Das Hagan Creeken

Let me just take a moment to tell you how excited I am about being done with this semester... I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy happy happy happy! :) I think that about does it. I am finally getting time to go paddling and that's about all I want to do. Today, after a few days of heavy rain...and I do mean heavy, Josh, myself and a few Hood River and PDX kayakers headed up to Hagan Creek.

I have been wanting to get back on Hagan for years now after my first time down it with the flu. Let me just say that I did more walking than paddling the first time down so I was stoked to return and actually paddle everything! Hagan is considered a class 4+/5 run and drops 260 fpm. The hard part with Hagan is there are no guarantees. Hagan doesn't have a gauge so you have to check the EF Lewis and Washougal to figure out how much water is in Hagan. It is also heavily impacted by freezing levels and with it being winter, we had to consider that. We managed to hit it while it was a medium, ish flow. Way more water than the last time I was on it. Perfect flow for clean lines and less elbow bashing! EF Lewis was at 3300 and the Washougal was at 3800 for your own reference.

There are four major drops on Hagan: Hagan Daaz, Euphoria Falls, Teakettle Falls, and Crack in the Earth. For a full, comprehensive write up, check outhttp://www.oregonkayaking.net/creekframe.html . Jason Rackley has a bomber site for us, Oregon paddlers to use. He pretty much rocks my stinky socks...

Please note-the memory card filled up above Teakettle and Crack in the Earth so I supplemented the head-cam with footage from our handheld camera :) Enjoy!

Below: Snug as bugs in a rug

Below: our crew chillaxin'

Below: Me runnin' Hagan Daaz

Below: Nick Jacob rockin' the Remix on Crack in the Earth

My view through Euphoria...

This is definitely one of my favorite creeks in the Pacific Northwest. Quality drops SO close to home. Amazing. I wish it ran more often but that's part of the charm :)

Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas and out on the river enjoying the winter!

Stay tuned for photos from my trip down Copper Creek!

Merry Christmas!

-Christina

Tis the Season for Kayaking!

Behold! My BEAutiful Christmas tree. I'm particularly fond of this one as the bubble lights are on and working. :) You can't have a Christmas tree without the bubble lights. You also can't have winter without the paddling...or gingerbread cookies (but I'm behind on the cookies).

Last week I headed on up to the East Fork of the Lewis River for some fun in the sun....er...rain. Yep. It's the Pacific Northwest and in the winter, it rains everyday. WOO HOO! This means that although we all look like we haven't seen sun in years, we have SWEET paddling...everywhere. Anywho, last week I drove up to the EF for some good ol' class 4,4+. We were hoping that flows would stay high enough to run Copper Creek to EF but they dropped off too fast. BUt EF still seemed like a good idea. The flow was about 1600 cfs which meant that the gorge would be fun for sure and last time I ran this, I didn't get to run Horseshoe Falls...I have a bad habit of breaking things and that time, I broke my fingers :( (Not pottery class for weeks). Here is a vid that Josh put together since the helmet cam was firmly mounted on his noggin. Enjoy! :)

East Fork Lewis River, Washington from Josh Mckeown on Vimeo.

(Below) Das put-in

(Below) a pretty fuzzy photo of Sunset Falls thanks to the mist
(Below) Me catching my boat as it attempted to run the falls without me...how embarrassing BAHAHA
(Below) Me on Horseshoe Falls
(Below) Just had to post this...pretty shot
(Below) Chris at the bottom

This is my "dead week" which we all know isn't really "dead". I still had class and am studying my bum off for finals on Monday. BUT, I can be excited because on Tuesday and Wednesday I'm goin' boatin'! :D

Stay Moldy out there and don't forget to get some sun....

-Tina Tina Bo Bina

PS In the event of a spontaneous Monopoly game...I'm ready with ma money!

Thanksgiving Day Paddle

Last week, I got to spend Thanksgiving with Josh's family in Bend. Fortunately (and unfortunatly) we were going home in the middle of the first big snow storm of the season. My sis and I followed eachother down hwy 197 and were confronted with some of the worst black ice I have ever driven on. UGH. I was convinced we were going to slide off the road several times. Felt great to hit snowpacked roads as opposed to ice. As we all know, nothing can help you with driving on ice....other than going SLOW. 5 hours of driving later and we were soaking in the hot tub while the snow fell....pretty awesome start to the holiday!

On Thanksgiving day, we woke up to clear skies and 18 degrees. We decided to celebrate Turkey day in the best way we know how...kayaking! :) We opted to run Riverhouse as we guessed Dillon and Lava would have been snowed in. over 2 feet were up there and we didn't feel like getting our vehicles stuck!
In true Thanksgiving spirit, here is a joke for ya that I'm particularly fond of :

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. Theparrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious
and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to
change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only
polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could
think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.
The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and theparrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation,
threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the
freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked
and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet.
Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened
the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out
onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I
may have offended you with my rude language and
actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate
transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I canto correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a
dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very
softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The view at Josh's house

Josh trying to "get to the river"

"I'm comin in hot!"

Me on Ogre

It's official: winter is here!

I am almost to finals week and the boats are permanently on the roof of my car. FINALLY!!!!! I have one more semester to go before my capstone and it couldn't come any sooner. I am over it. What I'm trying to say is that there will be more posts from me over my winter break :) I know how to paddle? ;) Stay warm out there and enjoy the season!

-Christina