Da GREEN!

Three summers ago, when I first started getting serious in to kayaking, I was sitting in Brad’s basement watching the newly released Demshitz video, after finishing the video and trolling through the extras I found an LVM short on the green river narrows race. Watching kayak after kayak run gorilla, being amazing at the gradient of the river. This weekend the crew and I headed off to North Carolina for a quick weekend on the green.  

 

This last weekend marked the end of summer kayaking trips for me since school starts next week, from May 18^th to Aug. 1, I kayaked every weekend except for two. Not to bad for living in Missouri. Anyways back to the green.

 After rolling in late, we had an early start to catch the water. The gorge itself is speechless, one of the most amazing places I have ever been, with rapid after rapid of pool drop. Needless to say we got our boof on.  There is a little video I made of the trip; I didn’t start filming until Zwick’s.

Warning: The Green is solid class V; my video does not do the river justice in its steepness. Do NOT take any river for granted, and be safe out there.

Chain Of Rocks 6/23/2012

CHAIN OF ROCKS

It’s been a hot and dry summer so far. With little rain the Mississippi has dropped to below 8ft at the USGS gauge in St. Louis, So last weekend the crew assembled and we headed out to the Chain. This was my first time putting on the Illinois side.

The Crew in the eddy at Rookies

 At the Chain bridge, the Mississippi is 3/4 mile wide, with all on the surf sports on the Missouri side. The Reason you don’t park on the Missouri side is because your car will get broken into. At the put in and take out, it is not uncommon to find broken glass, used needles used condoms, and the random street walker willing to offer services.  

taking a break in the river

 Therefore we choose to make the long fairy across. Once on the Missouri side, my arms already felt spent, but the surf was too good to sit back and rest. Here is a little video, enjoy until the next time.

St. Louis skyline from the chain

 WARNING: The CHAIN IS FUN BUT HAS DANGOUS SPOTS ON IT. THIS IS NO PLACE FOR A FIRST TIMER BY THEMSELF. USE YOUR HEAD AND PADDLE WITH SOMEONE FAMILIAR WITH THE RIVER TO AVOID THE DEADLY POUR-OVER.

Memorial Day 2012

Southeast

As the truck came to a stop and I stepped out on to the gravel parking lot, the fresh cool mountain air sent a chill through my body. As I looked down on the river it was low but run-able. As Rick and I geared up, I had to borrow Nicky’s drytop, pfd and skirt. Mine fell out of the back of the truck earlier in the morning and as far as I knew all of it was gone. As I put on the purple neon drytop, looking straight out of the 70’s, and the white with pink strap helmet nothing at the moment bothered me. Sure I looked ridiculous, even lost some points on my man card, but for me, being able to run the Tellico in June was all that mattered.

Running Baby Falls

I’ve been going through a strange time in my life, trying to figure out who I really am, what I’m really doing and if I’m really happy doing it. This trip was exactly what I needed to get my head on straight. When you come to the lip of a water fall, nothing in life really matters except for that moment. You’re either going to hit your line and run it clean or miss and hope for the best. I think that is one of reasons I like to kayak so much. It doesn’t matter your age or who you are, the river gives the same beating or reward to everyone. There is no judgment out there.

Weekend Cabin

Another question I had answered on the river this last week was why I do like kayaking. I use to think it was the adrenaline rush you would get running a new or big river. But I think its more complex, and in the end, I think it has to do with the people you’re with. The pros call it their tribe; instead, I like to call it my crew. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not out there running 100 footers and saying “Brown” or “Church”. But we do have a connection just like the pros, and that is, we love to kayak. While on the Pigeon river, my first time down, its only a class II-III, I found myself multiple times having to stop smiling, mainly because I figured Amanda would make fun of me for it. The river had tons of play spots, to the point where I would be ferrying from one side to the other, trying not to miss a single one. This river made me realize that I truly enjoy kayaking, no matter what type of river it is.

Rick boofing Bear Creek Falls

We spent 9 days on the road kayaking this Memorial Day. We started off with a 5 man crew which grew to 9 and then slowly drifted off to 3.We got to run a total of 7 different rivers during the 9 days, and spent many hours drive from here to there. But that is the lifestyle we choose, and will continue to live. I have included the rivers and dates we paddled, and made a short video for you to enjoy. Until the next adventure...

Written By : Curtis
Edited By: Tyler Surman 

Nicky looking good in the new boat

5/26 Cheoah 1000cfs
5/27 Ocoee
5/28 Ocoee
5/29 Pigeon
5/30 Pigeon
5/31 Nolichucky 1700cfs
6/1 big laurel creek, tellico 1.6ft
6/2 Ocoee
6/3 Ocoee

Cheoah 5/20/2012

This last weekend rick, the professor and I head down to the Cheoah River for a nice weekend warm up before the big Memorial week trip. We meet Raymond and three other Southern Ill. Paddlers at the dam put in. The Cheoah only releases a couple times during the year and Saturday was big water with 1,000 CFS release and Sunday was 850CFS. Saturday rick and I had a blast trying to remember all the lines from two years ago. The river was much bigger then we both remembered. Saturday we ran the falls straight up and Sunday we ran the creek line. We figured it was better to have the higher water on our side so we wouldn’t hit any rock boofing. On Sunday I broke out the GoPro for some video. Enjoy until the next adventure (aka all next week)
Full edit of the Cheoah!

