Well it’s official Mom and Dad, I’m no longer a virgin, I have finally found what life is really all about, kayaking in California. I’ve waited so long to have my chance at the goods all over this beautiful state and I’m pumped to have an entire month ahead of me with nothing on the agenda but to kayak as much as possible. We hopped in the van and rallied out of Hood River after one last high water lap on the Green Truss. Stopped and said hi to Shon Bollock working on his new movie that you gotta check out the trailers for HERE. Then hustled down to Sacramento Int’l to pick up Will Rostron and Rolf Kelly. We drove through the night thanks to some navigation errors (you can’t always trust GPS) and finally took a break only to wake up, call the rest of the crew, and find out they were 2.5 hours in the other direction with their sights set on Big Kimshew. So back on the road we went up all kinds of twisting Cali roads and found the spot we thought to drop in.

Here is Rolf our fearless leader checking out the scene below after taking a wicked fall while hiking down.

After finally making it down to the river I was so pumped to finally be in the magic of Cali where you can go bigger, slide longer, and stay smiling for miles. Here is Will on the first falls of the Kimshew, a perfect way to break us all in on a beautiful 20ish footer of granite goodness.

Jake, (sorry I don’t know your last name) caught a strange flake in the lead in but luckily the pool was deep, and it sure makes for a cool shot.

We definitely caught the river on the lower side of good and the in-betweens from the first falls to Kimshew falls was a bit low. Showing up to Kimshew got us all fired up and the River just picked up pace from here on through. This bouncy 40ish footer got the team fired up with good lines by all.

Here is Sean Lee probing first.

Followed by Will:

Then Andy Blanksley from above.

The photographer gets no love but it was great getting shots of all the CO boys firing things off. I had smooth lines too and was very surprised with how softly the Stomper landed off the drops. More awesome gorged in slides and boofs lead us down the next main event with Frency up next. The seal launch into the entrance sent you right into the current making set up quick and probing into the depths o so good and soft.

Here is Andy off this beauty as well.

Tom Janney was kind enough to grab my camera while I tested the Stomper’s ability to plug as well. Yeah it does that too:

From Kimshew Falls all the way to the takeout was just awesome, tons of boofs, slides and fun in an amazingly beautiful place. We were so lucky to have Brianne on this one to sweet talk and wink her way down and get the van through the locked gate saving us from having to hike our gear the 5 miles back up the road. Here is how the Kimshew lets you out, Will running the final drop with an awesome landing that sends you deep. From here we hauled to the Middle Feather and I’ll have shots up from there soon so keep checking back.

Currently Brianne and I are in Hood River volunteering as the photographer for a First Descents camp located up at the Panorama Lodge. These are an amazingly inspirational group of people that drive me to continue to raise money and awareness for such an awesome program. If you don’t know who they are, please click on my banner, find out, and donate to help change someone battling cancers life.

With the camp starting on Thursday we came in early to hang with family and get some laps on the little white. The little white salmon, I believe, is in the top 5 favorite rivers for anyone that’s been lucky enough to set foot here. It has long boulder-garden rapids, steep horizon lines, clean boofs, and everything else in between. It makes for the perfect place to showcase and test Liquidlogics latest creation the Stomper 90! The new Stomper 90 is the perfect addition to fill your quiver of LL boats. It takes the ability to boof over everything that the Jefe Grande brings, the speed and agility of the Remix, and adds it’s own special flavor with it’s flat hull and unique edge profile. It is by far the fastest whitewater kayak I have ever paddled. It has changed the way I paddle and I continue to learn new and amazing things as I get more comfortable running a flat-hulled creeker. It will be coming out around August and will be the perfect addition to the Remix or Grande you have already or will be purchasing soon. Here are some GoPro photos from a couple of laps down and an edit rocking my new Black Ops Jefe Grande and of course the Stomper 90.

One of the awesome views down the river.

A cool action shot.

Geoff Calhoun representing for Demshitz on the L dub.

When in Rome…brown.

Here is the edit. Stomper 90 on the lil-white. Be aware, music may have lyrics not suitable for small children. My gear seems to be running a black and yellow theme this year so it’s only fitting.

