went first this time and decided to try the plug, which he stuck. My 2nd line went really well. I took a slight stroke at the lip this time hoping I wouldn't over-pitch, and it worked! I plugged in pretty deep and shot back out stern first and upright.

In the end it was a great day. We got to watch about 16 people go off Punchbowl, and some ran it more than once. There were many different lines, some landed on their heads, some on their sides, 2 paddles were broken, and no major injuries. Watch out kayaking world, some of these WCKA students might be young, but they are solid.

Winter in California

2009-04-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Lake Tahoe

After a great trip to Mexico I headed north to Lake Tahoe for a few months. Being that the economy is down and all, the ski/tourism industry is really hurting. Thus I was only about to find work for a few weeks. So what do you do in Tahoe with no job?.......Well yes, you do ski in tahoe with no job, but you also kayak.

S. Fork Yuba

After some great skiing with lots of snow, I met up with Josh Hill for some California kayaking. I was able to get a few runs on Shirttail creek (a tributary of the American River). Shirttail is east coast style paddling. Its steep, low volume, and full of scary looking rocks...but being for the east I thought it was great. Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day, so I don't have any photos to share.

Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

The next river in California I checked out was the Yuba. I was able to get on both the Purdons to 49 and the 49 to Bridgeport sections of the Yuba. The two are pretty different in characteristics, but both are of high quality.

S. Fork of the Yuba, CA

Purdons to 49 in my mind is the harder of the two. It seems to have longer, more complex rapids with higher consequences for a missed line. But that in my mind is what made this section better than the 49 to Bridgeport, it is just more demanding.

Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

The 49 to Bridgeport section may not have been my first pick, but it is an amazing stretch of river. Beautiful scenery, cool bed rock, and a great variety of rapids. It started off with similar characteristics to the Purdons section, but after the portage rapid it changed in characteristics and became more of a river than a creek.

Upper Middle Consumnes, CA

Next on the list was the Upper Middle Consumnes. The hike to the put took about 45 minutes and gave me some poison oak, or atleast I found out a few days later that it did. But the oak was worth it to get on this run. There were a few portages to be had, but it had some amazing rapids and was one beautiful canyon.

Josh Hill on the Upper Middle Consumnes

Well, like always, my time in California has come and gone. After a stop in Eugene Oregon to get my Wilderness First Responder, I am now back in the Pacific Northwest working again for Wet Planet as a kayak instructor and raft guide. Stay tuned for updates from the PNW as well as the Mexico video. Until then, enjoy a parting shot of the night skies in the Northwest.

Mexico part 6: Rio Texolo

2009-03-07T12:06:00.001-08:00

Jake Greenbaum

photo by Chris Baer

The last stop on our Mexico mission was the town of Jalcomulco. Once we got to town we headed to the rafting company that we heard might have information on some of the good kayak runs in the area. After discussing different possibilities and figuring out logistics we decided to try and get on the Rio Texolo.

The 40-50 footer on the Texolo

photo by Chris Baer

Previous to our trip I had done some research on river in Mexico, and the Texolo was one that I had interest in. The only information I had on it I got from Evan Garcia's blog, and the photos and description sounded good. Which is exactly what the Texolo was. It was good.

Chris Baer running the 40-50 footer blind

photo by John McConville

When we got to the put in the water levels looked like they were on the low side of good, but we decided it would be a good flow for a first time run. We were right, the flow was low and most of the rapids in the first mile or so were pretty boney. Luckily this wasn't anything abnormal for some boaters from the Southeast, we are used to boney low flows.

photo by John McConville

After a mile or so of boney rapids the river began to constrict and the rapids got better. It wasn't long before we came to a rapid that led into a steep walled gorge. At the end of the gorge was a big horizon line, and we all figured this must be the big waterfall. So we hooked me up to a rope and I waded up to the edge where I could climb up to scout the drop. Luckily it was only about waist deep and we were all able to scout the drop, but like most of the trip Chris opted out of scouting for the chance to run a big waterfall blind. So, with descriptions from both John and I, Chris probed the drop without even looking at it.

Davis Gove about to plug in

photo by Chris Baer

Chris's line looked good from the top and the rest of the group began to follow. Jake Greenbaum second, me third, followed by Davis Gove and then John McConville. The results of this waterfall were kinda funny. Chris had a little angle and his line looked good, but his skirt imploded. Jake over pitched and had no problems and a soft impact. I landed at about 45 and although it might have looked painful it was soft. Then both Davis and John seemed to plug it perfectly, but both of them broke their paddles and Davis's skirt imploded.

