California. What is there to say about California? I first visited this land of spectacular whitewater in 2004 and have been back five times since. There are so many rivers to run and enough whitewater to keep you occupied for a lifetime of paddling. On top of that, California has more overnight Class V runs than anywhere else I have ever been to (or know of).

This years trip was a flash in the pan. I was accompanied by the mullet legend himself, Ben Ledewitz for seven days of running classic Cali-style whitewater. On the course of our trip, we paddled the Salmon, Clear Creek, the South Branch of the Middle Feather, Big Kimshew, the White Salmon, and the Little White Salmon. Action!

Jay Moffett eddy hopping down Clear Creek

We first paddled a quick run on the South Fork of the Salmon near Somes Bar (northern Cali-ish; nearby where Rush Sturges grew up). The next day our plan was to go into Bridge Creek; however, after talking to the dude at the general store (a boater) we found out that we were ill prepared. Apparently you should start at the ass-crack, have plenty of food, and have shuttle set for that run. I guess people will go in there at 9am and not get out until dusk.

In lieu of this information, we decided to head up the road to Clear Creek–a nice little class IV+ run with some good drops and clear water.

Ben navigating some siphons on Clear Creek

After Clear Creek, Jay had to head back to work. Ben and I had heard rumors that the road to access the South Branch of the Middle Feather was closed; however, after checking in with some of the local talent and hearing of photos hitting Facebook just days before, we figured it had to be good to go. So, we drove 3-4 hours over to Oroville, CA and found the putin the next morning.

Ben Ledewitz on the first perfect 20 footer on the South Branch

We spent two days on the South Branch. The first was extremely rainy. I’d run the creek 3 times the year before so I felt like I had a decent grasp on how to route down it. I was mainly concerned about portaging 99 Problems in the rain (lotta’ slick granite); however, that proved to be doable without too much extra caution.

Right after the first perfect 20 footer, there is another perfect 20 footer. Ben Ledewitz routes down.

1/8th of a mile down from the perfect 20's, there are these two sweet 15 footers back to back

On our second day at the South Branch, we met up with some great folks from the Southeast that were spending their summer in California. We all decided to paddle together and had a wonderful time. One of these stout-runners was even using hand paddles!

Towards the end of the South Branch, you get to a series of 10+ slides and waterfalls–ranging in size from 15′-90′ tall. It is truly a spectacular place to be.

Portaging the 90 footer near the takeout, very impressive!

Ben Ledewitz running the 50' at the takeout.

I quickly scurried up the hill to get this shot for our SE crew. My waterproof camera caused it to be a bit blurry though.

Just downstream from here are a series of 100′-250′ waterfalls.

The horizon line of 4-5 100'+ waterfalls, promptly hike out on river right.

After two awesome days on the South Branch, we kept hearing that Kimshew was the place to be. Ben & I decided to head down to the takeout of Kimshew to try to find some folks to run the river with. We woke up the next morning to find Jason Hale putting on with a crew of 10 people, many of which had never paddled the run before, trying to do the 2 day in a single day. They suggested to us that we just plan for an overnighter and “First-D” style route the creek.

After much debate and some shuttle shenanigans, we started to pack our boats and arrived at the putin.

Ben on the portage...that we didn't exactly portage.

Early on in Kimshew we knew there was going to be a portage. I vaguely remembered photos of Demshitz and what it was supposed to look like. Low and behold we arrived at the portage, decided it was iffy, and yet still decided to run it. I went first and had as good of a line as you could hope for. I charged left on the slide, straightened my boat out before I hit the kicker (where Ben is above), mini-tonned the rock and exited relatively safely. I looked up at Ben from the eddy and told him that it was very marginal. I figured he would have seen my line and forgone the idea of running it. Shortly thereafter I see Ben in the middle of it all. He, unfortunately, hit the kicker sideways which sent him careening upside-down towards the rock at the base. Not ideal. He ended up breaking his paddle and hit his cheek on the rock pretty good. All that said, he managed to roll up at the bottom and collected himself. Oakland, MD represent!

