Beyond Liquid Adventures

Pablo McCandless to Lead Slalom Workouts!

2009-10-30T13:46:00.009-04:00

Some of you are no stranger to Pablo and others could use a brief introduction. Pablo grew up paddling as a camper learning from Tom many years ago, then trained as a slalom racer, and became a kayak instructor at camp and occasional trip leader for Tom. Pablo has raced and represented the US as a slalom racer and most recently competed in the Olympics where he represented the Chilean National Team. He currently is taking a bit of a winter break after a long summer competing and running summer paddling programs at the US National WW Center in Charlotte. While here visiting the folks, you all get the opportunity to learn from Pablo in our slalom for riverrunners workouts on Saturday mornings at the Feeder Canal.

We are pleased to have him here teaching again, if only for a short while. Pablo is a highly skilled instructor and paddler and a joy to learn from. Here are a couple of links to some more on Pablo, he is fun go Googlestalk. I love the article mentioning his bothers store as eclectic, that is about the best adjective for Pablo.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Our slalom workouts are designed for the low-strong intermediate paddler looking to hone their river running skills by exposing themselves to slalom work on the gates. You will become a smoother more efficient paddler. Your river running kayak is all you need and a few light paddling layers. Workouts are at 10am at the Feeder Canal and are 2 hrs in duration. Try one for $50 or sign up for 3 for $135, these are are Fall/Winter season prices.

Dates are Nov 7*, 14, 21 and Dec 5, 12, 19. Sign up to join on our registration page.

*please note that Nov 7 Tom, Sarah or I will run the workout as Pablo will be competing in the Green River Narrows Race. Video Link.

**If there is interest we can provide an advanced level workout.

Pool Rolling at the Lab School Starts Nov 14. Season Long Pool Pass Available.

Care and Feeding of Your Cold Weather Gear

2009-10-26T12:17:00.007-04:00

Happy in our Dry Gear Dodging Ice Flow in Potomac!

Leaves have begun to turn, there have been a few cooler days, the parking lot at Anglers is mostly empty, and MD Chute is at 3.5. Oh, no there is a tear in my dry top gasket! How did that happen? I haven't used it all season. Or, I get lightheaded when I wear my dry top. These two scenarios can be prevented with a little maintenance and know how.

Drywear Storage and Care

Store indoors in a cool dry place
Use 303 spray to protect and preserve your gaskets
Remove rings and watches making sure they don't tear your gaskets
Preemptively replace your gaskets when you start to see small nicks and tears
Hang to dry with a coat hanger and limit or eliminate drying in the sun
If you have space, have a drying room with a fan or dehumidifier
Reapply 303 spray often
Do not use heat on gaskets
Every season or so reapply a DWR to your garment, there are wash in and spray on treatments available, use hairdryer to activate, or use dryer if you are needing new gaskets anyway
Replace your own gaskets or send things to IR or Amigos Drysuit Repair.
When removing garment, do not pull the gaskets off, roll them off.
Treat the Zippers on your Drysuit and store them unzipped

These tips will help to prevent damage to your gaskets and help increase their lifespan.

As for what to do with that new drytop or suit. Consider the following.

Train your gaskets by applying 303 and then stretching them overnight with a cup for the wrists and bowl for the neck, a reinforced traffic cone works well
After the overnight stretching and a couple of outings, if things are too tight, consider trimming gasket.

I often get questions about what to wear in the winter. This often leads to much debate, but you should try what I am saying, I am rarely wrong :).

You have heard it before, dress in layers and no cotton. Shoot for 3 layers, wicking, insulating, then your drysuit. This system helps push moisture away from your body and out of the garment.
With a drysuit the fleece union suits are the way to go. They can be worn alone, but work better with a wicking polypro layer underneath. Ideally, go polypro, unionsuit, then drysuit. If you are still cold after this, consider not paddling.
For drysuits, make sure you don't neglect the feet, fleece socks are great.
Other great layer combos are splash pants and a dry top. I try to stay away from the pants with latex on the calves. They trap water and decrease blood flow. A unionsuit is great here but you can do fleece pants and top and a poly bottom and top.
Hydroskin pants are nice on the bottoms sometimes, but aren't great when it is windy or for hiking about. Hydroskin and neoprene are not good underlayers. You want to trap warm air next to you with fleece under the drywear. Neoprene is designed to trap and warm a layer of water.
Don't forget the gloves, pogies and head beanie, these can make a huge difference.

Here are a couple of links to tips from other folks on the subject and a couple of brands to try out.

Immersion Research - Gasket Replacing
Amigos Drysuit Repair
NRS Gloves - Love these gloves
Best Pogies Ever
303 Protectant - Use it, love it
Revivex - Retreat your garments factory DWR
Zipper Stuff

The paddling season is NOT over!

2009-10-19T15:08:00.002-04:00

Fall Feeder Slalom Classic
BCE's annual fall slalom race is coming up on October 24th at 1pm.
Open to all, the course will be an 18 gate novice-level course. New
this year: the Scott Parsons Combined Trophy. Add your best run in
canoe (C-1 or C-2) and kayak, and win some great prizes! Times will be
normalized between classes.

Entry form => http://bce-racing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009fall-classi...
Contact dana@telecamfilms.com for more details

Liquid Adventures Biathalon
On Sunday, October 25th at 10am, run 3 miles and downriver sprint down
Little Falls for advanced paddlers, or on the Feeder Canal for
novices. This year the race is open to both seniors and juniors. Race
is followed by a lunch, awards, and a raffle for all competitors.

Entry form => http://bce-racing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009biathalon-e...
(Note: There is an error in the entry form. It should read "Sunday,
October 25)
Contact Tom@liquidadventures.org for more details

Boats Now on Sale

2009-09-29T13:01:00.003-04:00

Liquid Adventures will now be selling off our 2009 instructional boats. Most of these boats are one season and have been used in our rolling and river instructional classes. Here is a brief listing of the boats available.

Liquid Logic

3 Remix 59's - $550 each (all orange)

3 Remix 69's - $550 each (yellow, white, blue)

3 Remix 79's -$550 each (orange, white, white/flames)

Jefe Chica - $550 (white)

Jefe Grande - $550 (white)

Dagger

2 Mamba 7.5 - $550 (red, lime green)

1 Mamba 8.0 - $550 (yellow/red)

2 Mamba 8.5 - $550 (red, red)

2 Nomad 8.1 -$575 SOLD

Equipment

Aquabound Paddles - $90

IR skirts - $70

Shred Ready Helmets - $40

Extrasport lifejackets - $40

We have a smattering of other boats, Fluid Flirt, Logic Big Wheel, Dagger RPM, and various others. Make an appointment to drop by the office to look about.