John McConville

photo by Chris Baer

After some quick first aid on Davis hand (fiberglass paddles are sharp when broken) we took out some breakdown paddles and headed on down river. There are several more good rapids after the waterfall before the take out. Be careful not to miss the take out on this run, because it is right before a 100+ foot waterfall (Note: This waterfall has been run by Tyler Bradt). The take out is about a 45 minute uphill hike to the small village where you can park a car.

The perfect boof ramp

photo by Chris Baer

John McConville

photo by Chris Baer

This was the last river we ran in Mexico (atleast in kayaks that is). On our way back to the US we stopped once again in Ciudad Valles to spend Christmas with our good friends Aaron and Marjie of Kayak Huasteca. Me, John, and Chris spent Christmas running the Cascadas Micos in inner-tubes and jumping off the waterfalls various times.

The take out for the Rio Texolo

photo by John McConville

We learned a few things on our trip to Mexico and thought we might share a few helpful tips for anyone else traveling to this great paddling country.

1. Don't stop in boarder towns or big cities!!!

2. Don't drink the water!

3. Tacos in America are WAY over priced. $.99 in Mexico buys you a plate of 5!

4. Bring a car with high clearance.

5. Tequila is both tasty and good for killing any possible bacteria in your stomach.

6. If you don't like spicy food before mexico, you will after

7. If you don't want random people on the street washing your window then use your wipers right before they get to your car.

8. 2 lane roads can actually fit 4 cars wide (this includes semi trucks!)

9. Bring extra paddles

10. Plugging a big waterfall might not always be the best way to run it.

Mexico part 5: Tomata Gorge

2009-02-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

Dropping into "John's" rapid

photo by John McConville

After a few laps on both the Roadside and the Big Banana we decided to check out another section of the Rio Alseseca, the Tomata Gorge (I have also heard it referred to as the 7 sisters). This is the section just below Tomata Falls (2 waterfalls that are a tourist destination). Jake Greenbaum and some other had tried to scout the whole section from the rim of the gorge, but they were not able to see all of the rapids. Jake also said he found a way to access the Gorge without having to do a 100+ foot rappel (side note: we have no rappel rope).

John McConville at the top of "John's" rapid

photo by Chris Baer

To get to Tomata Gorge, you have to head to Tomata Falls. Before you get to the Falls you have to pass through two gates, each of which has a toll (about a $1 a person). WARNING!! the family at the second gate are not very friendly. It is a public road and there shouldn't be a toll, but suck it up and cough up the $0.50.

Chris Baer on one of the smaller rapids in Tomata Gorge

photo by John McConville

Since no one in our group had a rappel rope, we had to find another way to get to the bottom of the Gorge. After a few minutes of searching Jake found the spot that he previously had scouted for out put-in. It was a steep slope with a lot of vegitation, but it looked like it might work. So John McConville, Chris Baer, Jake Greenbaum, and I anchored some throw bags off of a tree and began our decent into Tomata Gorge.

The 15-20 footer in Tomata Gorge

photo by Chris Baer

After about 2 hours we were finally able to slide into the water, but again we were worried about time. We didn't expect the put-in to take as long as it did, and again we were committing to a class 5 gorge that we didn't know much about. So we took a quick look at Tomata 2 from the bottom and began heading downstream. The first big horizon line that we came up to John got out of his boat to check out. He told us it was good to go down the middle, but that there was "crazy shit" going on both sides. In normal fashion Chris dropped in and John reported to us that his line was good. Jake went next with similar outcomes, and then it was my turn. As I came up to the lip it was a lot bigger than what I was expecting. It was a big slide into about a 10 foot boof, but I missed my boof and had to roll up at the bottom. John went last, ended up further right than he wanted to be, disappeared from view and rolled up at the bottom with half a paddle (2nd paddle John broke). Thus we started calling this rapid John's rapid. Luckily for him I had my break down paddle in my boat.

boiley Chris Baer at the top of "Gorilla"

photo by John McConville

The next big rapid we came up to John and I scouted. I reported back to Chris and Jake that it was about a 15-20 foot waterfall into a big hole. Jake went first and made it look easy, followed by Chris who got a quick surf in the hole at the bottom. I didn't see John's line, but got the signal he was alright and then I dropped in.

boofing "Gorilla"

photo by John McConville

Then came what we called Gorilla. This was because Jake scouted it and his beta to the rest of us was that it was just like Gorilla on the Green. I thought this meant my landing was small and had a big hole in it, so I got out of my boat to see for myself. I agree that it had a nice launch pad, but the landing zone was just a big pool. We all fired big boofs off of it and then convinced John to try a freewheel. Nice attempt, but he didn't quite get it around.