After that we took it a bit slower. Eventually we rolled up on the infamous Kimshew Gorge which is a series of about five large drops back to back.

The second and third drops in the Kimshew Gorge

When I got back from Scouting we found another crew that was on the two day program. They consisted of Cody Howard, Steve Arns, Mike McKay, and Fredy from Europe. Cody had run the creek before and was leading the charge. We all decided to paddle together for the rest of the day.

Ben Ledewitz running Kimshew Falls, Big Kimshew Creek, CA

Looking back up at Kimshew Falls with Steve Arns in the foreground

A big thanks goes out to Cody and their crew for letting us join. Cody had done the run once before and was able to remember much of it which proved to be very helpful as the creek kept feeding us difficult whitewater.

We got to our campsite shortly after the sun went behind the gorge. We set up camp and got a fire going to cook some food. ProTip: If you bring meat on an overnighter, try to bring meat that is pre-cooked. You’ll be hungry as hell and, if it’s pre-cooked, you won’t have to worry about not getting enough to eat if you can’t get a fire going.

We slept well that night under the stars and awoke to another beautiful California day. Day two of Big Kimshew involves running something called the “Secret Stash”. Everyone always hears about day 1 of Big Kimshew and no one really knows too much about the Secret Stash. I would describe the Stash to be just as hard as Big Kimshew day 1; however, with more of a gradual gradient. Think Blackwater style drops with a California sized flow and you’ve got the Secret Stash.

A nice photo of Fredy running the first 20' of day two, Secret Stash, Big Kimshew Creek, California.

After the first twenty footer, there are many more IV-V big water technical rapids–so many that you start to think, “Man, when will we see the takeout?”

Cody Howard entering one of the countless bigger rapids on the Stash.

We eventually made it to the takeout, exhausted and happy after a sweet two days of awesome kayaking.

The crew, (left to right) Ben, Adam, Cody, & Fredy, stoked at the takeout.

After getting off the creek we said goodbye to our fellow stoutrunners and headed north to Hood River to paddle the White Salmon and Little White Salmon. A big thanks to Tyler Houck and crew for showing us down and for the hospitality. An even bigger thanks goes out to my mom for letting us borrow her car for the week. Cheers!

As always, be safe and have fun. Until next time,

-Adam Johnson

Spring 2011 will undoubtedly be remembered as one of those springs you always want to repeat. From running Real Manns Creek on January 2nd, to surfing the New River Dries at optimal flows on a weekend in the middle of March, to doing double doubles on Red Run and the North Fork of the Blackwater in the middle of June–the action just never stopped.

Oliver Grossman in the entrance to Gladiator, January 2011

One very cold day in early January we decided to rally south down towards Fayetteville (since it is indeed warmer down there). When we arrived we met up with some Fayetteville locals, Todd Richendollar and Stewart Caldwell, who proposed we do a run on Mill Creek and then head over to Real Manns. We had a great run on Real Manns with a level around 5 inches. The run was short but action packed. I’d say we scouted nearly every rapid. A highly recommended run.

There were a couple obligatory--and cold-- North Fork of the Blackwater Runs Jan-March

Red Creek in late February. It was damn cold.

Red Creek begins in the headwaters of Dolly Sods. Since this is the case, many of the Forest Service roads–like the one to the putin–are closed during the winter due to snow. When this is the case, you have the option of hiking in through the Timberline side of Canaan Valley & Dolly Sodds.

On this particular day, the wind was absolutely ripping up the mountain. Snow was blowing sideways and we were one cold crew of kayakers. There were times when I had to stop hiking because I thought the wind might blow me to the ground otherwise.

To add to the awesomeness, we got lost on the way to the putin due to heavy snow and low visibility.

We did go kayaking, eventually. Definitely the coldest day of kayaking I can remember. Geoff Calhoun runs Mood Ring, Red Creek, WV.

