Friday, May 31, 2013

Canyon Creek Surprise

So Monday morning I got picked up by my boy Hans and we went out to Canyon Creek for his first time down it. We met Robby and Paul on the way there. Robby said the level was about 600cfs when he checked the gauge the previous day. When we get there and put on I new it was way higher than that. In fact it was actually around 1,100cfs which made for the highest any of the four of us had ever been down it at. Swizzle Sticks cleaned up a lot and there was a tongue on the right around the hole. Terminator was the same airplane move on the left with a flare boof and was super fluffy.  Prelude was super easy at this flow cause you don't get hung dry on the right side boof. Thrasher on the other hand got a little beefy though no one got held up in it. The new boulder garden above Big Kahuna was way sick and feels like a roller coaster now. The last time I ran this section of water was before the log jam so the new boulder garden through me off for a second but I like this new drop more. Big Kahuna through everyone hard into the left wall and after watching this happen to everyone when I dropped it I took the hardest left boof stroke I could and cleaned the drop. Champagne was a super savage flare boof and Hammering Spot had the clean left hump to launch off of. Hammering Spot definitely lives up to its name by engulfing Robby and demonstrating some pretty brutal window shades. It ripped his elbow pad off as well as his paddle from his hand and claimed it for about 10 minutes before finally it surfaced. I was hanging out just above Toby's Drop with my helmet off drinking a beer waiting for Robby to walk down to the pool we were in and I hear "PADDLE!!!" So I set the beer down and with no helmet charged into the current, grabbed his paddle and made it into the last eddy literally 2feet above Toby's where I clipped the paddle to my tow line and pulled it back up to Robby. Definitely a little scary eddy hopping back in forth across the river without a helmet to get back up to the eddy Robby was in. All was well though. We hit up the last drop and paddled out the lake. The level made for a fun and great experience with good friends. Till next time. 

Sincerely, The Wonder Midget!