AIRE Blog

Late Season, Low Water Inflatable Kayaking… Anyone?

Devon Barker is a rippin' pro kayaker and does the human race proud with her positive outlook on life. We at AIRE all got a kick out of this write up when she sent it to us about a month ago.  When I asked her if I could post the story to our blog she said, "You bet you can use the write up and photos...Thanks a million millions."  

Here is her write up  ~ enjoy!

 

"Late Season, Low Water Inflatable kayaking… anyone?
 
Ten years ago you would most likely finding me overnighting in my IK on the Selway, Owyhee, Big Creek or any low volume, remote creek accessible by plane.  I bought an IK as it was much easier to fly in small planes in the Idaho backcountry than it was with my creek boat.  Today, you will usually find me on a surfwave, but a few days ago I put in on the South Fork of the Salmon River at the confluence of the Secesh and the East Fork of the Salmon River with my brother, Jon.  
 


This was a spur of the moment trip as my brother called at 2:30 pm suggesting we should go paddle but he had no gear.  He just stepped out of a meeting in Boise, Idaho and said, “Let’s go, call the plane, and can I borrow some gear?” I outfitted him in my women’s NRS paddling gear.  He stopped at Sub Way for our food and I scrambled to find gear, a shuttle drive, a dog sitter, and book a flight before 5 pm all in route to going paddle at Kelly’s Whitewater Park.  We left this next morning at 6:30 with my friend Carolyn driving shuttle.
 
The South Fork is a great run with more than a dozen class 4 rapids at 2.1 feet.  The gauge is http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/current/?type=flow  The reading is above the Secesh and the East Fork so we estimated we had about 600 cfs, 32 miles, and 43 fpm.  I have paddled this run down to .5 feet and as high as 5.5 feet.  If you are looking for a fall trip this is a must do.
 


There are only four named rapids with a fifth, No Name, in between but there are tons of great rapids the entire run.  Devils Creek is the first larger rapid.  We came upon a black bear and her cub playing on the beach after exiting one of the many boulder choked rapids.  The granite boulders loom above you as you thread between their passages.  As you reach the confluence with the Salmon River take the sneak around the island to the right and eddy hop up to MacKay Bar airstrip.
 
A somewhat easier trip is the Selway River after permit season ends August 1st.  Flying into Shear airstrip is my favorite as you paddle most of the river.  Moose Creek is great as well but the haul to the river is much longer.   A 206 can usually take 3 paddlers and IKs.  Or it can take 2 creek boat and 2 people but you have to let the pilot know before you fly as they usually have to take out the co-pilot seat & take out the back bulk head to accommodate creek boats.  Then passengers all sit on the left behind the pilot.  This has to be done before they leave the airport so if you are flying the take-out don’t forget to do this ahead or you will be stuck at the air strip.


 
Wanting to flying in small planes began in high school as my ski coaches owned McCall Air Taxi and flew all over the back country. Mike Dorris understood when I called him up late season to fly my shuttles.  The flight out of MacKay Bar was exhilarating but a little bumpy. Twenty-five minutes later I stepped out of the plane in McCall, my home and the SF my backyard.  Do you have two days?  Come paddle the SF, I’ll join you!
Devon"

A Theory on Utahans and a Little More About the Wave Destroyer

The drizzly rain turned to snow as we rounded the muddy corner down to the Boundary Creek put-in.  It was an early Spring morning, I had a good caffeine buzz in my veins and despite the snow, I was actually feeling a little relieved.  Relieved that the old Jeep was able to get from Boise to the put-in with a heavy trailer full of gear, relived that the cold weather was holding off the inevitable high water season on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and relieved to be out of the office.   

 After three years with AIRE,  I’m little embarrassed to admit that this particular Middle Fork trip was my very first time rowing a Cataraft.  (Heresy, I know.) With a background in paddle guiding and kayaking, I had never taken the opportunity to row a Cat, or row much at all really. 

Put-ins are, by nature, a pain and specifically designed to suck the patience right out of you, the Boundary Creek put-in is no exception.  Yet, on this particular morning I was more focused on the beautiful red Wave Destroyer then on the two inches of mud I was standing in to rig up my light load.   As the boat and I were belayed down the world’s steepest ramp, I thought to myself, “It will be ok if you flip this trip, you are new at catarafting, people flip all the time. You have warm gear on, it will be ok”.  

 We had arrived at the put-in early in the morning with the intention of getting a few miles covered, that intention was slowly dashed out.  Some of our crew decided to take, what they thought was a short cut trail that was marked, “don’t take this trail” after parking the vehicles.  (This further confirmed my theory that the good people of Utah sometimes have a hard time paying attention to details. I first came up with this theory when I did a repair return for a very nice Utah man who, somehow, managed to run over his wifes kayak with a lawn mower). Hours later, after they scrambled around the other side of the ridge in neoprene booties and after we had sent the forest rangers to look for them, they finally came trudging down the trail to the put-in.  I was going to unleash my red-headed rage on them, but they looked like a bunch of starving wet cats, so I saved the red-head for the river.   We did one mile that first day, they did the dishes that night.  