Geoff Calhoun on Rainbow Room, North Fork of the Blackwater, WV on a nice day in March

Chris Schwer running a stout hole on the Lower Blackwater--a great alternative to the hill on those cold, snowy days.

Sam Burke on high water Swallow Falls, Top Yough. Left line.

One river that will always be a special place for me is the New River Dries. I cannot think of another place that offers such a varied array of river waves in such close proximity to my home. On top of that, they happen to be some of the best features in the world. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Ben Marr came down from oh-so-cold Canada for some epic surf. He was without question doing better than the rest of us out there. Photo Bryan Kirk

Shane Groves was also out there collecting frequent flyer miles. No doubt from the nightly after work sessions on these waves. Photo: Bryan Kirk

Kirk getting out from behind the camera & getting some air. Photo: Ben Marr

Surfing the middle wave at the dries requires you to be out of control and in the air 40% of the time. This is me hoping I land without incident. Photo: Kirk

One of my favorite shots. You can see just how big this wave really is. Adam blunting, Kirk on the lens.

I think Ben spent more time in the air than surfing the wave. Very impressive. Photo: Kirk

A common pose on the dries. "Oh $%^*!!". Photo: Kirk

More stupid rediculous air for Ben. Center Wave on the Dries at 53,000cfs. Photo: Kirk

The view from the large boulder at the putin. There's some legit 5.10+ climbing up the hill and to the right of this photo.

More great days on the Uppper Blackwater. Pendleton falls in the background.

No spring is complete without a little climbing double double at Seneca Rocks, WV. Chris Heim on lead.

Ever seen Blackwater Falls from river left? It looks a lot taller.

8 Boats. 1 Small Truck. Check.

One fine April day it was raining and we had a good mind that Bull Run was, indeed, “running” (pun intended). After putting in a half day at the office, Chris Schwer and I went out for an afternoon jaunt.

The Matador! Adam Johnson routing, direct, down the stout on Bull Run, Masontown, WV.

I’d been wanting to run the Matador, the steepest rapid on Bull Run, direct from top to bottom for a very long time. It’s a three stage drop–the top portion being a tricky slide boof, the second half being a boof onto another slide where you must stay left, and then the third drop you see above. While the 3rd drop is the most impressive, lining up the first two are without a doubt the crux. I ended up boofing off the middle at the top (a first for me; note that it’s not all that deep) and proceeding directly into stage two (there is a small eddy that is usually caught. I opted to continue downstream). Stage two: Boof, hit the slide, duck the undercut on the left, stroke and tuck to fall off the last drop.

Post stout brown. Stoked on a good line. Photos: Chris Schwer

Chris Schwer running Blind Betty. He ended up going through the left slot instead of the normal right slot. It goes.

Chris stoked to be on Bull Run after a half day at the office. Morgantown is a sweet place to live, work, and boat.

That’s all for now folks. I write this from Oregon, just after spending a solid week with Ben Ledewitz creeking in California and the Pacific Northwest. Stay tuned for that story and more debauchery soon. As always, check out the Picasa Web Album for all the sweet photos.

Be safe,

-Adam Johnson

So 2010 has been and gone without much activity on this world wide webturnets. In 2010 I traveled to California, Oregon, North Carolina, Canada, and did a ton of kayaking in good ol’ West by God. Here are some of the most notable photos from along my journeys:

Early on in the spring we ran the entire Gauley at around 15k. Highly recommended.

Somewhere in between high water Gauley and Mill Creek we did the first mile of Man’s Creek with a solid crew at roughly 15″-17″ and rising. I was a bit apprehensive to put on, but, as I always say, “Rule #1: Always listen to the locals.” And the locals were putting on. So I went. As a note, a normal level on mans is somewhere between the 2″-5″ range. No photos, sorry.

Shane Groves Boof Stomping Mill Creek Falls near Fayetteville, WV.