To be fair with everyone, we will not be reserving any boats, first come, first served. You may however call in with a credit card and purchase a boat over the phone. Thank you and happy shopping.

Liquid Adventures

Catching up with In Between Swims:OR Review

2009-10-07T16:30:00.003-04:00

Catching up with what happened - or didn't happen - at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. And what that means...or doesn't mean...for whitewater.

Didn't make it to the show this year so I catch up with Bryon Dorr, buyer for Next Adventures in Portland to talk about what it's like to be a retail buyer for whitewater. David Weber and I do our annual half empty/half full analysis of what it's all about.

And, there's a swim....

Thanks for listening!

~jeffmc

************
Find it at - http://www.inbetweenswims.com

Download it direct - http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Not_OR_Final.mp3

On I-tunes, it can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223

Canada for Strong Intermediates

2009-08-28T12:07:00.012-04:00

Canada with Liquid Adventures, August 16-23, 2009

(The Rivers: The Black, Watertown, NY

The Ottawa, Ontario

The Gatineau

The Rouge, Quebec)

Sunday, August 16

The trip began well (and did end well, by the way) – starting with a week-long parking space negotiated by Nathan at Rockwood Conference Center for left-behind cars, a new LAKS van complete with board in the rear, and an engrossing Sunday NYT crossword puzzle, finished off enroute by Alexina, Anne Nuechterlein, and Anne Kibler (who from now on will be known as Anne and Kibler, respectively). We no sooner hit Frederick, though, than a wrong turn took us off course momentarily (in our back yard, no less!). Whoever was driving got some grief. And it was not the last time, either, for an unplanned detour. But we had crackerjack navigators on the whole and some devoted, competent drivers (Alexina, Gene, and Shane) who shared the burden with Tom, and the rest of us were truly grateful for this.

We made Watertown, NY, by about 5 pm to work out the road kinks at Hole Brothers, a park-and-play spot on the Black River. With a late afternoon glow on the water, a few locals graciously accepted ten boats from out of nowhere into the queue. In true Tom fashion, he made a game of it and began timing everyone’s stay on the wave, holding out a beer as the grand prize. Shane won with a 24-second surf, beating out Carrie in close second at 20 seconds and Alexina a distant third with only 12 seconds (but a successful spin).

After changing in the parking lot by Hole Brothers, we retired to the campsite to set up tents, which encouraged an immediate “fessing up” of those who snore and those who don’t - the snorers creeping off to a far corner of the campsite. Late dinner in Watertown at an Italian restaurant with about half of the world's supply of fake plastic grapes hanging from the ceiling and quite vividly painted murals of Italian countryside on one side and an electronic keno board on the opposite wall (we got tips from the waitress on how to play, but we had all conveniently left our "gambling cash" at home). Tom promptly disappeared for the whole meal to go shopping, returning for the last five minutes to wolf down his salad before we paid the check.

Monday, August 17

Fresh melon slices and grilled chorizo for breakfast (along with the usual juice, bagels, and oatmeal, of course). The boys got peer-pressured into finishing off the copious amounts of chorizo - tough duty, but they managed. Tom kept the sleepy masses from revolting with a (not so) quick stop at Watertown's best drive-though coffee joint - Brew-Ha-Ha - and everyone got sufficiently caffeinated. Shane claimed his "longest surf" prize in the form of a milkshake. Made the border crossing in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands with no incident, no undue questioning of Tom, this time, and his youthful exploits. Headed north through lovely rural farmland to Owl Rafting, an outfitter on the Ottawa River with great facilities and hand's down the most scenic campsite of the trip. We pitched our tents on a wide expanse of manicured lawn dotted with picnic tables, facing the broad, calm Ottawa River. Behind us lay farmland and a newly mown, golden hayfield (complete with loud rumbling farm equipment running well into the night!). Not even Shane's complaints about how far the campsite was from the parking lot (including a Facebook posting) could dampen our intrepid spirits! A stunning sunset the first evening with some humidity in the air, a crisper evening the next night with the sky awash in stars and the milky way. Spectacular.

We met up with Jake Weiss, our second instructor (and designated rescuer par-excellence) who had driven up separately from Pennsylvania, and quickly brought him into the fold. He immediately became an integral part of our extended paddling family.

By about 3 pm, we put on the river to do just the first rapid, McCoy’s. Was there a little anticipation in the air? Tom had us doing stroke drills and onside-offside rolls like mad as we approached the forested island where we could leave our boats to scout. As soon as we got to the rocky outcrop to view the rapid, the sky let loose with a pelting rain and gusts of wind which blew the rain sideways and lifted the foam off the top of Sattler’s and Phil’s Holes. The heavy rain set the perfect dramatic tone, as we stared wide-eyed at the gaping maws of two of the biggest holes most of us had ever seen ... and then shuddered when told of the line squeezed in between the two! We looked at the rapid from the top…..from the bottom…..from the middle….with plenty of pointing and discussion and the beginning, for us, of a new feature-based vocabulary: “Threading the Needle” was only the first of many river identifications and lines that would be seared in our dreams each night.

Jake executed the move flawlessly for us, but Gene was our probe, and he promptly got EATEN. The idea was to line up, cut across the right corner of Sattler’s Hole, and paddle hard towards river left (thereby “threading the needle”) in order to avoid the left edge of Phil’s Hole just below. Well, we saw just how key it was to hit enough of the corner of the upper hole so as not to be swept into Phil’s, because that’s exactly where the force of the current took Gene. He swam for the first and ONLY time on the trip (none of the subsequent rapids ever seemed to trouble him!). By the end of the afternoon, though, most people did the rapid two or three times. It’s situated on a right dogleg in the river so that there are two surfing areas at the bottom, Babyface and Corner Hole. You can carry up and do the whole thing again and again and then paddle some flat water back to your car! It’s super-convenient for all the Ottawa river-rat play boaters, of which there are many - kind of like a super-sized version of paddling out to MD & VA chutes.

There’s another line at McCoy’s without trying to “thread the needle” – you drive straight through the center of Phil’s Hole lining up with a crowning wave above and then take an almost imperceptible small opening in the middle of the hole. Tom led Anne down into this "hero-line" but didn't quite punch through, and as Anne dropped into the hole she found Tom in mid-surf looking back at her. Now anyone who knows Tom knows he's a gentleman's gentleman, so it was no surprise that when he slid over to give Anne the gentler side of the hole, while he got heavily cartwheeled and chomped by Mr. Phil. Anne flipped, flushed and rolled, while Tom "fought the good fight" .... he gave Phil a few good uppercuts, but then his helmet was ripped off by the force (a faulty strap) and afraid of loosing his glasses, he put his hand on his head with one hand and pulled his skirt with the other. We were just happy to see him again, regardless. His helmet was gone, a relic from his Tibet trip, but we rescued the foam liner. When your fearless leader swims the first rapid of the first day, is that a bad omen?

