Disclaimer #1:
If hearing about boat abuse offends you, you might just want to skip this part of the TR . . .Here goes!
Midwest October Creeking continued:
It's bound to happen . . . take paddling hard, mix it with the sharp, solid rock of the North shore creeks and plenty
of action-packed athletes - this is the recipe for excitement!
Disclaimer #2:
Though it seems like there is ALWAYS carnage excitement in the adventures we do, it's not the case. I just think it's
more reader worthy and entertaining when there is, so I like sharing it with you. This is what I remember, to the best
of my knowledge . . .
Boat abuse #1
JonVich Creek - Long, narrow, twisty slide. John Alt pitons his already pitoned bow - creating
a permanent bend in the front of his boat.
Boat abuse #2
JonVich Creek - John Kiffmeyer, attempting the same piton move as Alt and being successful - Bow dented in.
Boat abuse #3
Cadunce - Tommy borrowed Peter's boat and nailed the line on the rapid called "Mandatory Piton" - bow dented in.
Boat abuse #5
Cadunce - I switched boats with Jason Stingl (who was borrowing Joerge's boat) and ended up pitoning the cliff wall with
the front of the boat. I scarred the front of Joerge's bow a bit and the rock from the wall is probably still embedded
in the front - bow will forever hold this piece of rock!
Boat abuse #6
The end of Peter's boat, which I tied on, came loose and ended up dragging for a couple of miles,
going 70 mph. When we pulled over, the boat had been worn down so far, that the drain plug area
was a perfect hole - part of the stern was no longer fully connected to the rest of the boat.
So, taking score -
Alt - 1
Kiffy - 1
Tommy - 1
Heather - 3 (all on the same day)
Winner is . . . embarrassingly ME! I felt horrible . . .
Kudos to John Kiffmeyer, John Alt and Tommy for paddling the Cadunce at the highest
flow it has been paddled yet. I would have to say that gorge looked horrific. But,
they all made it down and were ampted up after they got off the water.
I left early with Peter (mostly because I was running out of boats to wreck, I
mean paddle). On our drive home, with each stop we made, we
became more and more sore. Peter was out of kayaking the last day, because of some
wrestling maneuvers he pulled on Joerge the night before. I was pretty much spent
from the portage on the DT, swimming and jet lag.
After a few days off, replenishing my sore muscles and visiting family, I headed back
up to the North Shore for two more days of creeking. Excitement continued . . .
Due to the high flows around the north shore, we hit the Beaver first. The Beaver was
flowing at a healthy medium flow. This run is basically a
park 'n huck. It consists of some continuous class II, into a double -tiered waterfall
and an "auto-boof" drop below the waterfall. I got out and
scouted the double-tiered waterfall. I saw my line, hiked back up to my boat and headed
for the falls. The first falls caught me a little off-guard.
The hit was definately more powerful than it looked. I was pushed way back on my stern
and flipped. Missing my first roll, I finally roll up, just
as I was headed towards the second falls. Without much time to straighten myself out,
and not wanting to go over the falls sideways, I lined up to the drop and headed over
it backwards. Let me just say that this line is NOT recommended. I ended up getting
machine-washed in the hole below, losing my paddle and worst of all, my right contact
(I can't see a thing without my contacts, but I had spares). *Note: I lose my right contact.
Our second hit was Two Island. I thought I'd let the boys run the drop first as I filmed
them. After watching a couple sweet, perfect lines I walked my boat upstream. And the saga
continues . . . sometimes when I know I don't want to do something, let's say piton, or get
stuck in a hole, I overcorrect or overshoot.
Well, off of the top of this drop, I knew I didn't want to piton the river right wall, so
as I flew off the top drop, I cranked my body hard to bring my
bow left . . . too left, that it sent me sideways, next hitting a rooster rock and air
screwing down the second half of this drop, which happened to be a slide. As I rolled up at
the bottom, I heard these cheers from the boys and I all could think was, "Good grief, today
is not going very
well." Anyhow, here is Boat abuse #7 - I broke the backband on Joerge's boat. . .crap!
Score -
Heather - 4
Not only did I break yet another boat, but this time I lost the LEFTcontact out of my eye . . . *Note: I now lose my left
contact. . .can you feel my frustration? Thank God for my spares. LOL
After Two Island, the crew wanted to hit up one more river. We stopped at the Cascade, but to our
amazement, it was +12! This river is usually ran at -3 or 0. So, we headed back to the Cadunce
for some redemption. Though the Cadunce was super low, some of our crew wanted to run it so bad.
We did the long hike up and put on. We split up into two groups - Group #1 - the ambitious ones
- Kiffy, Zimney and I,put in all the way at the start and paddled all the way down to Lake Superior.
We all thought we were the cool ones, because we did the entire run. But, we were definately not the
"smart" ones. Group #2 - the smart ones - Joerge, Andy and one other put in right above the first big
drop and took out below the last big drop, skipping all the shallow class II. By the time Group #1 -
the ambitious ones - got to the Lake, Group #2 - the smart ones - were floating in their drysuits
in Lake Superior drinking beers . . . doh!
The day concluded with a great meal at "My Sister's Place", a kick ass fire at "Paradise Beach",
beers, Joerge's "juice" and great friends.
More coming soon . . .
~Heather~