Jay Ditty, the one bladed wonder, Runs Eyes on Deckers Creek, Morgantown, WV.

Brian Mansey with a Big boof on Carcas, Deckers Creek, WV.

Pretty typical whitewater on Deckers: Dodge rocks that can ring your bell. Love it!

Adam Johnson out from behind the camera, about to freewheel Double Indemnity, North Fork of the Biznass, WV.

Curtis runs Rainbow Room with Double Indemnity in the Background. NF Blackwater near Thomas, WV.

Classic WV Read and Run. Curtis Heishman putting in on the Upper Blackwater.

I was lucky enough to do some kayaking in Cali with these folks... all of these folks. We were all headed creeking.

This is the South Branch of the Middle Feather. Excellent creek.

This shot doesn’t do it justice, so check out some of Trevor Clark’s shots (thumbnail #11) or EG “the killa’s” writeup. No doubt a creek to add to the bucket list.

Bryan Kirk running one of the stouts on the Loves Falls section of the Yuba near Downiville, CA.

When it's dry, we go climb some of the local goods. Chris Schwer on the rock.

Epic Backwards Go-rilla by one of Brian Randall's friends. He finished A-OK.

Adam Johnson going for the Cross bow on Frankenstein, Green River Narrows, NC.

Ubiquitous Gorilla shot...

Sunshine. Big thanks to Brian Randall for the Photos.

Sunset at McCoy's on the Ottawa

Epic Wind out at Lachine. Chris almost lost his paddle due to it.

Zonedogg running the Putin slide on the Beaver, NY. What a warm-up!

Navigating the crowd was harder than navigating the river at Beaverfest. We selectively overlooked this sign...

Geoff Calhoun on the Raquette, NY.

A sweet traverse climbing at Seneca Rocks, WV.

So that pretty much wraps up 2010. Hope you enjoyed the photos. Would love to hear some comments. As usual, check out my Picasa Web Album to see the photo content from the next post (Dries, and some classic Dub V stout creeking).

Be safe,

-Adam Johnson

The Turbio is undoubtedly in my Top 5 Most Beautiful Rivers list. A small creek that flows into the valley of Pucon, the creek is lined with vibrant yellow flowers and class IV-V rapids. To add to the aesthetic, the putin has two amazing waterfalls coming in for a awesome start to the day.

We were driving to the put in and felt compelled to stop and get some shots.

When we arrived in Chile the Turbio had actually already dropped to be too low to run; however, we were fortunate enough to get a days worth of rain which brought the river up to a runnable level. In true kayaker fashion, we started heading up the valley at around 3pm.

To put on this river, you park your truck at the take out and hike your boat up the entire length of the section you are going to run. The trail is pretty much creekside, so you can scout the run on your way up and get a decent feel for it. All in all, the run is not too hard, mostly IV+ rapids with some clutch moves to make.

Chris Baer on the Hike Up

As you can see from the photo above, the river pretty much falls off and into the valley. It feels like you are going to magically appear in the valley below around each bend.

Bryan Kirk taking in the Putin Rapid

The putin is pretty awesome. Apparently, the river left falls has been run by Demshitz and a few other crews. It lands in shallow water and the run-out makes you run a mandatory knarly 6′ sloped pour-over with a huge boil backing it up. We chose to skip the mankiddy mank and just run the fun stuff below that.

Bryan boofing at the top of the slide

Chris Baer runs the Putin Slide

Chris finishing the rapid with a sweet 8' boof

Further downstream has various IV+ rapids, some which merit a quick look. Lots of fun boogie water with spectacular scenery.

Bryan Kirk boofs one of the drops in the middle of the run

The run out of that drop. There's a bad siphon on river right further upstream

Chris Baer running the takeout 25 footer

Right below the cars at the takeout is a sweet 25 footer. Chris went a bit more vertical here than he would have liked, but came out alright.

Below the takeout drop. Very nice!

