Friday  morning  woke up to winter conditions for my kayak trip.

while traveling east ,made some phone calls and ended up meeting some friends for a run on drakes ,then we went for a quick run down the nearby meadow before dark.

next morning,while checking river gauges ,decided to try and catch all the creeks over in the stonycreek watershed .meet at somerset,got on the stony gorge,then roaring fork ,dark shade creek,and topped the day off with 2 laps on paint creek,the best of these creeks.

Sunday i finished my weekend with one of my favorite runs,north fork   of the blackwater to hendricks
at good flow for a great weekend.

rain day

After along dry summer,,with very few trips to the upper yough and my annual trip down the gauly during fest weekend. A welcomed inch and  a half of rain fell locally.Which interfered with my outside work,to let me play in the rain.meet up with Corey to run Bridalveil falls creek to tinkers ,,then tinkers at good flow ,,then went and played on a wave on the cuyahoga river, then stopped by branywine falls and noticed there was enough water for another run below the falls. all and all ,,about the best day one can have on whitewater in Ohio

the melt of 2010

   My paddling adventure started with a 2 mile bike shuttle in shorts for a solo run down a class 3 micro creek to tinkers creek,then meet up with Jon to run tinker at the perfect level of 1000 cfs,,,,for a warm up day before traveling to WV.
    Friday ran into a group of 8 paddlers looking to boat  roaring creek ,but because of the high level and story's of alot of down tree's ,,we chosen to paddle muddy creek for a warm up,,,,,,we thought?                3 swims,lost paddle,lost hand paddles and messed up hand later,,we were humbled by the creek.
Off for more fun most of us went to sovern run , sense we new there was no wood in the creek.
After looking at the flow at the put in,some wisely said no thanks,5 of us put on,and after surviving 3/4 of the run and finding just my second edy,,i choosed to take out,with one other seconding the decision. the 3 finished and then 2 of them went for another run.  
    

      Saturday started off with upper Laural run to the big Sandy,,a fun high water class 3 with a cool put in.
Then off to friendsville area, were 3 of us ran Glade into Buffalo run,,,,,,Glade started out with a great rapid above pic then continued 2 miles of fun to the confluence,, ,,then 2 more miles on Buffalo run.It was so much fun we had to run it again.  Special thanks to the group before us for clearing wood out,,,,,later that day,i got  an invite to join a group going to high ridge run.

       Sunday morning drive to Canaan .Meet up with 7 other paddlers,,and began to hike 2 miles up hill with kayak,then one more mile,,,,,,,,,,when we got to the micro creek,,the hike was well worth it,,Disney land for kayakers ,to many good drops to count.  2 miles of over 1000 feet of  vertical drop,,,thanks to all that cleared wood and made this run possible ,,after that run i was invited to check out a near by creek rumored to have a clean 30 footer.


for more pics

Russell fork

after boating a descent bit in the spring and summer,kayaking for me tapered off.
only getting out 6 days after august.
3 of them days were my first trip to the Russell fork
first day lucked out and ran into some new friends from Kentucky that showed me the lines.
without release,the river was elf,that was perfect to see the river for the first time.
with low water,you can see all the undercuts and bad spots of the river,so you know were to avoid at release level.one of the high lights of the run was checking out the cave of El Horendo.
on day 2 and 3 got i got 3 runs in with my friends Bob and Willis at release level.
with just over a 5 hour drive,it is my favorite fall release river

Colorado road trip

4000 mile round trip to Colorado rivers and creeks.
day 1
numbers at 1350
pine creek
browns canyon of the arkansas
day 2
slaughter house at 800
castle creek low
and hiked in Aspen country
day 3
2 miles of lake creekat 800
70 % of oh be joyful at 420
day4
gunnison gorge at 2300
day 5
long day on the animas at 800
plus 2 more miles
day 6
piedra at 450
road side run on the way to
salida to check out fibark
day 7
royal gorge at 2400
then the long drive home

otter creek

finally got a run,after waiting 3 years or so to catch otter with water, due to lack of work,and a sudden flew,3 of us met early for the long day on otter creek. new run to all of us, we took are time down the creek.there were about 6 rapids to scout and miles and miles of class 4 read and run rapids.
This is one of the funnest rivers i have ever run.


































more pics

river info

treat before cheatfest

5 of us were lucky to catch a run on Dunbar creek before cheatfest. a micro creek that needs lots of rain.the run consists of a 2 mile hike into the woods,steep 2 mile section,and 4 miles of dodging logs,,,,long fun day in the wilderness more pics