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.