A lesser event of the afternoon was a successful combat roll by Irene after being pulled into the edge of Phil’s – not noteworthy at the time but it would become so later in the week after seeing her roll disappear in the big water. April never quite figured out the line until the next day, shooting through Phil’s two of her three attempts of the rapid and losing everything in her PFD (including camera and sunscreen). But she made her roll every time!

Steak dinner and a complimentary beer ("Steam Whistle" beer - brewed with love from Canada's crystal clear - if somewhat bug-infested - springwater) at a picnic table alongside the river at Owl Rafting with rhubarb pie a la mode for dessert. Golden light on the water, towering cumulous clouds in the distant sky. A perfect day. (read the whole rest of trip report)

Oh Canada!

2009-08-06T08:30:00.024-04:00

This trip started out being scheduled as a trip for youth, but several adult staff kept insisting that they wanted to go on a youth trip, and since there were few youth signed up, we decided to hold the trip anyway for staff who were wishing to be youth. So lets begin...

Day 1
It started out bad. After loading up the new van with boats and sacks of gear, we had to put in the bed and install the roof racks from the old van. That required a trip to a hardware store for nuts and bolts. Then we thought we were finally ready to hit the road. But about 5 minutes up I 270, Tom realized he had left the maps and guidebooks behind at the office. So we turned around.
Back on the road, we picked up Simon at Germantown, and spent a little more time tightening down the racks. Then we were off again. Only trouble was, just when we passed Frederick, Simon realized he had forgotten his passport. So we turned around again to meet Simon’s mom. (by Tom)

We had Simon’s mom write a note saying Tom would be his official babysitter for the week. After Dan took a lengthy trip to the bathroom (which he commented about at great length) we were off again.
From here it was smooth sailing, with Hank’s Ipod rockin us down the road. Tom also pulled out his laptop and gave us a blast from the past with some oldies like Edith Piaf and Neil Diamond. Several hours later, we had to escape the bad atmospheric conditions largely caused by Simon’s gastronomic additions so we stopped to get some dinner. A few more hours and we were ready to cross the border into Canada. And what a border crossing it was! The French passport that Simon’s mom brought him was practically useless. He needed a US passport coming as he was from the US. We waited while the border patrol checked him out. Tom also ran into trouble when his days as a Hippie came back to haunt him. The border official surprised him with a record from 1975 when he was denied entry while trying to hitch hike across the border without enough money in his pocket to be considered financially viable. It took another hour for the border official to investigate. After that it was a long night of driving until we reached the Riviere Mattawin at 5:30 AM in the morning.

Day 2
The Sun was high in the sky and the birds had retired from singing when we awoke. Lucky for us, “Waynes World” – a Canadian paddler who looked just like Mike Myers- was in town. He sorta challenged us to run two more sections in addition to the normal section, and add 9 miles to the original 8 miles. We accepted his challenge. After breakfast “Waynes World” drove us up a log road to the put in at km 42. When the doors swung open, we were introduced to the real world of 10 billion mosquitoes. Gear flew on faster than ever and after a tearful goodbye to the mosquitoes, we were on the river.

The first rapid was pretty beefy and required punching two large holes. It was a solid warm-up. No messing around on this river. We ran a few more similar rapids, walked around a long slide that fell into a very large and scary hole, and paddled a good bit of flat water before coming to the start of the normal section.
The first rapid was enormous and now we finally understood how high the river was. By a combination of foot and boat travel, we sneaked down the side of the rapid. It was not to be messed with and ended with a river wide hole that made us think of Brookmont dam at 8 feet. The rest of the rapids were also very big and we ended up sneaking a couple more.
Team SimoHankoDan scouted one of the rapids and claimed there was a “sweet” boof. It really just flipped everyone and even mystery moved Dan and Kenny. Ajay was the only one who actually hit the boof, and what a boof it was! Lesson for the Day: Don’t listen to anything Team SimoHankoDan says.
Down yonder we came to an amazing play spot. A steep, smooth wave that was breaking at the top. Every one had some “shuet” (French for sweet) surfs and Dan attempted some silly blunts in his Pyrhana h3.
When we came to a horizon line that seriously dropped, with a cacophony that sounded something like a whole lot of water falling a whole lot of way, we all agreed (except Kenny) that it was time to scout. We had come to the famous Grandma Falls. At first it looked good to go, but upon closer inspection, Tom declared it too sketchy. Dan and Kenny tried to fight him, but it was no use – Tom is just too jacked.
We carried around Grandma Falls (Kenny and Dan with tears in their eyes) and prepared for a little bit of flat water – or so we thought. That little bit of flatwater turned out to be the longest, most grueling, complaint-filled stretch of flatwater we had ever paddled. Tom took off as usual and left us in the dust, but eventually we all made it. We were reunited with the mosquitoes once again and there was much rejoicing.
Back at the hotel, Kenny and Dan took on the “Poutine Challenge” and won by eating the entire horrid mound of grease and fat (perhaps to make up for not running Grandma Falls). Simon had a bout of fireworks mania, and then we all went to bed.

Day 3
The next day we headed up to the Riviere Metabetchuan. On the way we past a ridiculously large lake, (Lac St. Jean) and an alluring bat cave. The river was beautiful. Water flowed around a bend upstream to pass through a steep, rocky canyon lined with healthy pine trees. It had a creeky feel and we were soon punching and boofing all over the river like a circus of boaters. There was one play spot where we took an intermission before continuing our circus act. A couple kilometers downstream the river opened up to a large bay. Fed up with flat water from the day before, Team SimoHankoDanoAjay thought to become sailors.

They fashioned some sails using paddles and dry jackets, held their boats together and off they went at breath-taking speed. Halfway through the voyage, the Sailors Pledge was taken, and they all vowed that wherever they landed would be where they hiked back to the car. It so happened, not being too experienced navigators, that they ran aground at the foot of a steep, brush covered hill/cliff.