Jake Greenbaum stomping "Gorilla"

photo by Chris Baer

Tomata Gorge ended up being a great find. It was a pain in the ass to access, but the rewards were great. It might have only had 7 rapids, but they were all pretty sweet. For anyone that is thinking about checking out this section keep in mind that even though there are only 7 rapids, this is a class V section, and it is very committing.

John McConvlle attempting a freewheel

photo by Chris Baer

Mexico part 4: The elusive Big Banana

2009-02-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

If you ever take a trip to Mexico to paddle, you need to check out the Rio Alseseca. It has a bunch of different sections, and each one has a different feel to it. We spent two days on the Roadside section; which is low volume southeastern style paddling. Now, after a few days trying to find it, we have directions for two different ways to access the elusive Big Banana section. This section was first explored by team Jackson and it took them several days. Thanks to them and their efforts, paddlers are now able to enjoy this section as a one day trip, or so one would think it would only take a day...

Some of the crew at the put-in for the Big Banana

Photo by John McConville

It was about 12:00 in the afternoon when Davis Gove, John McConville, Chris Baer, Jake Greenbaum, and myself finally were headed for the put-in. The put-in is at the base of a 1oo+ foot waterfall known as Big Banana falls. The options are to rappel down about 150+ feet, or find a trail to the bottom. The choice was easy for us since we didn't have rope to rappel from, so we decided to hike in. Again we were given 2 options for hiking, one from river left and one from river right. According to some of our friends it would only be a difference of about 30 minutes to hike in from river right, and the parking for the shuttle vehicle would be more secure, so we went with that one.

Top of the 20 footer

Photo by Chris Baer

After about 2 hours of hiking through the jungle and along a creek bed we found Big Banana Falls. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, but I didn't really get to take it all in because it was now after 2:oo PM and we needed to get on the water. So with about 4 hours of daylight left we began paddling into the unknown. We had no idea how many miles the stretch was or how many rapids there were. What we did know was that there was a "death hole," a 40 footer, a mandatory drop, and it is class 5.

Davis Gove on the 20 footer

Photo by Chris Baer

The first "real" rapid that we came up to looked good from my boat, and with positive confirmation from John I paddled into it. It was an easy first move and as I paddled through the right exit slot I noticed that there was a tree just under the surface, but it was too late. My bow went under the horizontal tree and I took it right on the chest. I tried to stay calm and wiggle myself free, but it was too late, my stern began to sink and I gave out a yell for help. Right as I got swept under the tree Jake came around the corner to help. Neither of us are sure what exactly happened, but I ended up getting pulled right out of my boat and my Everest had a big dent in the side of it that Jake is pretty sure he put there. Either way, I looked downstream and realized I was alright and looked back just in time to see Davis come around the corner, get stuck on the tree, disappear underwater, and pop up away from his kayak.

Blindly dropping into the mandatory rapid

Photo by John McConville

We are only a few rapids in and two members of the group swam out from under a tree. Needless to say things were not looking so good at this point and we didn't have much daylight left.

Jake Greenbaum probing the 40 footer

photo by Chris Baer

The rapids started to pick up and soon we came up to a big horizon line. It was an easy lead in to about a 20 foot drop. Looked good, and everyone started firing off of it. The next drop again couldn't be scouted from out boats so Jake got out and gave it a look. He told the rest of us that it looked good, just go down the middle. So I paddled right up to and and as I got closer it looked like I was about to drop into a crack, but it went and I gave a yell back to the group to let them know it was good. John came next, rolled right before the hole at the bottom and came back up with only one blade left on his paddle. Davis managed to roll entering the rapid and hit his head, and then both Chris and Jake got rolled in the hole at the bottom. We later came to know this rapid as "the crack drop," and it is about as mandatory of a drop as you can get.