The Turbio is a super cool place. Just one more reason why Chile is the promised land…

I am trying to catch up with my posts here (a seven month lag isn’t that bad, right?). To see more photos from this trip, visit my Picasa Web Album.

Cheers,

-Adam Johnson

How many carabiners do you carry with you while you are on the river? Enough to get you out of a tight spot? I bet not.

Many of the people I paddle with, in addition to myself, have trouble carrying enough safety gear with them on the river. There are a number of reasons for this, among them:

• Safety gear is heavy
• You use it once in a blue moon
• It’s often expensive
• “How do I make a Z-Drag again?”

When boaters are creeking, it often involves hiking with kayaks to someplace exotic and far away. Sometimes there is more hiking that boating done; however, that is part of the territory. Therein lies why we skimp on gear that we should have: We simply don’t want to carry it.

The truth is that, with the right knowledge, training, and the right gear, you can safely cut down on the amount of gear you need to take to the river without sacrificing safety.

4 Safety Things You Should Know:

1. Know how to tie a prusik (if you do, you also know how to ascend a fixed rope, you just put two prussiks on a rope, attach one to yourself [harness] and up you go).
2. Know how to set up a Z-Drag in under 2 minutes (Rope to boat, to anchor, to prusik; 2 carabiners, 1 stuck object, 2 prusiks, 1 throw rope, 1 rock or tree).
3. Safety hardware can be vulnurable to imact damage (dropping it, chucking it to a friend below a drop, etc). Baby it.
4. Hard and Soft safety gear (eg: carabiners and prusiks) are generally not friends with water. Try to keep them dry (or, at least, try to keep the soft gear dry). It’ll give you peace of mind when you are hanging off a cliff from your prusik and not wondering “Oh boy, I should have replaced this thing a long long time ago…” Old nalgene bottles are great for this.

So, how many carabiners should you have with you while boating?

That depends on your rescue knowlege; however, a safe number would be at least 5 (2 of those should be locking ‘biners). I can hear what you’re saying, “Five?!? That is a lot. I surely don’t need that many ‘biners…” The truth is, you likely will.

The Scenario:

Let’s say you are trying to exit a gorge and there is some moderate climbing involved. You are likely going to need 2-3 biners for the anchor (1-2 lockers if you are doing a correct top-rope setup), a biner for your belay device (locking), and a biner or two for your friends down below (guess what, they don’t have enough carabiners for themselves. Whodathunkit?). There are 4-5 carabiners at the drop of a hat. We’re not even thinking of hauling up boats or any other miscellaneous s&(# that needs carabiners. This scenario could be reversed for descending into a canyon.

Buy more carabiners:

In any rescue situation, carabiners seem to be in need more than anything else. If you are looking for some cheap, well-made, light carabiners, check out these Omega Wire Gate carabiners. At the time of this writing (March 2010), they were a mere $4 each. Not bad. Update: Those carabiners are currently out of stock, but a quick Google Product search reveals similar results.

I hope that helps some people and maybe encourages you to pick up a few extra carabiners at the very least. Remember to inspect your safety gear regularly. Lord knows that kayakers treat that stuff like garbage. Get on it! You could be putting your life in its hands soon.

What do I carry?

When creeking, I have (at a minimum) gear to rappel, gear to ascend (2 locking biners, 4 regular biners, 1 prusik to make a harness with, one 4′ prusik, and one 2′ prusik), a small med kit, and 1-2 more random prusiks, two safety blankets, matches, a lighter, and a throw bag. When not boating familiar rivers, I will usually bring a breakdown paddle. Note that if you don’t know how to tie a munter hitch to belay with, a belay/rappel device would be a recommended addition to this list.

That’s it for this post. Got your own safety tip? Post it in the comments section below.

Cheers,

-Adam Johnson

After spending several weeks in Pucon, it was time to venture outside of the immediate creeking wonderland (what EG calls “Babylon”) and onto rivers farther south.

