Itching for some ditching!!!

Itching for some ditching!
By:Christina Russell



What do you do when you NEED To go kayaking? When every bone in your body is itching to boat? Leave that cubicle of work behind and hit the road jack!

A couple weeks ago it felt as though I had not been kayaking for ages...though it had only been a
one week hiatus. I decided that after a busy week at college it was time to take a road trip for some play :)....

I am new to the Boise area and though I have paddled alot here in Idaho, I'm not familiar enough with the flows. In a span of a few minutes time, i had figured out that A: no one was available to paddle. B: There were no playspots in (levels dropped faster than anticipated)and C: People were urged to stay inside because of the intense smoke (a 200,000 acre fire in Montana generously donated its smoke to Idaho.)

Alright...still cant stop me from boating! I made my gear baby (thank you Amy Lundstrom!)and grabbed the essentials. Essentials to me is defined as food (and lots of it), music, my co-pilot Wiggles *who I will introduce momentarily* and of course my gear. In general I think kayaking is best when you HAVE your boat!

Here is my co-pilot Wiggles. He is a fuzzy jellyfish who has adopted the dashboard of my car as his permanent home. Whats so great about Wiggles? He shuts-up when he knows he's wrong and never argues about my music choice...PERFECT-


After making a few phone calls, I decided to head to a ditch known as "The Gutter". My sister and I always hit the Gutter in the summer-Break out the snacks, music, and hit it! The playspot is in Horseshoe Bend and is one of three waves/holes in a canal. The Bladder is nextdoor... this inflatable dam creates the famous "Rubber Wave" when flows are high.

Supposedly the Gutter wasn't in, but no one at Idaho River Sports had been up there recently. Psh! I decided to go anyways and maybe I would hit a surf wave on the main Payette as well.


Sunrise over the hills near the Payette-


I headed out from good ol' Anderson Dorm of Albertson College at around 9 AM. The sunrise was gorgeous...smoke CAN be good sometimes. It was my first time back to the Gutter in a year and well...I had to ask for directions a couple times. Atleast Im not afraid to ask! Anyhoo I avoided the traffic jams that frequent the road to Horseshoe Bend and arrived at around 10 to find.....



I know what you're thinking...looks shallow right? Let me just put it this way...at the time I was paddling a Fun 1.5 and each time I tried to cartwheel, I hit the cement bottom. Not cool. The other two playspots were washed out so I worked on flatwater cartwheeling, stalls, and zero to hero's. No matter that the playspot wasn't in, I was in my boat and that's what mattered.

By the time I had pooped myself out, it was around 2 in the afternoon. I had heard that Climax wave might be in so I migrated up the road a bit. Unfortunatly it wasn't in either....time to head back I decided.

Though the trip was a "bust" in that nothing was in, I still had an awesome time. I grabbed a pint of Ben and Jerry's Brownie Batter icecream before heading back....mmmmmmm mmmmmm. It's the simple things ya know?!

In the spring when the Gutter and Climax come in, you know where i'll be! Christina over and out!

Ok time for a terrible joke...just cuz I can:

What did one strawberry say to another?

"If you weren't so sweet, we wouldn't be in this jam!" he he he he he