Ajay the Wise paddled 100 feet to the real takeout and simply walked up some steps, but Simon, Hank and Dan would not break the pledge. Half an hour later they reached the top of the cliff, with torn gear and leaves in their teeth, to find Ajay napping in the grass.
One grocery stop later, and after a mini-feast at Mike’s Restaurant in Jonquire, we found ourselves at a gas station down the road. A man came out and lit some fireworks across the street. An instant later Simon was nowhere to be seen. He reappeared a few minutes later with a large grin on his face and an even larger firework in his hand. Tom looked Bamboozled.
“I don’t know, Simon,” Tom warned.
But Simon was already overcome by another bout of firework mania.
“Tom it goes 120 feet!” yelled Simon as he ran to light it in a gravel parking lot.
An instant later a shower of color shot up with a bang and the next instant it was raining down all around us. Firework shells hit to our left and right but we walked away unscathed. Lesson: Don’t stand downwind of fireworks. We camped in the forest of the Malbaie that night and fell instantly asleep.

Day 4
The sun rose in the East, mushrooms grew from the earth, and we awoke to the sight of bear tracks littering our campsite. Bear tracks pressed deep into the dirt with long protruding claws. We had picked a good campsite. So we drove to the put in and began our 2-mile hike to the river while Tom drove to the Take-out and ran 6 miles uphill back to the put in (in a staggering 50 minutes).
What about banjos. Has anyone heard banjos?
At the river we discovered that Ajay’s boat had split open at the bottom of the hull. A nice 4-inch crack. Ajay and Dan and Kenny the Great Builder Man set to work and in no time the hull was a great work of Duct tape art. We headed down and Tom met us at Dead Porcupine Falls (there was a dead porcupine on the rocks next to the falls). It was an easy, super fun 10-foot fall so we drop it a few times. Tom and Dan styled it up with some freewheels and there was also a fun slot drop. Then we approached a horizon line that we ran based on Tom’s memory, which resulted in Dan and Kenny going for some lap swims. After a bunch more steep, creeky drops we approached the lip of the 30 foot Pot-O-Gold Falls that was billowing up a huge cloud of mist and had a rainbow streaking into the bottom of it. Tom was first to run the falls with a relatively clean line that cleared his bow of the beefy hole at the bottom. Next to run the falls was Simon the Brave, who disappeared into the frothy mess and resurfaced 20 feet down stream. The next fearless warrior was Dan, who decided it would be fun to throw some cartwheels in the hole at the bottom. That got boring so he decided to fight the Leprechaun for his pot of gold, which ended with a defeated swim. Team KenoHankAjay all ran the waterfall pretty cleanly. The pot-of-goldless team continued on their trek downstream and encountered a bunch more (wimpy) class IV drops. Passing under our take-out bridge, it was clear that the ground supporting the bridge had crumbled. Ignoring the collapsing bridge, we drove over it on our exit route and up some long, steep, rocky slopes that forced us to strategically position our weight in the van (we all piled on top of each other at the back of the van). We stopped for dinner at Mikes again, where Tom chatted it up with the waitress and she slipped him a piece of paper with an address on it. Turns out he just got us a spot at a campsite, right next to the bathrooms.

Day 5
We awoke that morning to our campsite alarm- birdcalls and a crying baby. After our power breakfast of bagels, peanut butter and honey, we drove to meet our old buddy Dominic. We had met him in Mexico that winter and he had offered to show us some new Canadian whitewater. So we met him in town and set off to run the Neilson- a steep, narrow river with 68 rapids over 9 miles. Not only was it steep and narrow but it was shallow too. Dominic knew the lines like Kenny knows beat downs. Tom was straight giddy.
The group floated merrily down the A section (except Ajay who did more sinking than floating). He had to empty out lots of many several times because of the recently installed drain crack in his hull. At the end of the A section Dan and Hank took out and did shuttle while Dominic took the rest of the group down the B section. Tom was still straight Giddy.
The B section was harder and shorter than the A, with only eight rapids (all class V), and turned out be a great run. One rapid called double drop challenged us all and even made Dominic take a refreshing swim. At another rapid called Big Eyes, Dominic told us, “We won’t scout this rapid because if you scout it you won’t run it. So just follow my line.” We followed his line and reached the pool at the bottom with big big eyes “like you just had 5 coffees”, according to Dominic.
At the takeout we met up with Hank and Dan. Dominic told us of a restaurant we could eat at and a spot where we could sleep that night. We spent a long time searching for this fabled camping spot near the riverside. Eventually we found a sand bar that was strewn with rocks-not the most comfortable place to sleep- but we pictured Tom telling us “it builds character” so we decided to sleep on the “massage mattress” anyway. But before we went to bed, Simon the Pyro, was overcome by a bout of Pyromaniaism and declared that he had to build a fire. It was a grand fire. Indeed, it was so grand we were afraid it would melt the sandbar into a glassbar and dry up the river beside us. It didn’t. That evening we slept beside the dying embers of the fire, a full moon shining through the clearest of nights to reveal our contorted bodies trying to find some comfort on the rocky sandbar.

Day 6
The clear night began to be spotted with clouds and soon thereafter water began to fall from the sky. Dan was sleeping tent-less so he woke-up upon the first drops and scurried to sleep in the van. The tented people woke some time later to a considerable downpour. Simon and Ajay woke to a terrific alarm (Kenny howling on a whistle), and then to a considerable downpour. Hank tried to help Simon with his tent but didn’t realize that collapsing a tent worked better when no one was in it. Sorry Simon. So we piled into the van, wet and cold (except for Dan who was warm and dry in his sleeping bag), and trucked down the road to get some warm breakfast.
Breakfast warmed us enough to get down to the river but we still weren’t too psyched about putting on wet gear. We found the put-in for the Moutmoren section of the Trois Saults (pronounced Troy Saw) and after a speech about “radical acceptance” by Tom and putting on wet clothes in the drizzle, we scoot down a 15 foot slide into the river. So we got a little pumped setting out. The river was a little interesting with some high ledges, and plenty of rocky passages but nothing that grand. Considering what we had done so far, and that the water was a little low, we could have done better. The logistics were also confusing and created for a little scenario that tested our “radical acceptance.” The map showed a big lake sprinkled with islands. Thinking to follow the shoreline to our take-out spot, we were gradually led into a massive marsh. We went further and further into the marsh, hoping that we would reach deep water around every next bend. We were eventually drawn into a soggy, muddy morass of islands and soft mud pits. When finally we were forced to thrash through chest high bushes across one of the islands Tom turned around, looked at us, and said, “Well guys…I think we really screwed up this time.” But then a few minutes later, after one more knee-high mud swamp, we crossed the water to a gravel road and heard the most welcome voice in the world: Kenny’s. He was at the top of the road and there beside him was the trailer. We all let out a sigh of relief.
After packing up and changing we all gathered round waiting for Simon to get ready, and that’s when the great debate began. Tomorrow was our last day and we didn’t know what river to run: The Tewksbury or the Ottawa. It got pretty heated and only after fists started flying did we agree on the Ottawa. We amiably helped each other climb into the van and began our 6-hour drive to the Ottawa, showing off our new shiners the entire way.