The new Liquidlogic Freeride 57 and 67 is finally out and in stock at your local retailer. John O’Neill from Alpine Quest Sports went down to Glenwood with me to test it out and see how it performed on a big flushing wave. At the higher flows of around 25,000 the river left side was definitely getting flushy and you had to really pay attention to not get washed off. Especially for those in smaller more park specific boats it was difficult to get long rides. John and I had planned on trading off and each taking some rides in the new boat but he ended up not wanting to trade me back, he stated the boat was perfect for catching waves on the fly and really easy to make it back to the eddy for more action. I had to wait to try it another day with Shane Benedict when he came to town at a slightly lower flow around 22,000. Click on the video below for some of that slippery wave riding action.

I can’t believe my last spring break has already come and gone. Everyone says it, but 4 years really does fly by before you know it. For our last spring break Brianne and I decided to road trip down to the Southeast. After our last class on Thursday at 4pm we hopped in her car and hit the road. We made great time, good dry roads and no major obstacles. We fell asleep in the back of her car somewhere in northern Ohio. The last thing we expected to wake up to was the 4 inches of snow stuck to the windows and 6-8 inches on the ground at our rest stop.

It was a full on blizzard, I-75 was a mess and we were pushing snow with the bumper on Brianne’s poor little car. After a couple of hours we pulled over for breakfast at, of course, Waffle House. With no plan of where we were hoping to end up that evening and not excited to get back on the road we took our time with those delicious waffles. Just when we thought we had to make a decision on what to do next my phone rings and Shane tells me he’s on his way to the Gauley and I had better meet him there. With a quick touch of my phone my navigation took me through all kinds of nasty backroads that had not yet been plowed, but we had a plan now so we kept on going. We camped on the gravel, as the camp sites were soaked, just below the dam where water was exploding out through the pipes. Music to my ears, excited to finally get kayaking.

The flow was around 8,000cfs coming from the dam and my first time down the upper G was a blast. Such a beautiful place and the big water moves were a blast to get myself comfortable in my boat after too much school.
-Working on panning shots but these dogs are quick

The next day we got to try out Shane’s latest creation the Freeride, on the wave just below the put in for the lower,(can’t remember the name). Shane’s designs are really impressive and the speed he is getting from his new boats will put a smile on anyones face. I have a better write up and review of the Freeride HERE. Here is Shane throwing it down.
Brianne not feeling like getting wet that day, and as hard as we tried, obviously not impressed with our tricks.

Brianne even more not impressed with the train blocking our exit from the Lower G.

Next off we headed to my favorite place in the world Saluda, NC. It was great to see Woody and the family down in the cove even though the Green was turned off. Monday night brought a good amount of rain and it was back on the road, this time with John Grace and off to the Smokies. He mentioned and fun drop called Kick Your Dog Falls and some Conoers/Canoeist that were fired up to run it for Canoe Movie II.
-Some crazy Titanic building on the way…

-Norbert, concerned about the name of our destination…

Kick Your Dog Falls is a series of really fun boofs ending with a 50ish foot slide with a fun kicker at the bottom that sends you for some air time. These guys and their canoe’s are really impressive. Dooley completely styled the drop twice. The sun came out and made for some great light to shoot and we all ran laps on this gem. Here are some shots of the gang.

On our way out we stopped and watched some locals go for some serious down time. I have all kinds of respect for these guys hanging out in that cold water. Squirt boating makes for some great filming. I snapped off a couple shots as well. Hoping in the fall I’ll get my chance at this style.

The main reason we took Brianne’s car to the SE was my hope to pick up our new rig for our upcoming summer road trip. I have always looked at Sprinter vans with a “some day” thought. I never really thought I would find one for a deal. But Brianne’s years of sale shopping experience paid off and we found one that I just couldn’t walk away from. Wednesday found us back on the road, this time to Kentucky to pick up a new van! Of course I was under the impression we would be able to finalize and be out after a simple afternoon. Well, 2 days later with the keys in my hand, exhausted, we decided it was time to call it the end of our Vacation and make the trip back North.

Of course keeping things interesting, a good ol ice storm kept us alert at the helm.

Spring break has come and gone, it’s back to school. Can’t wait to get back on the road and start raising money for First Descents. 2011 should be a great year, now if only this snow will melt.