more TishTang...

Within the last week there was some media response on the TishTang descent. I finally made it on the cover of the Times Standard the newspaper of the californian north coast on their friday issue. The credit for that goes again to Wes Schrecongost. Nevertheless the Hoopa tribe asked for not heading back in there due to the fact it is a ceremonial site for them.

here is the cover

zoom in for the text

There also where some articles in german on KANUmagazin.de, Bliss Stick Europe, playboaters.de and 4-paddlers.com.

And finally I pulled out a video clip!


Tish Tang Falls from 1596 Media on Vimeo.

Even so the adventure is going on. Today I went in the lower gorge of the New River with is about an hour away from Arcata. We had a pretty descent flow which turned out to be high. Ben swam in the first serious rapid after I went down fine and we lost his boat at this point. Paul Gamache and myself followed the boat for a couple rapids. Divided from the rest of the crew we decided to go down the river after they signaled us, that they gonna hike out. The rapids were big and we portaged a couple of times. The rapids in the New River do not end in big pools but follow right after each other. This character makes it more dangerous. Additional to this are the vertical walls on both river sides. It was scared but fun at the same time. Simply a great adventure I shared with a good friend.

TishTang Creek

Yesterday we went to Tish Tang a Tang Creek. This is a small creek near Hoopa in an Indian Reservation. 3 days earlier we haven been there too but left without a descent due to a lack on safety and run out of light. There is a 70ft waterfall we want to run. The waterfall is boxed in a canyon and the second drop in a series of three. The third drop is about 12ft, jammed with two logs and leading into a cave. The entry drop is about 18ft high falling into a wall.

scouting the falls

After a long scout three of us decided to run the shit! Erik Boomer fired it up first. Keegan Grady went third and I had the last spot. Both had pretty god lines even Erik broke his paddle. The first drop was sick. After piling through the reactionary we hit the kicker to take of and fly. After this drop there was an eddy to catch. Here is no way of return so you have to go over the lip. The 70 footer was good to go and the impact was not to hard. Although it was hard enough to rip my paddle out of my hands. Resurfacing fine, but without a paddle I wend down the last drop hand-paddleing. I couldn't stick my handroll in the white wash of the pool and end up swimming. I was totally fine and did self-rescue. Only a thumb strain is remaining. 

myself in the waterfall

the crew: Keegan Grady, Erik Boomer, myself

After going down the waterfalls we paddled down the river through two or three mini-gorges to the confluence. Then keep going on the Trinity River to the bridge in Hoopa where we took out.

Thanks to Wes Schrecongost for the photos and thanks to the safety crew: Paul Gamache, Wes Schrecongost, Christian Figuera-Tyler and Jon Hyland.

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break is nearly over and here is a brief consumption of my adventures:

I stayed in Arcata for the whole break. This was very nice cause I got some time to rest and do things i wanted to do for a while. But of course I didn't stayed here 24/7. On saturday I teamed up with Jon Chin and Paul Gamache to run Burnt Ranch Gorge at approximately 800cfs and we had snow on both passes we have to cross when going to the river. Finally I pulled out this video from Burnt Ranch Gorge.

Burnt Ranch Gorge from 1596 Media on Vimeo.

On sunday Dan Menten and myself drove up to the Smith River drainage where we met wit Kyle & Craig Hull and Keegan Grady to run Oregon Hole Gorge on the Middle Smith and the South Fork Gorge.

Kyle Hull and Dan Menten in the Oregon Hole Gorge

On Monday I took a break from kayaking and went to the Jedediah Smith State Park to look for some huge trees. It was raining all day long and we got totally went while crawling through the woods. The next day I went north to the Smith drainage again to paddle Patricks Creek and the Siskiyou Gorge on the Middle Smith. This time with Keegan, Kyle, Wes Schreck and Jon Hyland.

snow peak on the way north

Redwoods in Jedediah Smith State Park

After three days in a row at the Smith river I finally got the chance to put on Willow Creek, the local creek less 45min away. Together with my buddies Dan, Wes and Christian I spent a great time in the River o a nice sunny day.