Colorado part dos: Get You Some

We assembled an excellent crew for the second Colorado trip of the year with my main men Tyler Surman and Chris Polley and the pride of Scotland, Bobby Smart, making a special appearance to help celebrate his 21^st.

GoPros and Red Bulls

We had high hopes for good powder, but it didn’t take long for things to go awry. At 3 a.m., while gassing-up just inside Colorado, we realized the 2 for 1 lift coupons we were planning to use for all three days of skiing wouldn’t work at any of our destinations in our current plan for the weekend. An en route change of plans moved Winter Park to our first stop, and put us well ahead of schedule. 

A short and uncomfortable “nap” in the truck put us at Winter Park by 7:30. An hour later the lifts opened and it was on. The runs were long (4.5 miles even) and the tree skiing was awesome, top 10 in the country apparently. We spent the day in search of fresh pow and it was glorious. We closed down the lifts, headed back to Georgetown, showered, ate and we’re in bed by 9 p.m.

Winter Park

The next day brought a 5 hour roundtrip drive to Monarch outside Salida, CO. It was another excellent day with perhaps the best snow of the trip. A short hike to the Mirkwood Basin gave us a taste of some backcountry skiing and Tyler provided the video highlight of the trip. 

Hiking to Mirkwood Basin for some back bowls

After delicious burgers at the Boathouse Cantina, overlooking the Arkansas River’s best play wave, we made our way back to Georgetown for the night. We spent the final day skiing Loveland. Though the weather wasn’t as spectacular as our first two days, the powder abounded. Skiing down from the top of the continental divide definitely makes a Loveland stop worthwhile.

 After the lifts closed, we dropped Smart off at the airport, with news that he would return once more this summer. Dinner at the Irish Snug in Denver and it was early to bed to get a 5 a.m. start on the drive home.

Knee deep powder at Monarch

Denver weather professionals missed the Monday forecast though. We left at 5 a.m. and made it about an hour and a half before the interstate was closed. A bit of snow and 50 mph winds made for white-out conditions. We spent 6 hours in Limon, CO with no road in or out open. It was sad that we found ourselves wishing for a Wal-Mart for something to do.

The Crew

  Eventually we made it back on the road and 21 after departing Denver, we returned to St. Louis. It’s always an adventure, but I guess that’s what makes the trip. 

Nomadic Adventure CEO looking like a Boss

Here’s a trailer for a forthcoming full-length feature from CEA Productions and Nomadic Adventure Films. Its release date is unknown for the moment. Until next time, enjoy.

First ski trip of 2011

I know this is old, but over Christmas break Kyle, David, Tyler and I headed out to Colorado for some early season skiing. After meeting up with Nate we headed over to Loveland were we skied two days, then Winter Park, and then two more days of Loveland. Was a great trip followed by partying like rock stars new years eve in Denver, all thanks to Joel. Here is a short video, enjoy until next time.

Russell Fork, part DOS

Last weekend marked my third consecutive weekend of paddling class V water. While many people dislike and fear the Russell fork gorge, over the last two weeks I have found myself every comfortable running it. This last weekend I meet Alex and his dad for one last run before the release season stops. The trip started off with me driving the whole 9 hour drive by myself.

 Alex was in West Virginia so his dad went to pick him up for fall break and then headed over to meet me. The plan was to meet at breaks Interstate Park, which I rolled in around 1:30am. As I drove in I spooked a black bear about 50 yards from the campground. This was the first Black bear I have seen while on a kayaking trip. As I lay in my sleeping bag, all I could think was what a great start to a trip.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the lodge for breakfast. With the US wild water trials going on the releases were starting at 7am, which allowed us to get on the river at an early time. This was Alex’s first time down the gorge, and with no other boaters around it was just the two of us heading down. We scouted tower and triple drop before we ran into some other guys. Alex ran the hairy ferry, while I walked it (I’ve done it before and feel the risk, if you were to mess up, isn’t worth it). I ran fairly clean lines until triple drop where I went over the third drop backwards. After triple drop we meet up with Kevin and Scott, too other kayakers who helped us down the river.

Next was El Herando, I thought I had a good line but at the bottom of the drop I got flipped. While upside down I heard my shoulder pop, after missing my roll, I finally popped up. I’m not sure what happened but my shoulder really hurt, and there was a sharp pain. Being only half way down the gorge, I had to continue through the pain. Needless to say the rest of my run was not the greatest. Once at the take out I decided it would be best not to run another lap so Steve and I went to set up camp while Alex ran another lap.

The next morning I was in enormous pain while lying in my sleeping bag. I was about to tell Alex I wasn’t going to boat but I decided I didn’t drive 9hrs to hang out in the woods. My run on Sunday was amazing. I focused really hard on all my lines and ran the gorge the cleanest I have ran it yet. Overall a great trip, I didn’t take any video as I was focusing more on guiding Alex down. I did get a nice time lapse of the clouds over the gorge. Here is the video. Enjoy until the next adventure.