Northeast Rivers--Home Safe!

Hey All,

Dan and I are back from NE Rivers, and what a trip is was! We dipped
our paddles in the West Branch of the Penobscott, Rapid River, Black
River, Blackwater River, Hudson River Gorge, The Ottawa, the
Jacques-Cartier, and the Kennebec. Eight beautiful, very different
rivers in five weeks, and a great group to boot. It was an incredible
trip, and we're still sorting through the approximately 700 photos
that we took, but here is a quick slideshow of some of the best, along
with some video clips of our campers killing it:

NER SLIDESHOW


Enjoy, and we'll try to get more up once we get our pictures sorted out.

Team NER Paddlers:

Robbie "Crazylegs" Walzer
Connor Bodell
Caleb Woodworth
George Vandercook
Andrew Stellato
Peter Boardman
Taylor Wicks
Will Fleming

Team Northeast Rivers: "Rocky" Training Montage

It's not easy getting ready for a five-week kayaking trip. There's a lot of food packing, gear packing, and "staff development." Staff development is our favorite. Here are some pictures of our latest staff development clinic at Sheepscott Falls on Sunday. As you look over this post, we think you should picture the training montage from Rocky IV (the one where he's in Siberia). Picture us paddling around, lifting up logs, helping Siberians extricate their oxcarts from the snow, etc.
In other news, things are looking good for the trip and our itinerary is starting to form up nicely. It sounds like we'll be at the West Branch of the Penobscot, then Rapid River, then Hudson Gorge and the Black River, then up to the Ottawa, and finally the Jaques-Cartier in Quebec. Anyone who is reading this, feel free to drop us a line with suggestions along the way or if you want to catch up with Northeast Rivers. Now onto some pictures...

One in the hole and one in the Wave.
Jim. He surfs. He also cuts his foot. Badly...
Dan throwing down. His helmet is very fashionable.
Bo is cartwheeling, Dan is watching, the river is flowing...
Even though Jim hurt his foot, he's too hard-core to care...
All in all, another beautiful day in the state of Maine!

Northeast Rivers: 26 days and counting

Where in the world are Dan and Elliot? What happened to our radical bi-coastal whitewater blog? Well, before we move on to the next phase of aquatic evolution, we thought we'd better bring everyone up to speed on what we've been up to this long winter.

Dan has been doing this:

Molesting Cats. Edgecomb, Maine.

and this:

Fierce competition at the US Toboggan Nationals. Camden, Maine.

Elliot has been doing this:

Camp counselor 4 life! What what! Orcas Island, WA

and this:

Growing mohawk, tanning obsessively. Ellensburg, WA.

What are Dan and Elliot up to now, you ask? We are doing this:

Working for our turns. Lake Umbagog, Rapid River, ME.

and this:
















Bluntly speaking, radical. Steep Falls, ME.

and this:

Killing it at Smooth Ledge. Rapid River, ME.

That's right, due to some kind of alignment of the stars/huge error in judgement, Dan and I are co-leading the baddest whitewater trip in the east this summer--Northeast Rivers. We will be paddling all of the best rivers in the Northeast--from New York State to Quebec--with 8 awesome young boaters. We will be leaving the Chewonki Foundation (the camp in Wiscassett that puts on such an incredible trip) on the 11th of July, and we'll return five weeks later, hopefully tan, happy, and with 8 incredibly talented young boaters in tow.
After northeast rivers ends, we will be driving across the country, paddling some incredible whitewater, meeting people from coast to coast, and crusading to increase overall fossil fuel usage.

And you're invited! That's right, you! All of our faithful readers (AKA: our moms and the guys at Dan's Dad's office). We will be trying to post regular trip reports, tons of pics from the river and the road, and overall turn our blog into something interesting, dynamic, and, above all, not self-important. So check back often, drop us a line if you're in our intended paddling route, and keep burning those fossil fuels.

Pookie Says: "Michael Keaton was obviously the best Batman."

The Dude Bus Rolls North

Its been a long time since Dan or I have posted anything, but I just got back from my trip up to British Columbia and of the 500 or so pictures I took, I think about 20 of them aren't just different shades of gray. Everything is still pretty muddled in my head, so hopefully I can post a more coherent write-up in the next week or so, but here are some highlights from a really incredible trip.



Here, The Dude Bus (the name given to us by the dorky shopkeeper at Eastsound Sporting Goods) is leaving Orcas Island on October 26th under fair skies and with all the environmental education staff looking on. This is last time that we'll see the sun for the next 4 weeks.