 The Middle Fork was flowing around 4-5 feet (thank you, oh great river gods) and the Wave Destroyer was awesome.  My first few miles were spent fumbling with the oars and trying to reposition the seat so I could row and have somewhere to put my feet.  As I was thrashing around, the Cataraft just floated over everything. 

Instead of rowing really hard as I drop into the meat of Velvet Falls, I froze and thought, “here is my flip”, after a few seconds of side surfing the Wave Destroyer spit right out, upright, much to my surprise.  I manage to completely miss the move in Tappen Falls and, well, went into the hole sideways, again I made it out upright.  My rowing skills and confidence improved daily and the Wave Destroyer performed as if I was a seasoned pro.   By the last day of the trip, the rain let up, the sun broke out and I was able to put that boat where I wanted it, styling the lines and taking big hits. 

This Cataraftn’ rookie didn’t find herself in the icy spring runoff that trip, not because of skill, but because of the meticulous engineering that went into the design of the Wave Destroyer…(and the river not getting stupid huge).  

Peace,

Sheena 

 

 

 

 

A River Story by C.Jay Coles

Life is a good story, life on the river is a great story.  We want to here and share your river stories on our blog.  Email your photos and stories to photos@aire.com, info@aire.com or sheena.coles@aire.com.  If your story is picked for the blog, you can get some sweet AIRE shwag!

And now, a River Story...

The day was perfect for a run down the world famous Payette River in Idaho—hot! It had been awhile since I last went whitewater rafting and after the run on the canyon section I am left to ask myself, “What took so long?”

We began the run just after noon and it started off with a few teaser rapids, wave trains as they’re called (or something like that). These teasers gave our guide (who happened to be my brother) an opportunity to shout commands at us such as, “all forward!” or, “right forward, left back!” to see what and how our response would be. I think we responded well. Then the fun began. “Make sure we’re locked and loaded” I heard from the rear of the boat. Of course, this meant we were approaching a rapid that deserved our full attention. Our boat was getting closer and closer to the rushing whitewater and then, “ALL FORWARD!” My heart began pounding in my chest.

We all dug our paddles into the water hoping to propel our boat forward successfully without flipping and without swimming. Needless to say, it was intense. We made it successfully through the rapid and a few subsequent rapids listening to the guide’s commands and following them. We were approaching our lunch spot and I hear, “Now, this next rapid is the reason a few members of my family won’t let me take them down this section of river anymore. I took a class 4 line and slammed them into the wall.” Not very comforting words. One of the passengers in the boat asked, “What line will we take?” The guide responded, “ Class 3.”

He positioned the boat perfectly and we made it through the rapid successfully and then we were at our lunch spot. The energy lunch provided was much needed as the fiercest part of the run was up next. A few class 4 rapids in succession.  As one kayaker who was with us said, “Now the real fun begins.” And boy, was he right.  After lunch it was class 4 after class 4 with rapids such as Blackadar, Lower Blackadar, Lone Pine (named for the lone pine tree on the cliff above the rapid) and Surprise. I don’t know that my heart has pounded so hard for so long in my life. I loved it! Lets not forget the portage around Big Falls. What a spectacular rapid—how beautiful the river. Oh, and the cliff jumping! Groovy! We made it through our entire run without flipping and without any swimmers. Some might call that a success, some might not. At any rate, that entire run was a blast and the adrenaline was sure in abundance.

What I’m getting at with this story is how great the run was, how fun the experience. Thanks to AIRE for making such great products to allow us to enjoy this world in which we live—to put ourselves in places that only rafts can take us and see the beauty that can only be seen from river level. I suppose I shouldn’t wait so long next time to enjoy me some whitewater! Until then…

C.Jay Coles

Class V Swim Team

It wasn’t a very nice looking class V rapid at all.  It had some fairly serious swim consequence miles from a road or any help.  We scrambled along the bank of the river figuring out how to get our raft through the drop, round the rock and pass the munchy whitewater and logs below.   We scouted it, discussed it, and decided to run Double Drop on the Deadwood River, ID.  The drop was clean, we missed the raft tearing bundle of sticks at the top left of the drop but "around the rock" like we planned, didn’t really happen.  After back paddling like hell for a few strokes, I experienced the best highside of my life.  If you are ever in a highside situation, I strongly recommend doing it in a raft full of river guides. It was almost surreal how textbook it felt.  We were all on the rock with a paddle in one hand and the chicken line in the other.

 A second later the current took the raft which drug us like rag dolls off the rock.  I recall attempting to jump in the raft while still having my hand around the chicken line in a sort of acrobatic, aerial maneuver that, at some point, had my feet above my head.  It didn’t work very well and I was in the water.  My mind raced to the image of the rapid and the, “do not swim here or you will die on that log” conversation we had while scouting.   It was only for an instant, I still had my death grip on the line and had all ready scrambled half way into the boat.  I spent all of about 3 seconds in my Class V swim and it wasn’t even the worse swim of my life, but I will never forget that surge of adrenaline when my body hit the water.