We knew that the water was holding well in Pucon; however, we had heard reports from Aniol Serrasoles that their group had run things like Nilahue and the Gol Gol a week or so before we got there. On our way, we stopped to check out the Nilahue nearby the town of Los Riscos (?). It was high. Real high.

Cascada Nilahue at High Water

Just for some perspective, here is a photo of when we ran it the previous year at lower water:

Nilahue from last year. Notice the lack of water coming in from river left.

A cool panorama from last year can be seen here. Compare that to the photos from above. Much lower water!

Needless to say, we bailed on running Nilahue on sight. That said, Aniol and his crew ran it high. Check out the photos from his trip. That could possibly be the highest anyone has ever run that drop since it has been a steep slide. I would double check with Rodrigo and the Garcia’s on that one though…

So, we pushed onward to the Florine, super late in the day–around 4pm. The putin/takeout is at a hotsprings where you can camp. All you have to do is bring something to mow on after the river.

We got geared up, and began hiking from the takeout 1-2 miles up to the putin. Jared Seiler was the only one to have run the Florine before, and he was our tour guide (thanks for coming out bud). When we got up about halfway to the river, we saw it from a distance. Jared said something like, “Wow, that looks hiiiigh. Maybe like 2.5x the water I had last time.” When Demshitz says something is high, you know that sh*# is stout.

After lots of deliberation about factors not contributing to our situation (it was about 5pm at this point, putting on a river with 2.5x the normal flow, and not knowing exactly where to go nor the lines), we pushed ahead in true Demshitz style to the put-in.

After we put-on, there were a couple of class III-IV boulder gardens, then the river started to gorge up. We ran one right to left 10′ boof, then came upon this stout:

Florine Double Drop, high water.

This drop looked gnarly! It looked as if you would plug in on river left, get beat on by the curtain on river right, flip, and careen straight down off the left side at the base into rocks. We were all atop of this drop thinking, “Those Spaniards ran this?? Must have been lower water… Had to have been lower water.” So, we decided to portage. Jared said normally you just go on the river right and portage; however, there was water flowing into exactly where the portage was, so we climbed out of the left into some Chilean gnar woods.

Portaging the 1st big rapid on the Florin

After some exploration and weed wacking we arrived back down at river level. We were above a cool 30′ slide…

Isaac Levinson about to run the slide, notice the stout above.

Isaac runs the Florin Slide

Directly after the slide was the big hitter for the day, the 50 footer. I waited for Chris Baer who was shooting photos to grease the slide, then proceeded to get out to scout the 50′ drop.

Slide from the bottom, Jared about to probe the 50 footer.

As I was getting out to look at the 50′ Jared was already heading back to his boat to run the waterfall. I said something like, “Already?” and he smiled and passed by focused on what he was about to do.

Jared Seiler, Professional Whitewater Probe for Hire

Chris Baer on the 50'

Bryan getting footage with his HD helmet camera

Isaac about to drop in.

Isaac and I decided to chuck our paddles so we didn’t break them. This is another classic Chilean waterfall for paddle hucking–large pool at the bottom with good friends to help you get your stuff back. Both Isaac and I had successful runs, with a hit at the bottom that was somewhere between soft to medium.

The 50 footer from the bottom

One thing I learned after running this waterfall, along with the other large pluggers in Chile, is that I don’t think I will be wearing my elbow pads any longer (sans any impact danger) for large drops. For some reason–counter to what one would think– they end up at the bottom of my arms. Almost lost one of them on the Stout 70′ on the Palguin. Figures just to stash them in the boat until afterward…

So, after running a total of three drops, we took out on river right (note that if you go in there) to avoid another reportedly gnarly portage. We climbed out of the gorge about 400 vert, and found ourselves in this dreamy field…

The picturesque field on the Florin canyon rim

Note: If you run the Florin and take out here, it is best to hike back up to the top, cross the bridge, and hike back down the road you came in on. Unfortunately for us, we began hiking downstream, hiking, hiking, hiking…

The crew not sure where to go, but loving the scenery

Eventually, we hiked downstream enough to cross the river and get back to the road.

