Thursday, June 13, 2013

Paddling Adventures Update #2 by team member, Luke Vollmerhaus



Photo: Liam Fournier
Day 2 Report


Just polished off day 2 of our trip, day 1 started and ended with bad weather unfortunately. Had to layer up a lot under our drysuits but the levels were sweet. We got on Beauty Creek in the morning, a lovely class 5 small volume creek just outside of Jasper with some great drops. 

We all ran everything and no carnage occurred so that was definitely a success. We moved on to the Big Horn River. None of us really knew anything about the run so we were a little cautious especially with the recent rain and the take out pumping brown water. Once we were in the canyon we quickly realized that none of the drops looked like the guide books and we must be running it really high. It was definitely a little on the scary side due to the unknown factor of the run at this level but we all made it down safe and sound and decided to run it again this morning. 

Had much better weather today were able to dry our gear and not be soggy any more. After Big Horn in the morning we drove to Johnston's canyon and hiked in. It was definitely on the low side of good but still runnable so we fired it up. The first couple of drops were awesome though Phil’s Folly has a big tree in the center of it. We tried getting it out with ropes but because of its position on the lip and the force that its wedged with we weren’t able to move it. We ended up jumping the cliff next to the falls and tossing our boats down. The rest of the run went easily and we’re staying the night in Canmore looking to hit the Sheep River and Cataract Creek tomorrow! 

Finally an ode to Werner paddles, Liam’s Powerhouse blade cracked earlier in California and has still been hanging on through all of his boating since despite its increased flex.  It will serve as a great wall ornament when it finally bites the dust.


Peace,

Luke



Day 4 report


Yesterday was a little more chill. We ran the Middle Sheep in the morning with a little down river freestyle session on Sheep Falls. Unfortunately Zac broke his backband attempting a switch free wheel sending him back into Calgary in search of a new piece. We had a fun sunny run and met up with Zac mid-day in Longview. We did a quick levels check and decided that Cataract was high but should still be runnable and set off to fire it up. It turned out to be just as high as expected and delivered and amazing run. There’s lots of class 3 read and run in between all of the big drops and all of that just gets faster and better at higher levels. Took a bit of a beat down in the very last hole but clawed my way out just fine. We found a campsite fried up some taquitos (charred to perfection) and got some much needed sleep. 
Photo: Liam Fournier
Today we went to Lundbreck Falls for a park and huck off the right line. It delivered some hard hits but made for a super fun morning. We drove to Pincher Creek and looked at our options. It looked like Drywood Creek was out because of a lot of wood in the canyon so we had to change our plans a little. We decided to go and run Cameron creek which was an absolute blast . Wild Thing has to be one of the best rapids I’ve ever had the chance to paddle, it looks super intimidating but paddles easier than it looks. We’re staying in Waterton for the night in order to give us an easy wake up to get on Waterton lake in the morning and paddle out to Boundary Creek for the final day of our trip. Really looking to polish of the trip with an epic day!



Cheers,

Luke



On Monday, we posted Luke's pre-trip report check it out here

No comments:

Post a Comment

Green River, UT

Green River, UT
Photo: Shawna Franklin