C-Forum

Sometimes, based on spotty information, you find yourself up a river with not a whole lot of water and a heck of a lot of trees. That's what happened to four of us as we headed up to run Upper Eagle Creek to see what winter had done to the run.

The best move of the day wasn't caught on video. A freak 5-minute windstorm whipped through the area. Tall fir trees were waving crazily in the air. We were in one of the creek's few pools looking up. Suddenly there was a loud CRACK and a 15-foot limb started falling from at least 30 feet up headed right towards my friend in the Detonator. He actually had the presence of mind and fast reactions to roll upside down, let the branch hit his boat, and then roll back up.

We didn't shoot much video or take many pictures, but the few here tell a little of the day's story. They miss entirely the true fun of the day--a long class 3 boulder garden with lots of gradient and no wood.

http://www.vimeo.com/21022464

Nice lookin' run but it's a wood fest! What kinda roll was that at the end? Did the paddle get turned around to a low brace or was that a high brace roll?

Low brace roll. The guy who did it is an excellent kayaker. He's been working on a tandem canoe roll with a partner for an upcoming trip on the Grand Canyon. I remember being out with him once and his paddle got caught in some rocks and he flipped. I was waiting in a downstream eddy as the canoe floated past and I heard some banging and peeled out after him. Then the boat sprouted a paddle out to the side and he rolled up. He had had the presence of mind to dig out the spare paddle (the banging I heard) and then roll.

Beautiful creek-water Mark... Yeah, it's always a little interesting first thing in Spring...

Steve