John McConville

photo by Chris Baer

After several more good rapids we arrived at the 40 footer. This thing was stout, and with night just around the corner we found a way to portage around it and seal launch about 20 feet back into the water. So we all got back in as quickly as we could. The next significant rapid we began calling "triple drop," because it was three moves with small pools in-between. The first drop looked tight, the second was a hole, and the third drop was a slide into a big boof. Jake ended up running all 3 drops, while the rest of us just ran the third drop.

Chris Baer boofing the 1st drop of Triple Drop

photo by John McConville

After passing a dead cow in the river and running a few more rapid we came to yet another big horizon line. It ended up being Meatlocker rapid. It is a two tiered rapid, both drops are similar size and totaling about 20-25 feet. It was pretty dark at this point and we could barely see another rapid just downstream. Things started to get crazy at this point, the group was wanting to finish but light was pretty much gone. Fortunately no one did anything stupid and we ended up ditching out boats, grabbing what gear we might need to sleep outside for the night, and began trying to hike out. John had a headlamp, so he led, and in about 45 minutes we found a road and soon after we were all standing in the back of a truck heading to our cars.

We piled in Jake's Jeep, grabbed Linda, and then feasted on some tacos al pastor.

The entrance of Meatlocker

photo Chris Baer

The next morning we got an early start and hiked back in to our boats. Meatlocker looked good but a swim here could be deadly. At the flow we had Meatlocker has a pretty nasty looking hole after it and it is pretty walled in. So we found a tree to anchor off of and ran a rope from it to a small eddie and put someone on live bait on the end. Then one by one we all ran the drop with Jake leading us off. Everyone had similar lines; boofing the first tier and then pretty much disappearing in the second tier.

Jake Greenbaum leading us off Meatlocker

photo by Chris Baer

We were able to portage the "death hole" pretty easily on river right with another 15-20 foot seal launch back into the water. The next rapid ended up being the start of the Pezma section and both Jake and Davis had been on this section so we now knew what was ahead.

John McConville on the 1st rapid of the Pezma

photo by Chris Baer

The Pezma section is a great small stretch of whitewater. The first rapid is a sick boof if you hit it right. There is another rapid known as 80/20 that is pretty interesting, and the last rapid has a huge boof at the end of it.

Davis Gove hitting his boof at 80/20

photo by Chris Baer

Jake Greenbaum launching the boof at the end of the Pezma

photo by Chris Baer

We ended up all returning to the Big Banana after a day of rest, atleast for some of us...John ended up leaving his camera at the rapid that Davis and I took a swim, so Chris and John spent the next day hiking back in to retrieve the camera. The three of us drove to the other possible hike in trail and off John and Chris went. I came back in about 2 hours and it wasn't but 5 minutes later that they returned with the camera and good news! The trail was shorter and much easier than the first. So the next day we started early and hiked in to Big Banana falls in about 30 minutes.

Photo by Chris Baer

Just like our first time, our second time down the Big Banana was eventful. Davis went off the 20 footer and had his skirt impload, so I got signaled to chase him and my skirt popped also. Luckily Davis swam but was able to collect everything before the Crack Drop, and I just had to paddle a half full boat to the side. Then after about an hour of staring at it, Jake and then John fired off the stout 40 footer. Then everyone ran all parts of Triple Drop and again all dropped into Meatlocker. So with the Roadside and Big Banana sections done, it was time to check out the Tomata Gorge section....

Mexico part 3: The Roadside section of the Rio Alseseca

2009-02-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

S-turn rapid

Photo by John McConville

After paddling for about a week out of Ciudad Valles we decided that we wanted to move on and check out some more rivers of Mexico. So we threw our boats back on Linda and started driving south into the state of Veracruz. Our next destination was the city on Tlapacoyan, but before we got there we took a pit stop to check out El Tajin, one of Mexico's many archeological ruins.

A few photos I took at El Tajin

When we arrived in Tlapacoyan it was pretty late and the hostel was locked and looked shut down for the night, but luckily we found a worker and managed to communicate our need for a room. So they unlocked the gate to Adventure Recreation (sounded like the place for us) and in we went. There were several other vehicles from the US inside the gate and a lot of kayak gear. We followed the worker back to the dinning cabana where we ran into some friends ours; It's funny how small the kayaking community becomes the longer your a part of it. It just so happened that World Class Kayak Academy, a high school for kayakers, was staying at the same hostel. Along with the students and teachers from WCK, there were several alumni that Chris and I happen to know.