Dan Menten boofing a small drop

Christian enjoying the river

Willow Creek

On Thursday I left the town with Eddy a friend from university to go hunting. We drove some crazy dirt roads, got stuck in the snow, climbed a communication tower with a great view and had a lot of fun. We didn't shoot anything but we spotlighted four deers! And we saw a bunch of tracks.

bear tracks in the snow

the pacific and Mount Shasta in one photo - amazing view!

Upper South Fork Smith River - Kelsey run

On Sunday 7th of November I went kayaking in the Smith drainage. The Smith river drainage is the only free flowing (means un dammed) river system in entire California. And it is for sure one of the most beautiful rivers in northern California.
I meet with a bunch of people at 8am at the parking lot of Wildberries in Arcata. From here we carpooled with three cars up to the take-out. Here we left one car to head up the road to its end. There followed a dirt road until this one ends too. From this point on we had to carry our kayaks for another 2 miles up the river on a small trail to the confluence with a small creek. We put in the small creek and hucked down a waterfall into the Smith river. This section of the Smith river is class 4 (5). We went down  rapid for rapid. In an epic scenery - it's fall; indian summer!

Miguel during the hike in 

the crew at the put-in
(left to right: Brondon, Christian, Dan, Frazer, Miguel, Paul, Wes, myself)

Frazer killing the drop

random rapid on the upper south fork smith

The hardest rapid is called Island Rapid. Here the river splits into two arms. Both are runnable, but the left arm has more water and is the more difficult one. Dan and I decided to give it a go. We both didn't made the lines the way we planned them. After rejoining with the rest of the group we found ourself on top of river wide horizon line. We scouted this one and found several lines to go down.

me dropping down

Just before the easy class 2 paddle out is the longest rapid of this section. It was a series of holes and drops. If you stay on the left side next to the wall it is good to go - if not, ask Brondon. He got beaten up several times. 

me in top of the longest rapid on the upper south fork smith

The trip was awesome. We had perfect indian summer weather with a little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine at a great level for the river.  Thanks to the crew and specially to Dan Menten for the photos.

Life in Humboldt

It has been a while after my last post. Life here in Humboldt is getting normalized, I guess. I'm studying, go kayaking and climbing on a regularly basis. I enjoy to have dinner with friends and so on. Today they shut down the gauge on the Trinity River so the levels are now to low for the Burnt Ranch Gorge. Instead of kayaking on the river I went surf kayaking in the ocean today. That was amazing. The weekend before there has been the Cali Burn Fest a river festival on the Burnt Ranch Gorge, the weekend before that I had a surfing class with the university and the weekend before that I had been at the Feather Fest a river festival on the North Fork Feather River. Here are some random pics from my last adventures:

Me a the climbing wall

Mount Shasta!!!

Tobin section of the North Fork Feather River

Sweet sunset ont the way back from the Feahter Fest

random shot @Burnt Ranch Gorge

finish at the race during Cali Burn Fest

# 3 during the race day

Brown Claw

Labour Day Weekend

This weekend started with a camping trip. a bunch of people from Campus Appartment were heading north towards the Smith River. There we a some party time at our campsite and an amazing saturday on the banks of the river.

enjoying the bbq

enjoying the sun

enjoying the river

kayak instructions

On sunday we made our way back to Arcata with driving trough the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. Here are some big Redwoods located. We also stopped at some amazing beaches.

walking through the woods

trinidad beach

The next day I spend at Burnt Ranch Gorge - where else. Awesome summer day on the river.

Burnt Ranch Gorge

Burnt Ranch Gorge aka BRG is my homerun here in Arcata. It's a 1 hour drive up into the mountains to get to BRT. It is a class 4-5 section and I did 3 amazing runs down there this weekend. This time with a bigger group of 9 boaters.

Lesley ready to punch the hole at #2

Paul in #3

Jon made it down #3

Welcome to HSU & Arcata

I'm in Arcata, Ca. I arrived one week ago and moved into my new room in the oldest building on campus the Campus Apartments residence hall.

HSU - my school for the next 4 month

Campus Apartments - my home for the next 4 month

After a packed schedule of orientation and parties until last friday I managed to go boating on saturday. I had two nice runs on Burnt Ranch Gorge of the Trinity River with some local boaters. Since monday classes have started but due to my easy going schedule I went to the beach yesterday afternoon. Although I have already started my PV project the same day in the morning.