The Composite Playboat

Buena Vista Pro Rodeo.

So, after a heinous drive across Kansas, totally solo (the only things to talk to were the bugs on my windscreen) I made it to Colorado. Nothing exciting happened during the drive, thankfully, but when I got to Buena Vista I realized really how low the water was this year. This is a vast difference between the 175% snow pack they had last year and the 70% snow pack that they have this year. 

Looping the very light composite boat

Shane had surprised me with a brand spankin new composite boat just in time for me to make the trek west. Its not a biscuit and it paddles like nothing I have ever paddled before. But I can say one thing, I could do some massive loops in it!!

Jordan going for a space godzilla

 Jordan did super well, as always, in both C-1 and K-1 juniors. He was flying just as high as I was and loving the light boat. The feature was a tad small this year.... but we all made it work.

Finals ride, huge space godzilla

 Going into finals I was second behind Ruth Gordon, who is a past world champion and Claire O'hara was in fourth who is the present world champion. My first ride I did everything I could in the feature within the first 30 seconds, a massive loop, a huge space godzilla, another space godzilla, and some spins. I scored my highest ride of my life which was a 360 and that put me really comfortably in first place!!

My sparkly masterpiece by Shane Benedict

 Claire had an awesome second ride and she was getting really close to getting her McNasty's. She ended up tieing me for first place. I was stoked to be able to know that I could keep up with these two powerhouses of freestyle.

Winner!!!

In the end, the judges averaged out our Claire and I's scores and I had won the rodeo. It was my first ever pro rodeo that I had won in my whole life!!! I was super happy to have been able to share the eddy with all the awesome people in Buena Vista Colorado and will be sure to come back next year!!

I want to thank Byron Dorr for the awesome photos that he shot, check out his page www.exploringelements.com

He has full coverage of the event on there, check it out!!

Im super stoked on this new playboat and so happy that Shane has made it happen! Keep your eyes out for posts for this coming weekend which is the Teva Mountain Games in Vail Colorado!!

The Simple Life... Grand Canyon Self Support

Carpooling to Lees Ferry (the put in) my mind was racing; "Do I have everything I need? Will my body agree with paddling 20-30 miles a day? Do I have the mental and physical strength to paddle 280 miles to Lake Mead?" Eight hours later, I realized that all my thoughts would become reality in less than 24 hours. No more questions, time to enjoy the trip and stop planning.

Back in September I hurt my shoulder flying off my mountain bike, so I was a little nervous about my shoulder's strength. I, however, kept in shape by running, pilates, and lots of bodywork on my shoulder. The river was running 20,000 cfs so I knew I could always just go with the flow and use the water to get me down. Luckily my intuition was right, and my body felt strong as soon as I put my paddle in the Colorado River.

The weather was absolutely perfect; 60 degrees and sunny. I almost felt overdressed in my Kokatat dry-suit with built-in booties over my fleece outfit, but as soon as we hit the first rapid, Badger Creek, I was happy that I had a sweet Gortex suit dry-suit protecting me from the cold big water. I was glad to have a pee zipper on the back. My first Grand trip I had no relief zipper, and it became a 20-minute adventure of taking off the dry-suit. A back relief zipper takes less than one minute.

Full of anticipation on what the Grand was going to offer us, we stopped at mile 17 to camp. The days in November are short, so I scrambled to find that perfect spot for the tent. Opening the dry bags for the 1st night is somewhat nerve racking. The question, "Do I have everything?" popped into my head. I started setting up my tent, sleeping stuff, and pulled out dinner supplies. Yes, I remembered everything, at least I thought. Having a big group is always a pro to a self-support trip, because there is an option to trade supplies and food. The freedom of kayaking or hiking when and where you want is grand, however supporting others in the group is priority in having a successful trip.

