Not you typical view of the take-out for the Upper Wind
The drive towards Hood River on Hwy 14 was slow going
The Liquid Logic Jefe Chico that Devin was suppose to try out this weekend. Till next weekend!!
Wow, what a odd but amazing weekend. Saturday morning I picked up a Liquid Logic Jefe Chico for Devin to try out since his Punk Rocker is still broken. Unfortunately I found out after getting the boat that Devin had sprang his ankle goofing the night before. The joys of being 13!! Since my Magnum is broken but repaired I decided I'd paddle the Chico since it was rated up to a 165lb paddler.
Now the drive. I knew that heading out to Hood River meant I was heading into the main storm coming through. As I headed down I84 I got turned back in Troutdale sue to road closure from a fatality caused by the storm conditions. I quickly headed up to Hwy 14 on the other side of the Columbia River to still make it to the Upper Wind River. As I headed down 14 the road conditions were gradually getting worse. The temperature was around 30 degrees and freezing rain and then big flakes of snow the further East I got. I got to the take-out finally 30 minutes late but Kris Litz and Jason Shroeder were patiently waiting and Pete and Meggie that had called me on the way out were just minutes behind me. We got geared up, transfered gear and headed to the put-in.
The river was medium-low and although high 20's it felt pretty good on the water. A far cry from the mid 70's we had in Mexico the last time I was on the water.
I was by far to big for the Chico with a little safety gear in the back and honestly don't remember most of the rapids other than trying my best to get the boat to manuver around the rocks and more than not plug the holes that I could not get it around. I'm putting the boat to blame 100%. I usually paddle a Riot Magnum creeker that has edges and I know I was way to big for the boat even at 160lbs. Hopefully next weekend Devin can get it out on the river and try it out. At least he got to sit in it tonight for a minute and liked it looks.
After the run with I84 still shut down and 14 at a standstill due to a semi stuck, Hood River sounded like a great idea. I got dinner with some friends and got to go for a ride in someone else's car sliding around HR. The highlight for the evening was his car sliding down the road near The Shed and barely hitting a ladies car that had already slid back down the hill, gotten hit by another vehicle and then by us. The best part was after hitting the car we shot into the entrance for the train station with the lady running frantically in front of us like a deer would do. We all got a good laugh out of it in the end. We abandoned that car for the night along with Jesse and walked to my car that was parked near the Hood River bridge and safely made it up to BZ in my Subaru. I love my Subi!! BZ got hit with around 24" on Saturday alone and we made the best of it tackling each other in the snow instead of kayaking.