We paddled north for a few days in decent weather. Here Jake, Kibbee and Andrew are crossing into Plumper Sound after clearing customs in Bedwell Harbor. A hurricane off the north tip of the island has forecasters predicting 50 knot winds in this area. Weather forecasts for greater Vancouver Island are always, always wrong.













We paddled up to Prevost Island, and then decided to make a break for the beautiful sandy beaches at Dionisio Point, just on the eastern side of Porlier Pass. Here we are stopping for our tot break on the north tip of Wallace Island before crossing Trincomali Channel and passing through Porlier Pass.
A beautiful sunset at Dionisio Point was our reward for crossing the straight. From there, we paddled up the eastern side of Gabriola Island, and poached a camp spot on Breakwater Island, whose owners were not home, but, if an island is any indication of the quality of its owners, were surely stellar people.














Sorting food on Breakwater Island. Jake's dad (driedfood@hotmail.com) is surely one of the world's greatest food dehydrators, and throughout the trip we at incredibly well, dining on curried chicken, tons of rehydrated fruit, pizza, and other foods that would have been completely innaccessible for paddlers packing out two weeks of food at a time.



Leaving Breakwater proved to be a bit more difficult than getting there. Here, Andrew, Jake and Kibbee get the boats ready for our first semi-surf launch.










Jake is paddling out like he means it. Most of the challenges on our trip came more from the climate (upper thirties and raining) than from the sea state, though we did have a couple really memorable days of big water. Somehow, I didn't really manage to get the camera out of the case to document them.







From Breakwater Island, we bucked some serious current through Gabriola Passage and on up to Nanaimo, BC, our first bit of shore leave on day 7. We landed at Newcastle Island late in the evening, set up camp at record pace, and managed to finish everything in time to catch the boat across to Protection Island, home of theDinghy Dock Pub, surely one of the finest establishments in the world. We stripped off our paddling layers and enjoyed some "jugs" while we looked over the charts. We knew that the water was going to be bigger and the creature comforts farther apart as we moved to the northern part of our trip...















...or not. These sirens called to us from their hot tub outside of Nanaimo the next day and persuaded us to scale a cliff, climb a rickety ladder and get in their hot tub. They were both gymnastics instructors. Seriously. Jake is very happy.

Two days later, we were completely winded in at Qualicum Beach, halfway between Nanaino and Campbell River. The locals who were out surfing (always a good sign) said that this surf beach (basically the only one on the entire east coast) only goes off 5 or 6 times a year. We considered ourself pretty lucky to land at the only surf beach on the entire island on the only day that the surf is actually up. But we had a nice breakfast in town and got a ride from someone named Gartlett in his creepy van.



Once we passed through Seymour Narrows, things changed really suddenly. We began hanging our food at night to ward off predators (below). Seymour Narrows also represents the border of two different bio-climactic zones, according to the guidebook. Translation: it got really cold.

Here Andrew and Kibbee demonstrate the first rule of The Dude Bus: we don't paddle on snow days. This picture was taken in Sayward, where we had to take a rest day because I had gotten really sick and couldn't keep myself warm. I also pooped my pants. It was a really fun illness.

However, we had a pretty nice place to stay, and our neighbor Dan let us use his garage to dry gear and cook. We also met some really interested people, among them Tom. Tom owns a kayak company which operates out of Sayward and Telegraph Cove called "Village Island Tours," which specializes in an aboriginal kayaking experience. Tom has lived in the area most of his life, and knew all the great spots to go and the history of pretty much everything, including the Bikush. Bigfoot, to the layman.
Most of what Tom told us about the Bikush is secret, but I will tell you this: bigfoot is real, and if you hear wood knocking on wood, turn around and slowly return the way that you came.
Here we are with Tom, his son Hunter, and his dog Land Claims. Tom is THE guy to talk to if you're interested in paddling in the Discovery Islands or northern Vancouver Island, and he's got a webpage at www.villageisland.com. Maybe if you go drinking with him he'll tell you about the bikush as well.
We told Tom that we were planning on paddling up to Telegraph Cove, and that we were hoping that there was a hot tub that might still be open at the resort. Unfortunately, Tom told us that Telegraph Cove, a beautiful summer destination, was "closed up tighter than a nun's cunt"...

...and it was. We camped on the front lawn of the general store and headed out early the next day.
We continued north from Telegraph Cove to Port McNeill, and then on to Port Hardy, our final destination. We arrived in Port Hardy on November 17th, our 23rd day on the water. By time that we arrived, we were all definetely pretty haggard--tired bodies, breaking gear, and, more than anything, just quite tired of being cold. It was strange to arrive at a goal after so many days on the water and come to the realization that Port Hardy, though it occupied some kind of mythic status in our minds, is just a place on the map.


