Chatooga River Camping

These last few weeks have been amazing; paddling almost everyday, getting to see all sorts of friends as they "roll" back into Western NC for rafting season, and getting back to my buddy, quite possibly the best dog on the planet, Cutter. I'd have to say the highlight, though, was the recent camping trip my roommate, Eli Helbert, and I took with some friends on the Chatooga river. It was great to see a bunch of open boaters getting together. I have all but resigned to paddling mostly with kayakers because it is so hard to find open-boaters of comparable ability nowadays, but Eli (), being the living legend that he is, was able to put together a fine group. I had just received my new paddles, courtesy of H2O paddles, and was stoked to try them out for the first time. Wow, do they ever perform. Look forward to an official gear review about them coming up soon. Anyway, here are some of the weekends highlights.






Wow!

Eternal Play

Howdy folks. I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been trying to master some new software. Here's my first attempt at some video editing. Clips from us playing at Eternity Hole near Cullowhee, NC. My buddy Joe Ravenna and I shot this footage. As I become more adept with the software, hopefully it won't take several hours to create 3 minutes of video.

...And the Band Played On...

This was the second to last day on the river below lava. I had the brilliant idea to lash the rafts together creating the infamous party barge, being that there were no big rapids left (errrrr, well maybe one or two). James and I had just gotten into an amazing groove as the rapid was coming up and decided to go with it. Everyone was freaking out about the instruments, but Paul Pinholster (whose guitar I was using) gave me the nod so it was on as far as I was concerned. What a rush! Definitely one of the most memorable moments of my life. Thanks James, so glad to have you as a wing-man.

A special thanks to Jeff Talman for braving the rapid with camera in hand.

Grand Canyon Day 1: The Way to the Whitewater

Hugh Lipham, David Long, James Clinkscales, and I Hiking down the Cargo

Ain't Life Grand: The Gift of the Guru (The Canoe Guru, that is)

I've been feeling a little bit of pressure to get something posted about my trip through the grand canyon; mostly from myself, but nonetheless I wanted to write something since my whitewater adventures have been many as of late but my posts have been few. So this narrative may appear as multiple installments.

Getting sick of waking up to frost at Rock Island, me and some friends, Sam Fulbright and Chris Wing, decided we would escape the late winter chill and head south to Folly Beach in Charleston, SC for some ocean surf kayaking/canoeing.

That started out great, until the cold decided to follow us down there. Snow!?!! In Charleston, in March??? Give me a break!!! Chris had some video editing to do so he stayed back at his pop's place and Sam and I decided to kick it back up to North Cackalacky.

Needless to say I was a little bit disappointed with the weeks endeavors. But you know what they say: For every door that closes...

My roommate, Eli Helbert (www.thecanoeguru.com), was fortunate enough to fall into a spot on an 18 day permit for a private raft/canoe/kayak trip down the grand canyon section of the Colorado River. Lucky guy right? Not so much. Conflicts with work left him unable to attend at the last minute. So I roll back into Asheville on Wednesday to "Hey Jake, wanna go to the Grand Canyon?"

"Um...no thanks...that sounds like a terrible opportunity, Psych!"

"Everything's already packed and out in Arizona. There will be a Spanish Fly waiting for you."

"Awesome lets get that plane ticket transferred."

"Nope, sorry, the ticket you purchased is non-transferable."

No Worries. Time to hit the road. Sorry Cutter you gotta stay in Asheville and watch the fort, no dogs allowed (even though he's probably run more whitewater than half the people who raft the canyon).

It's Thursday, drab and dreary; storms are coming to the Southeast. Probably one of the few times I didn't even think twice about leaving town with storms moving in.

"When do I have to be there?"

"You're mmeting up with some people at the South Rim Saturday night and hiking down Bright Angel Trail as the sun rises to meet the rafts just below Phantom Ranch."

"Awesome! A sweet sunrise hike to introduce me to the trip." Easier said than done.

Turns out our trip was overweight (who knew beer was so heavy). As a result, they had to leave my boat at the outfitters. NOOOOOOOOO!

This is where I have to give a shout out to my new friends Hugh Lipham (who I would hike down with) and Jerry, the manager of Babbitts Backcountry. Hugh came through with some strong to very strong bids arranging for me to be able to hike my 8', 50lb canoe down that switchbacks. This was not exactly an easy sell considering we had to deal with a half frozen trail, hide from the passing mule train (so as not to spook the beasts with my large unfamiliar cargo), and the unforgiving Arizona climate. Not a problem, as long as I have a boat, it'll be worth it, I thought optimistaically.

No airplane ticket transfer, no problem. I'll just drive the 2000 miles, by myself, in 36 hours.

I leave Asheville Thursday night, drive the 12 hours to Oklahoma City , sleep in my car, on top of a kayak for 4 hours, wake up, drive for 15 more hours to Flagstaff, where Jerry had arranged to stash my boat at a friends house, sleep for 4 more hours in there side yard next to my boat, wake up, drive two more hours to drop my boat off at the lodge on the South rim, and drive back to Flagstaff just in time to meet up with Hugh and catch the shuttle into the park. Wheww! What a journey!

There at the South rim Hugh and I met up with 2 more members of our crew and readied for the morning hike.

GC trip day 1 coming soon.