Day 7/8
That morning was beautiful. We awoke at the usual Ottawa campground which is a small, hilly patch of the greenest grass lying on the bank of a large lake. The sun was rising on the other side of the water and everything was so bright. Dan, with some assistance from Tom, created a delicious bowl of Guacamole while Simon kept grilling perfect quesadillas. We all agreed it was the best breakfast of the trip.
So we cleaned up, drove to the river, put on our gear, and finally pulled out our playboats. The Ottawa was high at 10 feet but Phil’s hole was still huge as ever (since it is above the dam). We ran down several times trying to surf it good or trying to get a good surfing/beating, depending on how you look at it. Tom and Dan ended up swimming a couple times because their “skirts imploded”, according to them. Below, Horseshoe and Babyface were washed out and it was a long stretch of flatwater to the next rapid. There were several large drops such as Iron Ring and Dragons tooth but also many good playspots. One group of four girls kept running into us on the river and after they watched us run Dragon’s tooth they were thoroughly impressed.
“You’re insane!” they told Dan as he cruised down the rapid and into the eddy where they were watching.
“Gee thanks. You know…Insane is my middle name, baby.” Replied Dan, with a wink. He tried desperately hard to look cool and composed while inside his heart was pounding and he was as jittery as a…uh…as a Hank.
We met them again at the last rapid and asked them if they’d like to show us down. The rapid was just a long wave train of big pushy waves and holes and it made for some fun spectating. They were more of a circus than we were as they flipped, flopped, rolled and flipped again down the rapid. It was a funny sight to see.
Another stretch of flatwater and we were at the takeout. Hank and Dan attempted to wash themselves and get rid of their ungodly scents but their attempts were futile. It would take more than a river bath to rid themselves of the odors they had accumulated and compounded daily over the last week. Man - they smelled bad.
We packed up, snacked, and then began our 14-hour journey back home. Ajay started us off and then the Dynamic Duo (Kenny and Hank) took over and drove from 10 at night to 6 in the morning; a mound of coke bottles heaped between them. Danimal took over for the last stretch. We were cruising down 270, dreaming of showers and clean smells, when Kenny piped up,
“Hey guys, lets run the falls.”
We all laughed at his silly proposition but soon the idea seemed terrific. What an epic way to end an epic trip.
The Van-of-Stinks rolled into the Great Falls parking lot in the early morning and for the last time we pulled on our gear, taped up the numerous cracks in our boats, and put in on the water. Tom, Simon and Kenny had recently run the falls but it had been many months since Dan’s last run, and Hank and Ajay had never run them before.
We paddled down to the Virginia side, Hank falling asleep every few minutes and running into rocks. Him and Kenny had slept 4 hours in the last 2 days and were now going to run the falls. Hardcore Attitude. After a thorough scout of the run it was time to fire it up. Tom, Simon, and Dan had clean lines down the first drop. Then Kenny came paddling down, took a boof stroke over the first ledge, landed, and then fell asleep. He flipped over and floated down through U-hole and eventually woke, and rolled, up.
“Good morning” he greeted us in the eddy.
Ajay thought that line looked fun so he came paddling down, boofed, landed, did a spin move, and paddled backwards down U-hole. He certainly gets the style award. Hank boofed, stayed upright and went straight down the left side without falling asleep.
At the next drop, however, we all had good lines except for Hank who fell asleep halfway through the rapid, flipped over and finished the rapid upside down. Then we came up to the spout, a 20-foot waterfall. Before Canada, the spout looked pretty big and intimidating, but after running the 30 footer on the Malbaie, it suddenly seemed not so scary anymore. Tom fired up the left line, as did Kenny, Ajay, and Hank. Simon and Dan fired up the right line. Both of them flew off, landed, looked around, and asked, “What just happened?”

So there we were at the bottom of the Virginia lines, floating around in the foamed up eddy with river junk bumping into our boats, feeling sunburned and tired and smelly and thinking, “What a shuet week”.

The 29th Glorious Upper Yough Race

2009-07-29T19:49:00.003-04:00

As a new found pilgrimage, this was my second upper yough race. It was last Saturday the 25th of July with an extended release from 11am to 5pm. Having run the UY the weekend before at a rocky level I was looking forward to the rain in the forecast to add some cushion and pushin for race day. This race is one of the oldest in the country and one not for the faint of heart. Personally I dont think the actual rapids are very hard BUT when you string them all together at a faster then normal pace anything can go wrong. The race starts at the waiting rock above Gap Falls and ends at the pool at Kendall rock which is after Double Pencil Sharpener aways, which ends up being about 4-5miles or so. Racers are released at one minute intervals starting with the faster longer boats.

On Saturday I registered at Wilderness Voyagers, who will be taking over the race in the future, and got my UY race tshirt. At first I was very puzzled as to why the shirts had three howling wolves and a moon on it. Last time I checked there were no wolves anywhere near the UY that were not caged. And so the shirt was used to provide me shade while I waited hours to putin for the race. Registration ended at 12 but the race didnt start till 4pm. I putin around 3pm and floated down to the waiting rock in my, Dan's and Tom's Eskimo Diablo (its a love triangle). I floated down in about 30min and still had plenty of time to spare. My start time was 4:29pm so I sat and watched as the racers slowly gathered. Clouds were about and a distant thunder but that only added to the mood. It was a Green boat invasion there were at least 20. Geoff who was first to start at 4pm showed up around 3:56pm in the only glass boat in the race. At 4:29pm I was off. The boogie water from Gap Falls to Bastard is fairly long. I was feeling it in my muscles by the time I was at Bastard. I had not been paddling much in the weeks before the race because I was in Arizona for six weeks and I could feel it. The key is not to go too hard from the start, a mistake I made last year. At one point I was so tired I forgot where I was going and what was next. I didn't feel as confident as I did last year. All the major rapids were pretty straight forward but I flipped at Heinzerling for some odd reason, past a swamped Green boat in the middle of the river above Zinger, creeped up on a large group of boaters that didn't realize the race was still going on and almost got passed at the finish line. This year I was slightly slower than last year coming in at 41min, I blame it on the lower river level but really I was out of shape. In the end Geoff won as expected. The shirts are supposed to get the beholder "laid" but Amazon says other things...

