September, 2005
Paddler to the People Tour
Rockin it harder than Iron Maiden.
By Dan Piano
April 13, 2005
This is it - the culmination of my young life. I was about to embark on a journey that would forever change my perception of the paddling world. Myself, Dan Piano, and my hair-boating brethren Kevin Fisher packed up the Thule trailer in the Paddler Magazine parking lot in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and set out for Kernville, California. We were packin’ 28 12-packs, 17 kayaks, 10 paddles, a busted ass bbq grill, and wears from all the biggest names in the industry. Our mission was to promote the mag, sell subscriptions, and let the people demo the latest and greatest equipment. Seventeen hours later, driving straight through the night, we arrived at our first stop.
April 14, 2005
The sun was just breaking over the horizon and I was hammering Kevin’s Tundra through the Southern California desert. As we neared Lake Isabella the anticipation set in. All winter Cali had been getting pounded with record snowfalls, which in turn meant epic runoff. I had no idea what to expect and neither did Kevin. We rolled into Kernville around 6:00AM to the legendary Kernville festival site. “Are you sure this is it?” I said to Kevin. The site for the rodeo was nothing but a bunch of crappy pour overs and no real feature. Lesson #1 learned “don’t come to Cali for the play boating because that’s not what it’s about.” By 2:00PM we had already hooked it up with a bunch of quasi locals and headed out for Brush Creek. We met up with this kid Gaylen from the US Surf Kayak team and he agreed to take us down. We get to the put in and I ask him “is there anything serious down here” Gaylen replies, “Just follow the water.” Fair enough I thought. Right off the bat Brush Creek starts dropping into tight little slides and fun little drops. For Kev and I this was our first creek run of the year and my first time in my Huka. Needless to say I was starting to get anxious about the massive horizons that were approaching. As you get into the middle section of Brush it starts dropping like a deuce after a hard night of drinking. I’m talking big slides into big drops, and Gaylen doesn’t miss a beat. “Just follow the water.” I keep telling myself this, as we are hucking blindly off of slide to drop, and drop to slide. All of a sudden Kevin pitons and starts getting surfed in a hole, dropping next on top of him was me. So were both getting surfed in this gnarly little hole and I’m holding onto Kevin’s boat. He yells to me, “let go, I can’t get out, let go.” I’m thinking to my self, “I am the drowning victim they talk about in lifeguard’s class who just wants to grab onto anything.” I let go of Kevin’s boat and he gets out; I surf for a bit and then I get out. The unassumingly small drop costs Kevin a broken boat and a broken toe. We hike out to the road.
After this epic first day we were on a mission, we got our asses served to us like Cartman in the dance off and we didn’t like it one bit. Over the next few days we met up with Big Sky, Montana native Eddie Hake, a pro Bliss-Stick Paddler, and assaulted the Kern River Valley. Eddie and Kevin had the right attitude and they pushed me hard. We ended up running Brush top to bottom six or seven times, each with more water than the last. We hiked in two miles for an early season high water run down Dry Meadow Creek which proved to be an epic steep creek with a mandatory eddy-out above a fifty-footer onto a slab rock. All in all, Kernville was an unbelievable place. The festival was a great time, and the impromptu Brush Creek race was an epic. If you go, stop in at Sheryl’s Diner, they serve up a mean pancake breakfast. For beta on river flows and what’s going on, ask the folks at Sierra South Outdoor Center.
April 23rd ish, 2005
Onward we pushed up to Coloma, California and the American River Festival. Once again we were let down by the feature for the rodeo: Chili Bar Hole was a diagonal, flushy feature at the level we hit it. About two miles down stream of Chili Bar was a gem called First Threat. First Threat was a six foot tall fast wave, we were lucky enough to paddle it with some of the YGP crew. Brooks Baldwin, Charlie Centers, and Rush Sturgis were killing it all day. The highlight for me was watching Rush throw the most styled out pistol flips off of the lip of First Threat.
(Insert sequence shots)
On the way out of town we hit up some more classics like the Giant Gap section of the North Fork of the American. If you go to Cali I would have to say it’s a must do - a two mile hike into a steep and secluded canyon followed by a full day of epic whitewater. Not to mention the free camping at the take out with all of the local hillbillies. It’s definitely an experience. From the Giant Gap we headed north to Downieville, an old mining town, for some more creeking on Pauley and Lavazola.
Although Cali was going off, duty called and we headed up to Portland, Oregon for the Oregon Cup. We stopped in at Next Adventure and met up with Portland boating guru Luke Spencer. Luke hooked it up with all of the local beta, what was flowing and what wasn’t. The outlook was bleak for the Oregon Cup. Unlike California, Oregon was snow deprived all winter and had little to no water. Bob’s Hole was cancelled due to water restraints from the power company. The Canyon Creek Race went off without a hitch. As did the BoaterCross on the East Fork of the Lewis. If you ever get a chance to go out for the Oregon Cup, make it to Olie’s house for the after-party. This guy has the sweetest house, best oysters, and nicest family you will ever meet.
After much deliberation by the organizers, the Oregon Cup was cancelled due to lack of water. Kevin and I fulfilled more work obligations like going to the Nike World Headquarters, Watermark, and the Multnomah Athletic Center. The open itinerary was making our minds race with travel plans. We had an entire week to kill now that the Oregon Cup was cancelled. I kept pushing for a quick trip up to B.C. for a visit to Skook, but it wasn’t running. The only logical explanation led us back to Cali for some more boating. Before we cruised we stopped for to restock our beer supply. Another pallet in the trailer. This time New Belgium Brewing hooked it up with a smattering of beers. The trailer was loaded to the gills, packed with ice-cold beer. It was a beautiful thing.
May 5ish, 2005
We found ourselves back in Cali before we knew it. Our first stop brought us back to Downiville for some high water action on Pauley and Lavazola. I can’t stress how much fun these creeks are. From here we headed out to 49 to the Bridgeport section of the Yuba. It was an unbelievable section of water. Huge granite slabs stacked up for some of the cleanest white water I’ve ever endured. Yuba killed it and we were off to ourt last stop……
May 11, 2005 Reno Nevada
For all of you that have been to Reno, you understand that it is a weird place. In 2004 they refurbished a dumpy part of town into a world-class white water park on the Truckee River. The best way I can describe it is, gooooood lord. You have mountain people mixing with gambling people meddling with hermaphrodite tennis stars. As I think back on all the places we stopped, and Reno showed the most hopeful future for the sport as far as exposure. When driving into Reno from the mountains, you come into town and see this massive billboard with Jay Kincaid’s face plastered all over it. For once in my 14 years of kayaking, I actually felt like I was participating in a legitimate sport. The organizers of the event did a kick ass job and a huge turnout showed up for the comps. It was inspiring to see 2000 plus people crowed around the banks of the Truckee River screaming at the top of their lungs for the finals with Jay Kincaid, EJ, and the dark horse Steven Wright. In the end EJ took the cash, and we packed it up and headed back to Colorado.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Kevin Thompson and Nick Hinds of Paddler Magazine for putting the tour together. Also thank you to Bliss-Stick, Stohlquist, NRS, Big Agnes, Prijon, Drago Rossi, Smith, Head Trip, Wave Sport, New Belgium Brewing, ACA, Robson, Honey Stinger, Extra Sport, Thule, Necky, Riot, Teva, Dagger, Just the Cheese, and Adventure Technology. Without all of these cats none of this would have been possible. For more info on the Tour: www.paddlermagblog.info Also footage from this years tour will be available in the new Vewda Productions Movie in the 2006 National Paddling Film Festival. Check it out…
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
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