Davis Gove on one of the many rapids of the Roadside

Photo by John McConville

The next day we attempted to find the elusive Big Banana section of the Alseseca, but after driving around for awhile the group got together and decided to split up. Half of the group decided to keep trying to find the Big Banana, and the other half of us decided to do some kayaking. So me, John McConville, Chris Baer, Davis Gove, and Adriene Levknecht set shuttle and off we went for one crazy day of kayaking.

Photo by John McConville

Adriene and Davis had both been on the Roadside, so we decided to leave our cameras in the car and just rally down this section. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to let Adriene lead, but thats what ended up happening.

Adriene Levkencht on S-Turn Rapid

Photo by John McConville

Adriene is a great kayaker, but her rapid description are not what I would call first class. So, with some pretty sketchy descriptions we routed one of the most continuous sections of whitewater that we paddled in Mexico. The Roadside is low volume and very continuous. There are some sticky holes and fun drops on this section. Probably my favorite rapid on the section is called S-turn. It has a slide lead in that puts you in this narrow, twisting hallway. So we didn't get out to look at it, just listened to Adriene's beta and off we went. Unfortunately for me I managed to flip upside down and my paddle ended up breaking in the center and I ran the rest of this rapid upside down.

Chris Baer

Photo by John McConville

Along with our cameras, I also decided to take my break-down paddle out of my boat since the section is called the Roadside. Luckily Chris had a pair of hand paddles in his boat. Previous to this point I have never used hand paddles, but no worries, we were only kayaking some a class IV-V section that I had never seen before.

I have to say I kinda enjoyed the hand paddles, but I wish we had brought the cameras though. Everyone kept laughing when I would come off of drops because I would put my hand paddles together in a diving motion as I entered the water. So incase you haven't figured it out by now, all these photos are from a different day on the Roadside.

Mexico part 2: The Rio Verde....not the green.

2009-01-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

Dropping off the 3rd waterfall with the other 2 in view (the 45 ft. is in the back)

After some good runs down the Micos and El Salto the group was itching for something harder. Aaron Koch and I talked it over and after getting some beta from our buddy Rocky we decided to go check out the 1st canyon of the Rio Verde. This is not the Green that you hear so much about, but it is still some quality whitewater. The group again consisted of: Chris Baer, John McConville, Aaron Koch, Fil Payne, and myself.

Only a few hours from Ciudad Valles and we were on the dirt road heading for the put in. when we got to where we thought it would be we couldn't see any way down to the river. So we drove back out to a farmer we saw working in the field and sent Aaron to get directions from him. I guess the guy decided he would just show us the put in, so he with an orange in one hand and a gun in the other hand the farmer got in Aaron's Jeep and back we off we went to find the river.

Top of the 45ish footer

We knew that there were several waterfalls on this run, one around 40-50 feet, one 120ish footer, and several smaller ones. So after running shuttle we put on and after a few small rapids we came to the first big horizon line. This one looked to be 40-50 feet from the top, but a good landing and take off. So Chris, John, Fil, and I played several rounds of paper, rock,
scissors for who got to go first. Chris won and fired off it with a good line. I went next and although it was not the best looking line it worked out well for me. Last, John gave her a go with another good line.

John McConville with style on the 45ish footer

Chris Baer making it look easy

The next drop looked to be about 20 feet, but there unlike the first one there was a cool class III lead in that made it fun, and then you could boof the s#!t out of it.

Hitting my boof on the 20ish footer

Aaron Koch getting ready to fly over the 20ish footer

Again there was a short pool before the next waterfall. This one looked to be about 15 feet and there were other possible lines to the left and right depending on water levels.

John McConville on the 20ish footer

The center line on the 15is footer

After the 15 footer there was another 10 foot waterfall and a few rapids before we got to another big horizon line. This waterfall was massive. We guessed about 100-120 feet and at the water level we had it didn't look very runnable. So Aaron and I hiked river right through cactus and then down a steep and narrow trail with barbed wire fence as a handle. Then the rest of the crew lowered boats to us and hiked on around.

The trail around the 120 footer

Lower boats down the 120 footer. Notice the orange boat being lowered,

and you can even see John and Chris standing on top of the rock.

Once all the boats were down Aaron and I got in and started to paddle downstream to check out the next rapid. This one looked familiar from photos our friend Rocky had sent us. We decided to call it the "atomic elbow crusher" for various reasons. We had heard that one of the paddlers of Rocky's group had dislocated his shoulder here. It was a chunky lead in into a narrow slot with a big hole. After looking at it for awhile Chris fired it up first and I wasn't far behind him. Both of us got some downtime, but I won the award that day for longest down time.