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Mens-Three-Short-Sleeve/dp/B002HJ377A

This race is something I will always come back too. I don't do it to race per se but for the feeling of being solo. For many of the rapids you don't see anyone around. There you are in the element: you, the boat, and whitewater. At some points it almost feels as though survival is the only goal. You cant feel your muscles, blood is pumping, your breathing deep and there's still a class IV rapid ahead of you. As I was told last year the only real advice I can give is "Don't crash and burn."

4th of July Paddling

2009-07-01T09:56:00.004-04:00

Every 4th of July for the last couple of years I have journeyed out to the New River in West Virginia to lead a great kayaking trip with Tom. One year though I had such a great time watching fireworks on the river. This was due to how the holiday fell. This year the 4th falls on Saturday and I will be picnicking on the New River and telling our tales from paddling that day, but wanted to leave those of you still here a few tips on the best fireworks watching spot in DC.

Watching the fireworks from a kayak is about the most convenient, inexpensive, and cool way to see them. If one wanted to depending on where they lived they could put on in the Potomac and paddle to a number of great viewing places. One such viewing place in at the downstream, river right (Virginia) side of Roosevelt Island. It sites the Washington Monument well and has Memorial Bridge in site, as well as the Lincoln memorial. Follow a few of these tips to beat traffic and have a fairly stress free day.

Get there a bit early, 2 in the afternoon worked for me last time. Get to and park in the Roosevelt Island Parking lot or just up from it. You will notice lots of people setting up in the grassways around GW Parkway, your viewing spot will be better than theirs. Get there early to secure parking and make a bit of a tailgate party out of it.
Bring your picnic stuff and if you are going to drink, keep things discreet. A tarp to strung between two cars parked side by side provides a good party shelter if there is a storm.
Head down to the water around 6 to 7 pm to get your spot. This should get you there to stake out your water real estate. It is about a 5-10 minute paddle. Head downstream to the tip of the island. Pull in somewhat close to it to take advantage of the shallow water. Shallow water gives you something to slide your paddles into and protects you from power boats and police checks. The picture above shows you the tip of the island, just behind the mans head.
Consider paddling a canoe or recreational kayak, it gives you a bit more room for you and your refreshments. Bring a blanket or extra layers if you think you might get cold. Use paddles to anchor into the mud and some webbing or cord to tie the boats together to form a raft or viewing barge of sorts.
A glow stick or two (red/green) to tape or tie to your bow will keep you within Coast Guard Regulations and a headlamp can serve as your running lights. Make sure everyone has their PFD.

That should be about it. Once you watched the fireworks take a nice leisurely paddle back to your car. You can head home up Spout Run for Virginians or head up the GW Pkwy for MD folks.

Your Google Map.

Other places to consider putting in are Fletchers Cove, Jacks Boat house or for those wanting an athletic challenge, Lock 5. I would recommend Columbia Island, but too many folks tend to park there to view things from the shore, I would steer clear of it.

On In Between Swims - Lars Holbek: A Tribute

2009-05-21T13:39:00.002-04:00

On this episode of In Between Swims, a tribute to whitewater legend Lars Holbek, who passed away on March 13th after a short battle with cancer.

Thanks to Tyler Williams, Kayak Session Magazine, and Phil Boyer for sharing their time, energy, and resources.

This episode is available at inbetweenswims.com

On I-tunes, it can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223

Here's a link to the audio file - http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Lars_Holbek.mp3

Thanks for listening!

Dropping In...on In Between Swims!

2009-05-10T21:17:00.002-04:00

In this episode...

Dane Jackson swims!

Brian Copanas talks about the Eddyflower Vertical Challenge. Joining us is last year's winner, Tom Janney.

Shane Benedict reviews seal launches and how to run slides.

Travis Winn of the Last Descent River Expeditions reports on conservation and running rivers in China.

Leif Kirchoff talks about the annual Professor Paddle Ball at the Wenatchee River.

Find it at - http://www.inbetweenswims.com

Download it direct - http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Episode_19_Dropping_in.mp3

On I-tunes, it can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223 (I've just posted so it should be there shortly)

Thanks for listening!

Alseseca Race

2009-01-17T15:33:00.027-05:00

updated for 2010

On January 3, 2009, LIQUID ADVENTURES and AVENTUREC, our favorite resort in Mexico, put on the first Carrera del Alseseca (Alseseca Race).

We spent most of the week practicing the Alseseca drops for half a day and visiting some of the local sights, ruins and various high waterfalls, for the other half. New years eve was spent dancing at the Tlapacoyan disco. One day we took a day trip to paddle some class 3-4+ in the narrow canyons of the upper Filo-Bobos. By race day, we were well rehearsed on the course. The Alseseca is quite a playground for steep creekers.

There were two categories for racers: a short and a long course. The race started in a small pool just above an 18' high drop. See photo on right. The short race ended at the bottom of a triple drop rapid just above a class V rapid called S-Turn or Tobaggan. See below. The long race continued through S-Turn for another mile. The Alseseca consists of about 20 drops 8-20 ft. high in the space of about 2 miles, or 270 ft. per mile.

There were 16 entries in the long race and 8 in the short race, some from the Mexico, some from Canada, and some from the US. About 75 spectators showed up to watch the race. There was an awards ceremony in the central square of Tlapacoyan that evening with video of the race showing.

Winning first place in the long race was Peter Lutter of Washington, DC, second was Rafa Ortiz of Mexico City, and tied for third were Dan Mehrez and Scott Baker, both from the US. The winning time was 13:30. One person did not finish because they had to swim the last rapid.

Aside from several high 15'+ high drops and a class V rapid in the middle of the rapid, there were several other places in the race where there was a good chance to have problems. One was a place called the 'sticky hole' rapid. If you missed one good sweep stroke at the right moment, you usually would be stuck in the hole. Rescue people were there to pull you out. Sofia's Rapid is another ledge also deserving respect and has a reputation for retaining those who fail a precise boof. The last rapid of the race called the "Meta" (finish) rapid finished off a couple of kayakers just before the finish just when they thought they were home free.

Liquid Adventures had a good representation at the race, with Carrie Chernov, Hank Durand, Randy Lutter, Ken Erskine, Simon Braun, Dan Mehres, Peter Lutter, and Tom participating. Becca Brown was able to take some of the racing video.

Thanks to IR, NRS, the Gobierno Municipial of Tlapacoyan, Aventurec, Enrique Lopez de Leon, and Susana Cebollas for awards, posters, and sponsorships - all for the Conservation of the Alseseca River.

