Dinkey Creek- My Favorite Six Miles of Kayaking

Last week I was stoked to get on two of my favorite California rivers. First up was a trip to the East Fork of the Kaweah with rockstars Gareth Tate, Joe Ravenna and Nick Uruquart. We were worried about the water level being too high, as it was obviously higher than any of us had done it. After hours of debating-looking at the takeout, looking at rapids from the road, looking at the bridge- we finally decided to put on and it proved to be the right call. The water was high, but manageable, and we had a great day working our way downstream. The next morning Gareth and Nick had to head south to start some work, and Joe and I cruised north to Dinkey Creek.

Gareth Tate drops into Double Drop on the East Fork of the Kaweah

Joe running the hourglass drop

In my opinion, Dinkey Creek encompasses some of the best six miles of kayaking you can find anywhere in the world. Yea, so maybe the hike in isn't super fun, but hey at least its downhill. Once you actually get to the river though, Dinkey is a playground for creek boaters, with more waterfalls, big drops and slides then you know what to do with. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to get on Dinkey every year since I first started coming to California four years ago. This was my fifth trip down the creek and it just keeps getting better.

We had a bit of a late start- partially because most of the crew drove in from Sacramento that morning, but mostly because of a directional mistake on my part. Whoops... thankfully our team was very cool and didn't give me too hard of a time. We started the hike a little after 3pm and didn't put on the river until a couple hours later. Good thing our group of mostly Dinkey newbies weren't too concerned with running some big rapids off of beta alone. We finally made it to camp right around 8pm.

Joe's first glimpse of Dinkey

Stephen Wright emerging from the manzanita

Joe coming through the sieve rapid

Joe firing off the biggest rapid of day one- Spike

The next day was much more chill, and allowed for more time for scouting and taking pictures. Everyone in our group did well and it was a beautiful day full of tons of great rapids.

Darin McQuoid  at a random boof

Daniel Rucker at the S-turn rapid, one of my favorites on the run

Stephen entering Anaconda

Stephen on the left side of the Nicky Kelly Slide

Darin going big through the Nicky Kelly slide

Clay Wright bringing it home on the last big rapid of the run

Not much else to say besides if you haven't gotten on this river yet, put it on your list and make it happen. Its pretty much perfect!

Kern Fest 2012!

Last weekend I finally made it down to the Kern River Festival, an awesome event that takes place in southern California in the Kern River valley. I had been wanting to make it to this festival for years and was stoked when I realized it would finally fit into my schedule.

Ready to Race

My good friend Joe Ravenna decided to make the 7+ hour drive down from Truckee with me and after a long drive through the night we finally arrived into Kernville Friday morning. After resting up and getting some breakfast, we were off to get in some practice laps on Brush Creek, the creek where the race would be held on Saturday.

Me getting set for practice runs on Brush Creek

We did three laps on the creek, including one memorial lap for Randolph Green, a Kern River/ Brush Creek veteran who passed away from cancer earlier this year. Later that evening, we headed into town to enjoy the scene, the food and the booze at the Kern River Brewery, a brewery and restaurant owned by two amazing kayakers and festival coordinators, Eric and Rebecca Giddens. It was a great day of enjoying the warm weather, cold water and good friends.

No caption necessary

Waking up in the morning after camping out at the put in to Brush Creek, we were ready to get one more practice lap in before the race. The water was a bit low this year with a minimal snowpack, so the key to the race was just trying to stay where there was water and not rocks. Getting spun out or stuck on rocks was an easy way to lose time in the race. After the lap and the racer's meeting at the takeout, it was time to head back up to the put in and get the race underway.

The scene at the Brush Creek Race

There were all kinds of racers out there in all kinds of boats. The great thing about races like this is that while everyone wants to go fast, the energy and spirit of the race is all about having fun with fellow kayakers.

Good times!

The race consists of two parts, a downriver portion and a giant slalom portion. The downriver race involves just going as fast as you can through these waterfall style rapids from start to finish.

The Green Boat Representing

Corey Volt making the Axiom go fast

The Giant Slalom race involves going as fast as you can while maneuvering through gates and obstacles set up on the course. There were gates you had to go left of, right of or all the way around. There was one gate you had to roll under and another that you had to throw your paddle through. All of which making for a very exciting and at times entertaining show for the spectators and racers alike.

Me navigating a gate on the Giant Slalom

Me heading into the roll gate section

A successful paddle toss to finish off my Giant Slalom race!

After arriving back at the takeout following a successful race, times were tallied, beers were drank and the rewards were given out. I ended up being very happy with my time, coming in 8th overall and 2nd in women's behind Olympian and Kernville local Rebecca Giddens. See a full set of results here: http://forums.boof.com/showthread.php?t=11236

Corey Volt celebrating

Maggie Giddens- the future in kayaking

That evening we all headed down to the Kernville to enjoy the festival, including some bocci ball and a sweet new kayaking movie premiere, Slippery When Went (A Shasta Boyz Production). The next morning it was time to head back north to Truckee. Joe and I decided to take the scenic drive route home along hwy 395 on the Eastern Sierras. If you haven't explored this part of our country yet you should definitely get out there, its beautiful!

Enjoying some scenery on the drive

Checking out Mt. Whitney

Gotta love lakes and mountains together

Finishing off the day with a soak in the Travertine Hot Springs

What a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped put it on. Already looking forward to next year!

