19 - 4/26/09 - SF Snoqualmie

I've been having a little trouble with bursitis in my shoulders, so I've been taking it easy. I have a long trip coming up, and I don't want to be sore rowing every day for 8 days. The SF Snoqualmie is easy enough that it doesn't hurt my shoulders, but it's still a fun little run.

I took out Jelly Bean again, with some slight adjustments. I sit too far back in the boat, which makes it hard to control the boat in waves and holes, and it takes away power from my forward strokes. I need to move the backrest forward and put in more straps to help hold the backrest forward when I push hard.

Inflatable Kayaking for Fat People - Part 1: Getting Started

I love whitewater boating - especially inflatable kayaking. When I started, I was 5'10" and weighed around 230lbs. I've been as heavy as 300lbs and still kayaked. I think IKing is a great activity for fat people. Not only is it good exercise, it doesn't require that you be a great athlete to enjoy it. It's not critical that you be a great swimmer, but you can't be afraid of water to the point that you panic. In whitewater, panic is your worst enemy - it tires you out and it's hard to forget that feeling. Keep in mind that fat floats and your personal flotation device (aka, lifejacket) will help to keep you out of the water.

The first thing I recommend for anyone interested in whitewater boating is to go on a guided whitewater trip in the summer, when it's hot and sunny. If you're big like me, you'll most likely get stuck near the back of the raft. Try to convince the guide and other people to let you in the front of the boat. This is really the most fun place to be and despite what you probably think, it's more likely that you'll fall out if you're in the back. Believe me - I know first hand.

So, why would you want to take up whitewater boating at all? Simply put, it's a lot of fun! It's like a long roller coaster ride. You get to solve puzzles and get wet. What's not to love?

In future articles, I'll talk about equipment, clothing, and how to progress. See you on the river!

18 - 4/21/09 - SF Snoqualmie

What can I say? It was a really nice day (75 and sunny) and the river was up. Why not take a quick fun trip on the SF Snoqualmie? This time, I took out my newest boat (Jelly Bean - a purple Aire Outfitter) with a new backrest and footbrace. She still needs a little work, but this backrest is a big improvement.

17 - 4/19/09 - SF Snoqualmie

This is the closest whitewater to home. I used to run this all the time - as many as 10 times a year, often solo - but there are so many good choices that this one tends to get forgotten. These days, I run it more often as a high-water alternative to the Middle Middle. This time, I did the run with my next door neighbor, who is almost 80. At the put-in, a 3 year old boy decided to hop into my boat for a ride. I talked with his mother while we got ready to go, and then he thanked me and we left.

The top part of the run has a lot of wood in it because of the flooding in January. We didn't need to portage, but there were some critical choices, and the wrong choices would have led to portages. It really helped to be so familiar with the run and its history. There are sections on this river that have changed drastically over the last 10 years, but a lot of the changes are predictable. Even with this, it was still a fun run as it always is.

One of the interesting things on this run is a huge old-growth cedar stump with a couple of new cedars growing out of it. Until 2003, this stump was on the left bank of the river. During the high water in October 2003, the channel moved left and the stump was on an island. After another year, the stump was all that was left of the island. The November 2006 flood ripped this stump up and pushed it about a half mile downstream where it got stuck at the upstream end of a huge rock (the rock is about 20 feet tall out of the river). Even with all of the flooding in 2008 and 2009, this stump is still jammed up against this rock. It will probably stay there for a few more years, but the trees growing on it are eventually going to rip the stump apart and there is no place for them to go but downstream.

16 - 4/18/09 - Green River Gorge

It sure seems like I run the Green River Gorge a lot, and it's hard to blame me. This is such a great run and it's only 45 minutes from home. Recently, the flows have been getting better and better. This week, however, was different - this was my first cataraft run on the Green ever, and only the second run in my new cataraft (named Barney, because it's big and purple).

We had a pretty large group - around a dozen boats. I got in with a small group of 4 boats who led off and made quick time through the first section. I was a little bit apprehensive coming into the Nozzle, but I had no problems. The whole day was just plain fun.

15 - 4/11/09 - Green River Gorge

What a great year this has been for boating on the Green. This was my 6th trip on the Gorge this year, and my 9th in 6 months. With the heavy snowpack and problems with the dam, we should have lots of opportunities to run the Green this year. This trip had one of the higher flows this year at 1600cfs. We had a good-size group: 2 catarafts, 1 paddle raft, and 6 IKs. There were several swims (one new boater had around 10, but he got back in his boat every time, and he did fine on the toughest rapids) but I was lucky enough not to have any this time.

I did come close to swimming, and the results were pretty spectacular for me. After Paradise, there is a rapid where there is a huge rock on the bottom right. Just left of this is a rock that creates a huge hole. Normally, I run a smaller hole to the left above this and then skirt the huge hole on the left. This time, the first hole knocked me to the right, just in line with the huge hole. I had no choice but to get my boat straight, paddle hard, and hope for an easy swim after the inevitable flip. As I went into the hole, I was covered with water. I felt the boat go up, but instead of getting sucked back down, I popped out of the hole. I spun around to see what happened, and saw that one IKer was swimming right behind me, and another IKer was right behind him. The guy who swam had pushed me out of the hole, which caused him to flip, and the guy behind him pushed him out of the hole. I wish I had video of that pileup!

Lost and Found

Scott from area code 509 - I have your paddle. I found it in September 2008 on the Tieton. All you need to do is to describe it and tell me where you lost it and I can get it back to you.

Last September, I found a paddle on the Tieton. I was rowing my cataraft and I saw this paddle stuck in some logs and I pulled it out. It would make a nice spare paddle, but it needs to but made into a 2-piece, and I'm not ready to spend the money in case "Scott" finds one of the notices I've left. So, my question is: How long do I need to wait until I can consider this item mine?

Personally, I think what I have done has been perfectly adequate. I posted notices on regional paddling sites that could be found by doing a reasonable Google search (such as "lost paddle Tieton Scott 509"). I've also done several Google searches to attempt to find this person. Six months has passed and I haven't heard or found anything.

I asked a couple of friends about this. One person said I should wait 2 years, and the other said 1 year. What's your opinion?

14 - 4/5/09 - Green River Gorge

I had considered taking a day off from boating, but a couple of people had been trying to get on the Green for 2 years and it was such a nice day that I couldn't resist. The weather was sunny all day and the temperature was close to 70. The flow from the side streams was ever so slightly lower than the day before, but that wasn't significant to me. I ran as many different lines as I could, but I didn't flip.

"Aah, the Green" - Brian

13 - 4/4/09 - Green River Gorge

The people studying Howard Hanson Dam have had to change their plans due to all of the new snow. Now, rather than aggressively filling the dam and releasing the minimum required flow, they are releasing 80% of inflow. This means that when inflow is over 1200cfs, we have enough for small boats. We had a Saturday with nice weather (partly cloudy, over 60) and a flow of around 960cfs.

I flipped at the bottom of Mercury when I tried to make a last-second move to avoid the ski jump rock, which looked like it would snag me. Luckily, I was heading into the eddy on river left, so it was no problem. I also flipped in Paradise Ledge, but that was because the person in front of me decided to stop and surf rather than letting me get by.

Despite the warm day, it was still a little bit cool at the end when the wind came up. I was glad I wore my extra fleece.