Having a group that you can trust is key; looking out for others paddling is important on a long self-support trip. At times the rapids actually felt easier than the big boil lines that like to pull the stern into the vortex of the tornado-looking water. Staying healthy and strong is also huge in paddling 20-30 miles a day. I have come to realize after 10 years of paddling, that most kayakers are humble and trust worthy people. I was happy that the group of gals and men on this trip were amazing people. Having 5 other gals to talk to about our past paddling adventures gave us an instant bond.

As the days passed by, the routine of getting up, pooing, making breakfast, packing up the kayak (takes about 20 min), and paddling another 20 miles to a badass hike or camp became a zen-like experience. The simplicity of a self-support trip made me fall in to rhythm of what my ancestors may have experienced. No cell phone, no drama, no deadlines, just pure living. I started to notice the rocks, the walls, the animals living in a complete present time. Looking at the stars between high canyon walls, with absolutely complete quietness made my mind silent for the first time.

The night before Lava, the group brought out many drinks to share, we had treasure hunts stashed for our group so we never ran out of merry drinks, and water. Whenever, I ran out of water I simply purified the water from the Colorado, and so far I feel great. On chilly nights, I put the boiled (purified) water in a nalgene in my sleeping bag for instant warmth. In the morning the water was cool enough to drink. Hydration is key to stay healthy and strong.

The next day we started paddling downstream to the well-known rapid, Lava at mile 180. Having 3 people in the group who have paddled the Grand before, brought old stories back from this rapid. Yet at the same time, the past seemed like a fuzzy dream. Most of the group skirted the left, and a few went right. We had one swimmer, and she kept her paddle, and boat together. She, stayed warm wearing a dry-suit, and the river's power humbled our souls. we paddled a few more miles and came upon a rafting group hanging out on a sunny beach. They were about to have some bootie beers (an old boater tradition, if you swim you must drink a beer from a bootie), we decided to join them. Our group of kayakers and rafters enjoyed cold drinks for at least an hour together.

The next few days, blew by. The rhythm of packing, and unpacking our kayaks became effortless as space opened up in our boats. I realized, after the 9th day that I over-packed food, since I still had a full dry bag of dehydrated beans and rice. The only things I finally realized I forgot were tortillas and socks. I traded gorp for tortillas, and luckily my good friend Lana, let me use a fresh pair of socks for a long hike.

I also figured out the easiest way to pack my boat. Here is a quick rundown...

Put the big yellow dry bag in the front (sleeping bag and thermo rest), shove canned chicken, purifier, and pan behind the foot pegs.

-Put groover in next and press with all my strength against the other dry bag to fit my water bottle in.

-Pack the back crevasses with fuel, canned food, and sandals.

-Put tent and poles into the back hatch area, along with 4 other small dry bags. Press hatch down with full strength.

-Put plastic box with day supplies in the back of the seat as well as, two other small dry bags that contain day supplies (food, hiking shoes, camera, sunglasses, first aid kit, and hair conditioner that I applied daily before paddling).

-That's it, takes about 15-20 minutes and a cup of coffee to load about 80 pounds of gear.

The last 2 days we had 40 miles of flat water, I was excited to see the Lower Granite Gorge past Diamond Creek. The rapids that started off the canyon, were beautiful and long. As soon as we hit the flat water, we realized the impact of Lake Mead: 10 foot silt banks, lined the river walls, and rapids disappeared. Looking for the last campsite became and adventure due to rain and no available campsites. I learned patience is a true virtue. We luckily found a campsite that sat upon about a 20-foot bank. We pulled each kayak up with a 75-foot rope, and it became a team effort that made us appreciate each day we had a perfect campsite and sunny skies.

Finishing off most of the drinks and food that night, we all had a feeling of true accomplishment.

A week later, I look back at this trip and, ask myself, What is the purpose of a self-support kayaking trip? I realize that my life can be claustrophobically filled with drama, cell phones, computers, TV, and Americanized material things. The irony of feeling opportunity and openness in between the deep narrowness of the Grand Canyon walls answered my question.

The answer is...Simplicity of life brings true joy of survival.