To view photos and videos taken by the group the entire week, see this link.

Here is the link to the Alseseca Race video, made by Memo.

Look for another Alseseca Race Week in January, 2010.

Intermediate Classes Revision

2009-04-17T15:02:00.005-04:00

We recently have had a couple of calls here at the office about intermediate paddling options. I wanted to email a number of you that I thought to be interested about what some options would be.

Tom and I have gone through the intermediate classes on the website and made a few recent adjustments to the class descriptions that we think will make things easier for you to decide what to take and how progress. I hope you too will find this to be the case.

There are 4 basic intermediate classes that are the core of the program: Chutes Workout, Slalom for River Runners, Intro to Playboating, and River Running the Potomac. The design of the program is to give paddlers a mix of river running skills and some basic technique in playboating with the idea in mind that they each enhance the other. The first two classes that are mentioned are scheduled for alternating Thursday evenings and the other two classed are offered on various Saturday afternoons from 1-5. Other courses that are offered at various times for our intermediate paddlers are Dickerson Workouts, Swiftwater Rescue, and our river trips to the North Branch of the Potomac, Lehigh, and Lower Yough Rivers.

You have a couple of options as to how to sign up. Students can choose to sign up for a single lesson at a time or take advantage of savings by signing up for a 4 lesson package that you can schedule as you are able. The other option is an intermediate PLP. The best way for this to work would be if a group of you were to decide to take one together and meet each others schedule. One of the benefits of the PLP is that it gets you paddling every weekend for a month which really reinforces the learning.

Here is the link to the intermediate program so that you can read more about it for yourselves. You can also consult the calendar which lists the courses out as to when they are offered. Try experimenting with the Day views and week views of the calendar to see more easily what is being offered.

http://www.liquidadventures.org/inter.html

Thanks for tuning in and have a great weekend.

Nathan

Waterfalls and World Records on the new InBetween Swims!

2009-03-31T14:45:00.002-04:00

Don't believe the hype! Don't believe the hate!

In this special episode of InBetween Swims:The Whitewater Podcast, I speak with Team Leader Ben Stookesberry about Pedro Oliva's World Record run of the 128ft Salto Belo on the Rio Sacre in Brazil.

Ben speaks to the mechanics of running a 100+ footer, the controversy surrounding Pedro's landing, and the place that dropping big waterfalls has in the sport.

Find it at - http://www.inbetweenswims.com

Download it direct - http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Waterfall_World_Record.mp3

On I-tunes, it can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223 (I've just posted so it should be there shortly)

Thanks for listening!

Liquid Adventures Promotional Video

2009-03-20T16:41:00.007-04:00

If you have ever wanted a way to spread the word about Liquid Adventures Kayak School we have a couple of fun new ways. Your excitement and enthusiasm for our paddling programs and instruction are a huge help to us and keep us going.

Thank you to Spencer Cooke of Rapid Tranist & Efforttv.

Join our Facebook Fan Page.

Thank you all for your support!

Liquid Adventures 'Day of Creekin' Spring Creek Boat Clinics

2008-03-13T13:39:00.039-04:00

Updated for 2009

Coming again, on Sundays in April, Liquid Adventures is offering a class in the basics of creeking, instructed and led by Tom McEwan.

Whether it be the Top Yough or the Lower Big Sandy or another river, we will meet at a convenient place to set up shuttle for the section we will run that day. Naturally, at this time of year there is no predicting which rivers will be running on any given weekend, but we can say with certainty that there will be a creek or small river running somewhere in west Virginia that will be fun to run. As the rivers require, we will stop to spend time working on specific skills - on running falls, or how to scout a complicated series of rapids, emphasizing elementary skills for running steep gradient and making the tight moves like, boofing, hole surfing, seal launching and setting appropriate safety.

The Rivers: A day or two before we make our final plans, we will be checking levels on the following rivers in the Northern Appalachians: the Lower Big Sandy, Top Yough, Middle Fork of the Tygart (Audra ST. Park), Tygart Gorge (Belington), Kitzmiller section of the North Branch, Shaver's Fork of the Cheat, Meadow Run (near Ohiopyle). These are all class III-IV in difficulty.

Skill Level: Participants in this program should possess a solid roll and are able to catch most eddies in Class III white water. Paddlers who run Dickerson at moderate to high levels are ready for this program. There may be some weekends that we will designate for a more advanced group and other weekends for less advanced. If you register for any given weekend, we will make adjustments as needed.

Cost: $120 or package of 4 for $400.

Registration: click on registration. If you have not already, establish a logon, fill out contact information, and then follow directions to register for 'A Day of Creekin.'' Pick the dates you wish to register. Dates offered are April 5, 12, 19, 26.

What to bring: It would be smart to dress for the worst conditions: there is a 10- 15 degree difference in temperature between the DC area and the highlands beyond Cumberland. Bring a dry top/pants or dry suit, layers of fleece for underneath, something warm to cover your legs (like Hydroskin, paddling pants/fleece or IR Thermoskin), head warmer, Pogies or gloves, your lunch in a dry bag, float bags, and your creek boat.

Transportation: For the sake of efficiency, we like to carpool to the rivers. Once you register, we will email you a message with the email addresses of the others attending, and you will be welcome to contact each other to set up a meeting place and form a car pool. Tom will already be up at Albright for Cheat Training and will meet somewhere near the designated river.

Save $$$, Buy Our Used Kayaks & Gear

2009-03-20T10:39:00.006-04:00

Every so often we make some gear and equipment available for sale to our students and interested paddlers. Just call or email to set up an appointment to demo a boat or shop the used equipment. We have a variety of things available for the beginner boater through the advanced. We are also happy to talk over with you gear and equipment if you are planning to shop at a store or online. You are much more likely to come away with the right boat or paddle if you have researched a bit before shopping. Here are some photos and a price list of some of what we currently have.

You can buy a gear package or individual items.

A lovely RPM (2 available) $275 each

Pyranha H:3 255 $400, In-a-zone 242 $350, Recoil M $475

creekboat/riverrunner, playboat/riverrunner, playboat

Eskimo Xeno $450, Eskimo Kendo $450

two versatile river runners

Liquid Logic Big Wheel $225, Trigger $375, Little Joe $350

big boy playboat, small river runner, medium to large river runner

Attaining the Lower Yough!

2009-03-17T13:24:00.002-04:00

If you think attaining the Gorge is a bit crazy/pointless/painful, check out this brief video account of attaining the Lower Yough --- Bruners to the Falls!

