Hi Y'all

I hope everyone had a great winter and is ready for the upcoming season. Things couldn't be going better for me. Let me fill you guys in on what has been going on in my life. I graduated from Michigan state in Dec. and stuck around in MI for another month. After that, I moved to Mt. Baker, WA and had a sick couple of months ripping pow. There is a nice class 3 run that starts right by my house that they do rafting on in the spring and summer. In march I went to the owner of the local rafting company's house to ask about working for him this summer. As it turned out, his girlfriend had won a permit for the grand canyon and they were leaving in two weeks. Someone had backed out last minute and they needed another guide, so he asked me if I was up for it and we were at Lees Ferry 2 weeks later.

The trip was amazing. We had 7 boats. 6 were gear boats and I got to guide the passenger raft. I had a 14 footer with a stern frame and 4 paddlers with very little experience. We were light and fast, and easy to flip.

I flipped the raft twice early on (house rock rapid and mile 25 rapid) both pretty insignificant, but I cleaned up just like any good WV guide would and didn't lose any gear (not that we had any in our raft). After that, I started to pay more attention, and learned how to use my ores(way easier then R1ing lunch for 90 people). I nailed all the rest of the rapids and only flipped 1 more time trying to run a huge hole at the bottem of another no name rapid. At Lava, the gear raft behind me fliped on the V WAVE and we were in position for the rescue. we pulled the boat to shore just before lower lava. didn't lose any gear and got the boat up right with out derigging.

floating the canyon is the coolest thing I have ever done. there is plenty of flat water to relax and enjoy the scenery and spaced out between that are the biggest rapids I have ever seen. The group was great. 16 in total. we bought 100 cases of beer and never ran out. we also eat relay well. The other guys rowing were relay experienced and great to follow in the rapids. we had 1 cloudy day in 21 days on the river, and it was 70 to 80 every day. they also had the wettest winter in 20 years, and we were there in full bloom. the canyon was green with flowers everywhere! my camera only made it through about half of the trip so i don't have many good pictures, but we had a pro photographer on the trip who took over 1000 pictures. She also took action shots at hermit and lava so i will post them when I get them. here are a few of mine though.

There kind of backwards. this last one is from Lee's the day before we put on

I also got a real job so sadly I will not be working in ohiopyle this summer. Its for a small aerospace engineering firm in Seattle called pacific rim aerospace. I am actual at work right now and have wasted way to much time so i will fill you in with the rest soon.

Peace,

Brian

P.S. sign up for the permit lottery!

NC/ TN trip

Since I broke my Hero, I have been in search for a new kayak…
My brother and I found a Burn in NC on the Nantahala, so I called some numbers placed some orders and headed South.

Sadly not much was running, but we made use with what we had and set off to meet Kyle Welch on the French Broad. It was pretty easy, but there were a few rapids that stepped it up. Upon running the first fun section, Kyle and I were attacked by a goose! It went after Kyle first, Big Ben came to rescue when he heard me screaming of course! However, he found it more amusing than serious, when he saw the situation. Overall, the river was fun, but the goose made it memorable.

The next day, we paddled the Nolichucky in TN. This was a really fun river, if the water would have been higher it would have been more exciting, but even so running something new is always cool. Once we got off the Nolichucky, we headed to the Watauga in hopes of running it. By the time we got there it was late, so we camped by the put in and waited until morning.



Our last day of the trip was cold, we decided not to paddle the Watauga because it was so low, but we did get to paddle Wilson’s creek. It was by far the best thing we did. It had several ledges, a rapid kind of like frogs back on steroids, and a ten foot waterfall. It was only three miles, but it was all road side and shuttle was easy. A must do creek if you are ever in the area.



Overall the trip was amazing, the scenery was beautiful, and the weather was nice. I plan to take a trip back soon, since we didn’t get to meet up with everyone we wanted to see. Let me know if anyone is interested in joining in...
Also, a special thanks to all of those who helped with gauges and directions. =)