I was reminded of my brief class V swim after Ethan, our shipping manager, flipped his cataraft in Jaws One on the North Fork of the Payette River.  You can view his flip here.  He was a little shaken up the next day and said his body was really sore after that swim, not because he bashed into any sharp rocks but from the intensity of the moment. 

Peace,

Sheena 

A Day in the Life of a Lake

Still water is a unique paddling emotion for me.  There is usually a piece of me that is a little irritated by the lack of a current and another piece of me that is very satisfied peacefully cutting through a scenic mountain lake.

A touring inflatable kayak seems a little…off.  It is like a single speed bicycle in a pack of tricked out road bikes.  AIREs flat water kayak lacks the“elite” stereotype of some of its hardshell counter parts, however, like a well loved single speed bike, the Sawtooth is 100% functional and perfect for most calm water situations.    That analogy being said, I own a tricked out road bike and was a little skeptical of the Sawtooth when I first dipped it into the clear blue water of Redfish Lake.

My co-worker had a successful run with the Sawtooth on Payette Lake and came back to work raving about how smooth and stable it was.  He had no problem paddling his two year old around exploring the bank side and put other non-paddlers in the boat, they each came back with a stamp of approval. 

A few weeks later at Redfish I was able to take it out and was surprised by how well it tracked and how fast I was able to clip along in the choppy lake water.  I spent the afternoon paddling my 4 year old niece and 8 year old nephew around and could not keep them out of the boat.  When the day was over, I rolled up the Sawtooth and put it in the trunk of my four door.  It was the perfect kayak for a beautiful day on the lake.

Peace,

Sheena

3 Days in Hells

For the most part, I enjoy rafting with a paddle team on a fairly meaty stretch of whitewater.  However, a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a river garnish, sitting on top of a gear pile on the back of a Cataraft and loving every minute of it.   I fished Small Mouth Bass quietly off the back, soaking up what little sun my Irish skin could handle and feeling pretty good about taking a few days off works.

A guide I have worked with said it best when he described the water in Hells Canyon as “heavy”.  It certainly has the cfs to make a 16’ craft feel pretty insignificant on the water.   From the Dam to Pittsburg Landing there are only 2 major rapids, Wild Sheep and Granite. It’s defiantly possible to flip in these, but the swim looked pretty good and the run out was clean.  Other wave trains and giant eddy lines along the way gave this section good variety.   The Snake is the type of river that can turn even the snobby beer connoisseurs into happy Keystone Light drinkers. The type of river that, given the opportunity, authors like Twain and Hemingway would have been pleased to write about.  Sometimes a raft trip is not about the whitewater.

Peace,

Sheena

R2ing = Good Foreplay

Every April the little mountain town of Riggins, ID puts on Jet Boat Race Weekend.  What a party!  If you have never had the chance to experience river marathon boats, I suggest you clear your calendar for next April.  The town is great, the bars are hopin' and the people watching is better then NASCAR.  But  this particular blog is not about racing boat up and down the Main Salmon River at 100 mph, it’s not even about a bright orange boat called Tuff n’ Nuff winning and taking the Idaho cup trophy.  The true hero if this blog is the Tributary 9.5 SB.

After a little finagling at work, I was able to get a new 9.5 SB in the employee demo room.  I was going up to the Salmon Rive to watch the race and thought it was would a perfect opportunity to test out the 9.5’s R2ing and creek boating ability.   The Little Salmon was at about 800 cfs and the sun was going to shin all weekend long.

You need to have a very good boating relationship with your R2ing partner, especially if that partner is your spouse.  Fortunately for us, my husband and I have no problem being pinned on a rock together.   We started with an easy run Friday evening with the dogs on the Main Salmon River up past the closed race coarse section.  The 9.5 SB took on the waves of the class III water just fine and was easy to keep straight and maneuver around.  My R2ing buddy and I worked off the winter rust and determined that he should call the moves so we were working together to hit the same line.

The Little Salmon has just about everything you could possibly want for good spring water.  From some gnarly waterfall drops to constant class III - V water.  It is nice and steep and has it all, except for space to get a raft down.   So, on Saturday evening we met up with some kayaker friends and ran the lower section.  The 9.5 handled like a champ!  Casey and I were running all over that river punching through holes, building up our confidence in the boat and channeling our mechanical bull riding skills to stay in the boat.

On Sunday, we were ready to run the upper section just below the water falls.  It was the first time either of us had seen this section of water.  We had a few sick lines and some good moves.  The water was intense and but not pushy scary intense.  We got hung up on a rock or two (or thee, maybe four) but missed all the floor rippers and I had the third best high side of my life. 

I’ll admit it, I have a hard shell kayak, but with the Tributary 9.5 SB and a new found thrill for R2ing creeky rivers, I might just keep the kayak hung up in the garage this summer.

Peace,

Sheena