Life is like a box of chocolates, Mama used to say. There are a few nuts here and there. :-)

In Between Swims - Back to the Core

2009-02-27T18:27:00.004-05:00

In this episode...

Immersion Research's John Weld swims The Potomac's Horseshoe.

I talk with Astral Buoyancy Founder and Owner, Philip Curry, about what it was like to sell Lotus to Patagonia, Coast Guard PFD certification, and the future of PFD's.

Shane Benedict joins from Zwick's on the Green River to talk boofing.

And, Rush Sturges and Tyler Bradt review their recent multi-country African expedition called the 'African Revolutions Tour.'

Find it:

http://www.inbetweenswims.com

I-Tunes - http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223

http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Back_to_The_Core.mp3

Spring Kick Off Coming Soon!

2009-01-23T20:03:00.013-05:00

When: Sunday March 15, 3:00 -6 pm

Where: Bannockburn Community Center
6320 Laverock Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817

Join us for an afternoon of paddling entertainment as we kick off the season and get together in anticipation of great season of paddling together. Tom will have just returned from Mexico and Cheat Training just begun. We have two exciting presentations for you on Sunday March 15. Someone will also have a belated birthday to celebrate.

Paddling Into the Pamirs - The first is a slide show presentation from Andrew McEwan and Middy Tilghman about their two years of paddling and living in Tajikistan. They will discuss their travels and highlights, exploring the ins and outs of expedition paddling, adventure, and misadventure. If you haven't checked out their blog, you should, what they pulled off is pretty incredible.

The feature presentation is the DC premiere of "The Eddy Feeling", the new paddling film from Spencer Cooke, documenting the common ties that bring us to the river. It features our own Tom McEwan, the Linville Gorge, and known and unknown paddlers from a variety of backgrounds. The film explores the bonds that we share in common. Copies of the DVD will be available for purchase at the event. It is one of the better paddling movies I have seen in some time.

Come by and bring boats and gear for the gear swap and sale. LAKS will have some of our old boats and gear available for purchase. Students and guests are welcome to bring theirs as well.

There will be small covered dish reception of light hors d'oeuvres served, please bring something to share with the group. LAKS will provide beer/wine/other beverage. Guests bring the food, we will provide the beverage.

For Sale for Interested Paddlers.

2008-09-22T10:24:00.010-04:00

The first item up for bids is my blue subaru outback, in my opinion the ultimate paddlers car. Here are the particulars:

- 96, 235 miles, good condition, usual paddler scratches and dings, mechanically sound

- manual tranmission, heated seats, mirrors, front windshield, AWD, 2003 Subaru dependability, all the usual Subaru factory options, auto-dimming rearview mirror, plenty of tire life left Asking $8750 OBO, need to sell soon Contact Info: Nathannahikian@yahoo.com, 703-338-9790 please no calls after 7pm

Happy Shopping!

The Descent Into Madness - now on 'In Between Swims:The Whitewater Podcast'

2008-12-22T18:11:00.004-05:00

Just posted on 'In Between Swims:The Whitewater Podcast" - Kyle Dickman of the Epicocity Project brings us a reading of his article for Wend Magazine - "The Descent Into Madness." Kyle recounts the Epicocity team's harrowing adventure in Papua New Guinea, where he and the team did the first descent of the East Pandi River.

Find it at

- http://www.inbetweenswims.com/

- I-Tunes (Don't forget to leave a comment there!)

or download it direct at: http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/TheDescentIntoMadnessFinal.mp3

Thanks for listening!

Overnight on the River

2008-11-19T16:11:00.007-05:00

I was shopping the other day and visiting our buddies at Eastern Mtn Sports and came across a lot of cool things that might be nice to have on an overnight camp-out on the river. Paddling in canoes is like car camping, as long as you don't mind carrying it or portaging it, you can carry it. Paddling in a whitewater boat, you are a bit more limited with what you can bring. Ultra-light backpacking has long been poplar in Europe and more recently in the states. Hiking long distance and carrying lesson than 2o lbs or so before you add drinking water is more similar to what we do. A lot of the products out there for these types of endeavors work remarkably well for kayak camping. Here is a list of a few I came up with. If you are in need of more assistance, chat up our the staff at EMS and they will set you up, most of these and similar items are at their store and you can get your hands on with them there.

The Steri Pen. This is an item I am quite excited about, much lighter than a filter, works quickly, and does large quantities of water.
Improved purification tablets. Taste way better than iodine, works great as extra insurance for questionable water, and a back up if you lose or damage your Steri Pen
The Jet Boil. This is a great system for cooking quick, boiling water for your rice and beans. It is great to have if you are late off the river and can't get a fire ready or other similar predicament. I listed the Helios as it is more versatile than the personal one.
This Bowl is the inspiration behind this blog entry.
My favorite headlamp.
Here is what could comprise a pretty elaborate sleep system, some items could be omitted for space or for being redundant. Sleep Bag, Thermarest, shelter, bivy.
And here are a couple of great suggestions on keeping things dry and organized while stored in the boat. Check out the Futa and Ocoee drybags from Watershed and these great stuff sacks from Sea to Summit.
Don't forget a pack towel, it is a very useful luxury item.

This is by no means the only items you need or could bring, this just hits the major items. Feel free to add your own suggestions using the comments feature on the blog. Speaking of overnight trips, we offer a couple of different versions down in Mexico that are a lot of fun. For rivers here consider paddling the Upper Reaches of the Potomac river for a long weekend, the Upper/Lower New River, the Upper/Lower Gauley, or the Delaware.

Word from Tom

2007-11-30T10:41:00.000-05:00

Not much word yet, apparently they are paddling a ton. Paul Harrison is down there with Tom. He has another fellow with him from California. Here is Paul on the El Salto. It looks a ton warmer there, than it is going to be at Dickerson this Sunday. Space on most Mexico trips is still available. - Nathan

Dickerson Bottom Hole

2007-12-01T18:46:00.001-05:00

Since Dickerson is cancelled, here are some old pics to look at. The summer of 2003 was my first experience at Dickerson. At perfect levels, say 3.6 or 3.7?at LF and all the pumps going, the bottom hole would be at its worse and would definitely get our blood pumping. Catching the bottom five eddies was a different sequence entirely, although mostly mental. One of my fondest memories was missing the fourth eddy and sliding backwards into the hole, thus beginning the cartwheels, losing the paddle, rolling up and side surfing, flipping and pulling my skirt, sidesurfing some more, having one knee out of my thighbrace and having Paul McDowell laughing at me from shore. Here's a link for a few more pics from my google pics account click HERE