Also, check out Shon Bollocks video from the event at http://vimeo.com/41031380

A Backcountry Ski Adventure: Camping Out at the Benson Hut

Last week I was lucky enough to get invited along on a back country skiing hut trip to the Benson hut in the North Lake Tahoe area. We had a great crew of a combination of both new and experienced back country skiers. For me it was one of my first real back country skiing experiencing and a great chance to test out and learn all my new equipment. I was stoked.

Getting ready to go and testing out our avalanche beacons

The trip started out with a ride up the chair lift at Sugar Bowl to cut off a few miles of the ski in to the hut, which allowed us more time to enjoy the hut when we got there. Getting on and off the lift with a big and heavy backpack was probably the most nervous I was the entire trip.

Annie and Scott riding up the lift at Sugar Bowl

After getting to the top of the ridge via the lift, it was time to head out of bounds and into the back country. Before heading out though we took some time to check out the map and scout our route.

Scott pointing out our route

Heading out of bounds and into the goods

The route to the hut involved about 3 miles of skinning and a little bit of hiking due to the less than ideal snow conditions. Overall though it was a beautiful skin in and only took us a few hours.

Skiing up to the hut

Riley checking out the view from the top of the hut

After getting settled in, it was time to get what we came for- some fresh powder turns. Before skiing though we needed to evaluate the avalanche danger to make sure it was safe to go. So we dug a pit and did a stability test on the snow. Lucky for us, we were able to determine that it was safe for us to ski!

Digging the pit

Testing the snow stability

Because the Benson hut sits on the top of the ridge rather than the bottom like most, rather than skinning up and skiing down, you ski down then skin up. The conditions were pretty sweet and the turns were all fresh. We did a couple laps on the face below Mt. Anderson and next to the hut before settling in to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Riley giving it

Alex charging the slope

Riley making his way back up to the top

Beautiful sunset with an awesome group of friends

After a great day of skiing it was time to cook up some dinner. The wood burning stove worked out to be a great stove top for cooking up our burritos. The rest of our night was spent enjoying dinner, drinks and good company under a full moon.

Cooking inside the hut

The next morning we woke up excited for another day in the snow. We decided to start off with a hike to the summit of Mt. Anderson to ski down its face. It wasn't an easy hike to the top, but the view and the ski descent made it well worth the effort.

Riley making his way to the summit

Scott taking a break while the rest of the group made it to the top

Me on my way down from the summit (Photo: Nick Uruquart)

Fresh Tracks!

After making it down from the summit, it was time to start moving in the direction back to Sugar Bowl. Instead of going back out the way we came in, we decided to ski down into the bowl below the ridge and skin our way back out. This allowed us to get to ski a lot more and really enjoy the snow. It turned out great and the skin back up to the ridge turned out to be pretty relatively chill.

Deciding where to go next

Eventually we made it back in bounds to the Sugar Bowl resort, where we skied down some groomers and back to our car. We finished up the trip with Mexican food and beers in Truckee before everyone went on their way in various directions. What a great trip with a great crew!

The crew: Riley, Annie, Nick, Me, Alex, Alex and Scott

Bald Rock of the Middle Feather

Last week, after returning from a month of guiding in Belize, I officially transitioned out to California for the winter. I was pretty stoked that on day one back in the state I not only got to go kayaking, but got to check a new run off my list- Bald Rock of the Middle Feather. Last May I was fortunate enough to get on the amazingly beautiful Devil's Canyon section of the Middle Feather, just upstream of the Bald Rock section, so I was excited to see what lay downstream.

The trip came together to celebrate the birthday of charger Will Pruett, and with a crew of nine, a shuttle driver and Will's cute new puppy (aptly named Jah Lion) we all packed into Jason Hale's truck and headed to the put in.

The ride to the top was uncomfortable to say the least. We had four people across the front, four across the back, Alex hanging out the sun roof and Will and Jah Lion sitting on the boats. But hey, at least we didn't have to run shuttle!

The truck loaded up

Alex, Will and Jah Lion getting some fresh air on the ride to the put in

Our crew included about half of people new to the run, including myself, but also a few that knew it well which was a nice combo. Water level was on the low side of medium with tons of fun class 4-5 rapids (and a few 5+ ones thrown in there to really keep you on your toes). With Will and Thomas Moore leading the way down, we worked our way through the big boulder choked river.

Getting ready to go...

Will looking back upstream enjoying the scenery

The river starts out with a solid warm up before arriving at the portage of the Atom Bomb Gorge. Included in the portage is a ferry move above a number of sieves that at our level was pretty low stress, but I have heard that as the water gets higher this ferry gets very scary. Getting here is definitely worth it however, as once in the gorge you are surrounded by nothing but beautiful granite walls and boulders. I've been on a lot of California's classic runs and I will say that in my opinion, the scenery here is just as good as any I've seen.

Atom Bomb Gorge

Taking a break in the gorge

A look downstream

Charge!

The all star crew

After a nice relaxing break in the Atom Bomb Gorge it was time to keep moving downstream. The river picks up here, and the rapids get a bit more full on, though with that they also become walkable which is a nice combo to have. There were a few class 5+ rapids in this section that were walked by some and ran by others. Everyone had nice lines either way though.

Seal launching in below the Atom Bomb Gorge

Alex at Curtain Falls

This river makes you feel like you really did something when you paddle it, because after 4-5 hours of solid kayaking, you have a 3 mile flat water lake paddle followed by a short but stout hike out of the lake to the road (took me about 45 min). At the end of the time, I was tired, but fully satisfied having seen another one of California's beautiful granite wonderlands.

Sunset on the lake

Getting ready to start the hike out