Getting some downtime at "Atomic Elbow Crusher," notice my paddle blade

We knew the rapids would start to mellow out after the elbow crusher, but there was one last good rapid before a 45+ minute paddle out. When we got to the take out it was dark and out shuttle bunny Marjie was sitting on the river bank hanging out with some locals. We grabbed some take out beers and started driving back to Ciudad Valles, but we did stop for some tacos al pastor (al pastor is kinda like thick bacon, thus it is the meat candy of Mexico).

Fil Payne boofing the last real rapid on the 1st canyon of the Rio Verde

Mexico....part 1.5

2009-01-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

So this is kind of a half post because it is all about one drop, El Torro. Chris Baer had it in his head that he wanted to take on the bull. So after everything was set up, he jumped in the ring and got on the bull for a crazy ride.

Chris Baer lining up El Torro

El Torro is the put-in drop on the Micos. It is somwhere around a 50 foot free-fall with a 20-30 foot slide lead in. Check out more at http://whereisbaernow.blogspot.com/

Mexico!...part 1

2008-12-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

So I know this is a little overdue, but better late than never right?

Lance Reif running Big Boy on the Cascadas Micos

What do kayakers do in the winter? Some of us head to the ski slopes, some travel for more whitewater, but I wanted both. So me, John McConville, and Chris Baer met up in Brownsville, Texas and crossed the boarder into Mexico for a month of paddling before I head to Tahoe for the winter. Getting across the boarder was simple, we payed car registration and insurance and that was it. We then drove about 7 hours to Ciudad Valles where my friends Aaron Koch and Marjie Young spend their winters working and playing for Adventura Huasteca.

Chris Baer making it look easy on Big Boy

On our first day Aaron and his friend Phil took us to the Cascadas Micos for some class III-IV waterfalls. All the waterfalls have nice rolling lips formed by travertine rock. Travertine is kinda like sandpaper. It is really sticky but also quite soft, but it does make for some interesting features. Only place I have ever been where you can walk back up the same waterfall that you just went over.

El Torro, the typical put-in for the Cascadas Micos

The typical put-in for this run is at the base of a 70ish foot waterfall known as "El Torro." We scouted it and all decided to stick with the normal put in. It was a fun day of running drops forwards and backwards since there is not much consequence on this run.

enjoying a stress free first day in Mexico

The hardest rapid on the section is "bad boy," which has a twisting slide lead in which if you bust over one of the waves it sends you into a big angled boof with potential for beat down.

Running the left side at Bad Boy

On day 2 of our trip we all headed to the El Salto for some more fun on travertine. This run was similar to the micos but with more technical drops. It is the same river as the micos, just further upstream. The take out drop, El Mecca, has been run by a handful of boaters and it has tooled a few.

John McConville checking out El Mecca

Running the 20ish footer on the El Salto

John on the 2oish footer

The last real rapid before El Mecca has a 15 ft. waterfall on the right of this nice line down the left, but just when I thought I nailed the line I got reminded how sticky this travertine is. I stuck to the last "rock" to get around and fell off of it sideways and threw some cartwheels in my Everest before I paddled out. I wasn't too worried about any danger, I could hear everyone laughing and cheering me on.

About to rodeo my creekboat

On day 3 we hopped on with Adventura Huasteca for a trip down the Tampaon, one of their commercial rafting runs. The Tampaon is a beautiful river at the bottom of a deep canyon. The trip was pretty entertaining for me to see what it would be like to raft guide in Mexico. Marjie guided one of the rafts while Aaron took photos for the trip and the rest of us enjoyed some big waves and great views.

The crew enjoying the 5th canyon of the Santa Maria, aka the Tampaon

Day 4. Chris, John, Aaron, Phil, and myself loaded into my Saturn (which we now named Linda) and headed off for the Rio Ojo Frio. After asking for directions a few times we found the put in and decided to put on and worry about getting back to the car after the run. The river was pretty similar to the El Salto, being that it was also travertine. It was much lower volume than the things we had run so far and the trees overhang most of the run. When we finished the run Aaron and I hitchhiked back to Linda pretty easily. When we got back to the others they had got some great pictures of a man passed out on a gravel road. Classic Mexican photography.

Mexican Siesta!

Stay tuned...more to come!