Chilling after about two hours of hiking with kayaks.

Overall, the Florin is a fun time, but you might not want to do it more than once per year–especially if you don’t know where exactly you are going. It looks like Chris Baer + company went back in there for a second round after I left Chile. Check out his blog for some epic photos. That guy has a good eye.

That is it for the moment. Hopefully one day I will get caught up with this trip. As of right now I’m in Morgantown, WV and it is about 20 degrees with 2.5′ of snow on the ground. Fun times.

Until next time,

-Adam Johnson

Have you ever wondered how to pack your breakdown paddle in your kayak? Have you ever swam and lost things out of the back of your boat? A breakdown paddle is a costly item ($200+ each), and you don’t want yours to be found on the bottom of the river. This guide will tell you how you can package your breakdown so that when you put it in the back of your boat, it stays there. In the unlikely event it gets loose, this method will enable your breakdown to float on the water’s surface for easy retrieval.

What you’ll need:

1. Breakdown paddle (obvously). If you are looking into getting a breakdown paddle, go for a 4 piece. It is the easiest to get in the back of the boat. An extra tip: Wildwasser sells a “Take Apart Kit” that can make an old paddle into a breakdown.
2. Duct tape
3. Foam. Anything that you can shape will do. Just be sure that you have enough to float your blades and you can attach it with relative ease.
4. Mesh bag. –Really, this can be any bag that is light and sturdy. Note that it must be able to close and also must have some way to attach it to the boat.

Pretty simple list really. Now, here is how to save yourself from loosing $200…

How it’s done:

1. Get all of the materials together and start to shape the foam. Cut the minicell foam so that it is flat enough to tape to your paddle blades. 1/2″ is probably good. Get one piece for each paddle blade.

Cut some minicell foam so it's flat

2. Now that you have your foam cut up, take the duct tape and attach each piece of foam to each paddle blade.

Make sure you tape it so it'll stay on there in the event of a swim.

3. If you haven’t done so already, take a sharpie and write your name and number on the paddle blades.

Paddle insurance made simple.

4. Now that you have each blade foam-ified, get some scraps from the foam you cut and tape those to the shafts of the breakdown. Be sure to make it all one united product.

Don't forget to tape foam to the paddle shaft as well.

5. Now that you have each item ready to go, duct tape all three items together.

Tape the system together. As they say, "If you can't duck it..."

6. Insert the deal into your mesh bag.

All wrapped up. Don't forget to tie the drawstring if applicable.

7. The last thing to remember is to actually tie your paddle into your kayak now that you have gone through this tutorial. That way it’ll stay in there in the event of a swim (and yes, they do come out!). In this case, you have CYA’ed because it’ll still float even if it comes out of the bag.

And that is all she wrote. Not really anything hard to do at all. Many people just duct tape their paddle together and when/if they swim, it sinks straight to the bottom of the river never to be seen again. Even if you have to pull this thing out to use it, you can just stuff the foam and duct tape into the bag and bust out the backup paddle. All in all, not a bad deal.

Got suggestions? Leave them in the comments of this post.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Chilean wonderland…

-Adam Johnson

So you are wondering how to combine a series or sequence of successive shots into one. How do you do this? Read on…

They are done in Photoshop. Here is what I do:

1. Open Adobe Bridge (comes with PS). Highlight the desired photos, right click, open (alternatively, you could open each photo in Windows Explorer manually by right clicking each image and saying Open With -> Photoshop)

2. In PS (PhotoShop), go to Window -> Arrange -> Tile

3. Now that your images are “tiled” in front of you, choose which image you want to drag the other ones into (lets say the one on the top left).

4. With the Move Tool (the black arrow), open your layers palette, and drag the “Background” layer from each photo to the upper left window/photo.  This automatically lines the image up on top of the original/background and makes it super simple. Repeat this step for all of your images.