Cheers-Lisa Marie

*If this is goal of yours, to self-support kayak down your favorite river, go do it. Plan, save, and achieve. It's well worth all the effort. I suggest starting with 2 days down your favorite river with a loaded boat. Then check out new rivers for extended days. Protect, share and enjoy! :)

The Elusive Left Line

Ok so I did tell everyone that I would do my next blog post on South Silver but I got a request to do a post on the Elusive left line of Sunshine. So here it is. I've been running the left line for a few years now with many different variations of the line. I started in a long boat and then slowly moved into being more comfortable in a short boat running it. Now that the rapid has changed, at the lower levels its actually more comfortable to go left than right for me. There's days where you have really really good lines like the one above. And...There's sometimes lines like the one above that hurt a bit more and aren't nearly as pretty.

So heres the deal. The left line is more scary than being in a cage with a Great White shark. Yes, I'm watching Shark Week. Ok, its not that scary. But there could be some bodily harm done if the line is messed up bad enough. Running too far in the middle could be a back breaker and too far left could mean hitting the left rock and breaking ribs, flipping right into the rock in the middle and hitting your head really hard. Here's a photo of Sunshine from the left side of the river with no water. You can kind of see the landing area on the lower left side of the photo. Its tight. Between the rock on the left and on the rock on the right you have to land just right to have a good soft line. These photos are just from the other day. I am coming out of the river right staging eddy with a little bit of speed but just enough to make sure that I will make it all the way across the river.
As you can tell from these photos I am really only taking one stroke. Its a really big right stroke. Making sure to keep my core taught and being sure to not drift downstream too far too early.

At this level, this photo shows a really good spot for the lineup of the rapid. I really like to have my right hip just on top of the last amount of water coming off of the rock. My left hip would at that point be on wet rock still but barely. Lining up the landing. Keeping my bow pointed straight or even a little to the left taking a right stroke. And launching off of the sweet spot!

So, there it is. My breakdown on the elusive left line. Hope you all learned a little bit!! For real now, next up a sweet blog on South Silver!!

See ya'll on the river.

Cali Goods, Part 1

So I got to head to California after an awesome trip to Colorado this year to not only do some awesome creeking but see one of my good friends, John Grace get married to the most awesomest woman ever. Toby McDermott and I loaded up my trusty Subaru and headed west into the sunset.

I think at this point I was almost sleeping and Toby woke me up from my slumber to see this amazing view... over the Oklahoma flatlands...

We took I-40 West the whole way, somewhere around 2300 miles later we found ourselves at the put in to the main Keweah. Everything was still pumping so Hospital Rock and the East Keweah were out of question, but there is nothing wrong with running some big water class 4 after an epic 40 hour drive.

We added to that drive by going further north and heading to the Whiskey Flat Bridge, the takeout to the Secret Stash on Big Kimshew. We had heard the flows were right and that it was going to drop out pretty soon so we rallied to get on it.

This was the end result of our load onto Jason Hales truck. Which also included 8 people. We ended up having a crew of 11 on the river with us.

People in California are so smart!! They all use Werner Paddles!!

Since the day was pretty much just full of mad bombing and making sure that we made it off the river before sundown there aren't many pictures of kayaking. Sadly. This is the Island Drop its the first (of very few) portage.

Since we were looking from above these were the only rapids that you could see on the drive up to the put in. To scale, that slot on the left was somewhere between 8 feet and 10 feet high. You roll around the corner and head right where you are sent off your first very nice 20 footer of the day. There was much more where that came from.

The only time that we really stopped was to hang out at Frenchies Forty. We ate some food and rehydrated. We were planning on going straight into the Secret Stash after we finished the run and we knew there were some big rapids in there.

Jason Hale, our fearless leader.

Myself, stoked at the end of the trip. Happy to be with such an awesome crew of people and stoked to have just run some of the biggest rapids of my life, blind. "You can only run a rapid blind once."

Big Kimshew into the Secret Stash is like starting on a micro creek way up in there and then you end on a full on river with some massive holes and some really rowdy lines to be made. There is no other river that I have ever been on that has given me this much bang for my buck. Super sick run.