So we had the First-Annual Dude Bus putt-putt golf tournament at our RV park. Here Kibbee, trailing by a few strokes, focuses on the castle obstacle while I look on. Our celebration evening went from putt-putt golf to the Babe's Sports Bar (where Kibbee broke up a fight between the bartender and the only other patron) and eventually to the hot-tub at a local hotel, where we were all unceremoniously thrown out by Jennie, who just could not be convinced that we had rooms at the resort.
End of the line--me, Kibbee, Andrew, and Jake with one of the RV Park dogs. In the end, we paddled 271 miles in 23 days on the water. Suzie and Mikkel picked us up on the 20th of November and we were back in Seattle for Thanksgiving. I realize that I haven't done the trip justice at all, so I will try to post an itinerary and a less scattered trip report at some point. This trip was an amazing experience that I hope I won't have to do again for some time. Kibbee, Jake and Andrew are the best expedition-mates that I could have ever hoped to have, and we saw some of the most beautiful, open country that I have ever seen. Everyone that we met (with one exception--you know who you are Quadra Island) was helpful and interested in our trip, even though they thought we were crazy. All in all, we had a hell of a time.

Gulf Hagas

A little while back Alex Bender, Dan Mcgrath and I were in the Moosehead lake region for a weekend of paddling and hanging out. We had planned on just heading to the seboomook and west branch, but with a few scattered reports of rain in the area we decided to load the creekboats just in case. On Saturday we took a quick run on Seboomook in the morning, headed over to the West Branch for a gorge/crib lap or two in the afternoon, and then called it a day. As we were getting ready to head down to Greenville for the night the skies completely opened up and rain just pummeled the ground. A little smile started to grow on each of our faces... we knew we had a chance of making it over to Gulf Hagas if this kept up. No one said anything, we didn't want to jinx it, but it looked like the clouds were sticking around all night.

...skip over the rest of the night, hoping for more and more rain...

We packed up early, headed over the gauge bridge, and were pleasantly surprised to find just enough water. The level was about 3 inches below the abutment, definitely on the low side, but completely runnable. We got in our boats as fast as possible and headed downstream. It was a great way to end what was an amazing creeking season. This spring had more new rivers and creeks for all of us than in the past two years combined. Here are a few pics, whish we had taken more but we were all too excited to bust out the camera much. Make it up there if you get any chance at all!

Alex drops over Billings



Myself running the left side of faceplant, contrast this to how much water was in the Karen Roy article in No Umbrella... completely different river at the two levels I'm sure.



...and about to drop over Buttermilk



The first series of drops from downstream. The water was low, but all the lines were there and everything was runnable.



Dan drops over Billings



Could maybe have used a little more water



The whole run was just beautiful drop, boogie water, beautiful drop, boogie water... all deep in the gorge



followed by a 5 mile walk, uphill, to the car. The foot shuttle sucks for this one.



Hope you enjoy, if you ever get a chance to get up there, go go go. The water was low at 3 inches below, but I'm sure you could run even a few more inches down.

Finally hit the Cold Brook

After 4 attempts we finally made it on the Cold Brook at a manageable level. Here are some pics, Ill get someone who can write to put a story together.

Dan


Braden was a little excited to get going in the morning. You can see the stellar, rainy weather we've been having, something 24 of the last 27 days.

Entrance exam, where Jeff had a slightly longer than expected surf.

But he's a trooper, and volunteered to take some pictures of the rest of the drops.

Dan entering into the ledge above backbreaker (in the foreground).

A ncie shot of Braden dropping over backcreaker.

And Dan plugging right into the hole at the base of backbreaker. At this level there isnt too much stick below the falls, unlike the last time we tried!

Directly after backbreaker, Braden dropes in Particle Accelerator. The first run of drops on the Cold Brook has a 4 footer into some boogie water, into a 5 footer, into back breaker, and then right into particle accelerator. Its got to be one of the best starts to creek I've seen.

Just after particle accelerator is NO2 Chute, a crazy looking chute/slide into an auto boofing 6-8 footer. We all scouted the nasty, backed up, deep, gross, bla bla hole at the entrance to the chute for a long time.

And after a look here at the run out, into a 6-8 foot drop...

We all seal launched just below the hole. It was cold and rainy, give us a break!

Heres a nice shot of Braden getting blasted out of NO2 chute, about to go very deep in the pool.

And then the camera died... too bad there was a LOT of nice stuff downstream. I can't say enough good things about this creek!