5. Now that your images are all in the same document, close the ones you don’t need anymore.

6. Now the tricky part: We have to tell PS what to show on each layer (now, each layer is stacked on top of each other, and we cannot see each photo, only the top photo/layer). We are going to enable PS to show only the paddler in each photo (minus the lowest level layer, likely called “Background”). We are going to do this by using layer masks. SO, select the layer you want to edit, then click the following button in the layers palette:

Add Layer Mask Button

7. Press the letter “D” on your keyboard. This resets your colors to the defaults (black and white).

8. Click on the layer mask / white box. Make sure it’s highlighted. It should look like this:

Notice the black outline of the box, this is what you want

9. Make a note of where the paddler is (I usually place my cursor over the paddler at this point).

10. On your keyboard, hit Control + Backspace ( Command + Backspace on the Mac). This fills the layer mask with black and will make the current layer invisible. Don’t worry, this is what we want.

11. On your keyboard, hit the letter “B” for brush.

12. “Paint” over where the paddler used to be (the foreground color should automatically be white). The paddler will magically appear. (Note: As you paint, look at what your mask is doing. Black is turning to white to reveal what is on that layer. Pure magic it is).

Notice the white in the middle. That is from our brush tool. It reveals only that part of this particular layer.

13. Repeat steps 6-12 for each layer. Now that you have done the first one, the following layers should be a breeze.

TIP: You can edit the opacity and size of your brush at the top of your window. You can also zoom in or even move the layer with the move tool to line it up better (since your boating buddies likely moved the camera when they took the shots. Imbeciles!) .

14. Once you are satisfied with what you see, go to File -> Save as… -> yourfilename.psd . NOTE: Be SURE to check “As a Copy” so you don’t write over your original image. Also, make sure to save a PSD so you can edit it later.

15. You are undoubtedly going to want a jpg right? Do the same steps as in step 14, but select .jpg instead of Photoshop PSD.

DONE. Well made. Your first whitewater photo compilation. How do you feel?

If  you feel something needs to be clarified, please let me know in the comments section and I will update this post.

Happy Photoshopping,

-Adam Johnson

The Rio Desahue is another one of Pucon’s classic whitewater runs. The river runs via the overflow from a lake just upstream of the put-in. Because of this, the rocks in the Desahue are SHARP. Many boats have been broken on this river.

Did I mention the rock was sharp?

The Desahue has one rapid on it called “Ass Breaker” which is basically an 8′ vertical drop onto rocks. The first time Bryan Kirk ran it, he claimed his ass hurt for over a week afterwards. He portaged it the next time he ran the river.

Anton Imler about to break his kayak on "Ass Breaker"

On our second run down the Desahue, we followed Anton. He swore that he knew the line through Ass Breaker and garenteed us safe passage. Bryan bailed but I followed suit. Whodathunk that Anton connected with the rock hard and broke his kayak (and his ass). I followed right behind him and hit the rock fairly hard. Moral of the story, take the easy portage on river left!

At the very end of the run, there is a tourist attraction known as Los Ojos de Carburga–a 30′ clean waterfall. This was earlier on in our run and we made a couple of laps on the Ojos. A very picturesque drop…

Los Ojos from the bottom.

Evan Garcia recently put together a video of the Desahue. Check the Desahue video out here. The Garcia’s rental house happens to be in the middle of the Desahue run. They can take out and walk to their front yard with little effort. More posts from EG here.

That’s it for now. Keep checking back for more. Cheers,

-Adam

This series is again from the Rio Nevado. Photo’s courtesy of Bryan Kirk. This is one crazy weird boof. That shelf that comes in on river right causes you to flip unless you are ready for it. In this sequence, I tried to lift my edge up whilst airborne so that I did not flip when I landed. Mission = Failed. I rolled up at the bottom.

As a side note: Would you like to learn how to do these image compilations? If so, please let me know in the comments of this post.

Cheers,

-Adam Johnson