Chilling in Cali

The past two weeks have been pretty much nonstop out here. After cheat fest I drove back to PA, then left that monday to head across the country. I stopped in Ohio and Kansas before making to Gunnison, where i met up with Demshitz  Jared Seiler, Dave Fusili, Jeremy Lauks and Nicole Mansfield to hop in the Pyranha van and head to the Reno River Festival. 

Reno was tons of fun- got to meet a load of new friends and catch up with some old ones. I ended up "competing" in the open freestyle- didn't make it to finals but had fun anyways. Jared wasn't competing due to injuring his ribs on the Big Sandy the week prior. Dave and Jeremy put in valient efforts in both the freestyle and the boater cross- with Jeremy getting an unfortunate disqualification in the semi finals. 

After Reno it was off to Cali to start creeking- another nonstop mission! The boys ran Kimchu Creek our first day in Cali, then we met up with Shannon Carroll, Chris Korbulick and Team Hobo (Fred Norquist and Jake Sakson) among others to run the South Branch of the Feather. It was an amazing day- lots of waterfalls and lots of fun ending with a sweet 50 footer and a mank hike out of the gorge. The next day I chilled out and ran shuttle with half our team went and ran the lower section of the south branch- proclaiming the hour long portage worth it for sure. 

From there, Team Demshitz and i put on the middle fork of the feather for a three day "moderate class 5" overnighter. The river and the gorge were beautiful, and the trip was tons of fun, even if i did get my ass whooped. Even though the river reminded me a lot of Nepal, Paddling out in Cali is different for sure- as creeking is different from playboating even in the type of gear that you need.  

I've been borrowing a Diesel 70 from a friend for the past week, and while the boat handles well, i would definitely appreciate a smaller boat- especially when loaded up with overnight gear. Proper outfitting and, as i've learned = a longer paddle would also be helpful. Even so, i've been learning loads and hope to keep on creeking, maybe come back here next year and kill it. 

Paddling out here has been eye opening, and loads of fun- while, as Jared put it "taking an AP class in creek boating".  I'll try and get photos up soon, but check out the team Pyranha blog and Jeremy's website www.chasingrain.com for more updates and photos.