What to wear?!?!

I'm getting super stoked for the SNAKE!  Hell's Canyon is gonna be a great time.  BUT, what should I wear?!

Washington's rivers are quite cold, typically by the end of the summer they aren't too bad to swim in, but still quite chilly.  My past experiences paddling in Idaho is that the water can be really warm or really cold, it depends on the source of the river.  The Snake is dam released, so I'm estimating temps will be warmer.  I checked out the forecast and it's clear skies, high 80's and possibly 90's!  This is dry top weather, but I'm going to wear my drysuit with light layers underneath.  That way I won't have wear wet gear daily.  I'm throwing in a swimsuit too, first time doing that!  

Typically for multi day trips I wear the same thing two days at a time.  If my under layers get wet I sleep in my dry stuff and hang up the wet stuff.  Then I wear the wet stuff on the river the next day.  I will warm up on the river and it's nice to have something dry to wear when you take off the river, especially if it's cold out.  I've been told you can dry your clothes by sleeping in them, but that depends on how wet they are!

I practiced packing my kayak again today with all my gear and food that I will take.  The only thing I didn't do was put on my drysuit....   This time I was able to pack everything in more easily and use my Watershed bags!  I secured my groover into the front foam pillar with gorilla tape and that works great!  It's accessible and not in the way now.  Doing this also opened up a lot of space in my kayak, which is awesome!

Snake Prep 2014

To start my blog off here's a little girl power for you!  This lady go getter paddler kayaked the entirety of the Stikine and was the first female to paddle the complete run (including Site Zed which is a massively powerful rapid).  I think she even boated it twice!  YES!  Kayaking is a male dominated sport, so it's awesome to see these ladies keep up with the boys and do it well!

http://www.canoekayak.com/videos/first-woman/

SNAKE RIVER 2014

I'm getting prepped to hit Hell's Canyon on the Snake River this month.  The plan is to self support kayak 32 miles from Hell's Canyon Damn to Pittsburgh Landing over the course of 4 days.

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/633/

So far I have self supported the Rogue River in Oregon twice.  The Snake will be a new river for me, the river travels through Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.  I'm excited to self support again, this is my favorite type of whitewater kayaking.  

The most challenging part of the trip is packing ALL your camping gear, clothes, food, and typical safety gear into your kayak.  I have minimized what I wear on the river, but I don't underestimate how crappy and cold the weather can get out there.  I also have at least an extra day or two of food on me just in case.   I bring a tent because I won't sleep as well thinking snakes and spiders could be crawling on me as I sleep. Plus a tent or tarp can be an awesome shelter if it's raining and there are minimal trees.  I like to take pictures and video along the way, so I bring a small power stick with me to re-up my GoPro at least once.  I bring an extra waterproof SD card with me too.  My camera battery lasts for several days if I'm not taking too much video on it and temps aren't too cold.  I am taking my Stomper 80 again this year.  I'd love to get a boat for self supporting, but I just don't have one yet.  Keep in mind you need several dry bags and the dry sacks work well inside dry bags to keep things extra dry (clothing, food).

For my meals I plan easy.  I take a water filter and one water bottle.  It's nice to bring along a collapsable water bottle too, then you don't have to pump water as much when you are in camp and you can stash it flattened easily in your boat.  I bring a small thermos to put tea or hot coffee in for the morning and on the river.  This comes in really handy when it's cold!  All the meals I make require water to be boiled or no prep at all.  Couscous (add seasoning, powdered milk, freeze dried veggies), a couple of bagels, jerky, instant coffee, tea bags, tuna in foil, granola/protein bars, instant oatmeal with freeze dried fruits, apples hold up ok and so do oranges.  I've been experimenting with pre made meals too.  They are OK, but I find the portions too big for one meal.  One day I'm going to get a dehydrator and my my own awesome camp meals.

Planning for the trip:

-Always make sure to confirm put in and take out.  Organize shuttle accordingly.  This trip we are paying for a shuttle to avoid a 5-6 hour trip the opposite way we came.  I found shuttle drivers online really easily for the Snake and shuttle drivers have worked out awesome on the Rogue.

-Know your run.  I bought a waterproof map to take along and have also read it several times over to get to know the Snake before we go.  This trip has some old farms and petroglyphs along the way.  Plan the number of days you want to go for, estimate camp sites, and always plan for the unexpected and bring a little bit more food.    

-Always let someone back home know your plan and when you are going to contact them next.  

-A break down paddle is always a good idea, first aid kit, and of course your typical paddling gear and rope.
-Check to see if you need any type of permits or other requirements like a groover.  This trip is post permit season, but requires at least an Idaho Invasive Species sticker (7$).

http://kayakcamping.amongstit.com/2010/03/25/the-groover-aka-personal-human-waste-management-system/  

This website can help you make a groover for a kayak.  This article features a large groover.  I made a smaller one for shorter trips that fits behind my seat.  Don't forget your Wag Bags so you can reuse your groover!

As always there's more to learn about self supporting.  I am still having issues fitting my new dry bags into the back of my Stomper.  Perhaps I'll just use my less dry bags and make sure what needs to STAY dry is double dry bagged.  I'll post a blog about the trip after it's completed!

Websites and Sweet Videos

Just wanted to hook up some links to my favorite whitewater paddling  web sites, articles, and videos.

I met most of the people I paddle with here in Washington through a forum called Professor Paddle.  I learned about this site from an old guy in Boise, Idaho on the banks of the Boise River.  He was so excited to talk to some kayakers and I was a newbie moving to Washington.  He had lived there prior to Boise and was very excited about my upcoming paddling opportunities.  It was really neat to meet someone so excited about his kayaking past!

These two sites are the ones I use most for networking, river information, and checking levels.

http://www.professorpaddle.com  (Best Washington WW forum)

http://www.americanwhitewater.org  (Best general information US wide)

A local PNW boater (I think) has set up a sweet texting system to find out the most up to date levels.  Dial 41411 and type in "Level Skykomish"....there with be a responsive text asking which fork.  Text back and get the info you desire, including how fast the river is rising or dropping.  You can also select up to three "Level favs" to get quick up to date information on your top three favs! I use this a lot.

Below are some of my favorite kayaking videos available online.  There are always new ones, so I'll have to update this! 

https://vimeo.com/94027221  This is Ben Marr's Dream video.  It's so weird I love it.  It features people hucking off Husum Falls in the dark with their boats all lit up.  So much fun!

https://vimeo.com/51459856  This is just a kick ass video and gives me goosebumps.

https://vimeo.com/51459856 I was introduced to this beautiful piece after coming back from a trip to Peru and Bolivia.  They are so right about the bugs in Central and South America, but seriously they are spot on about paddling and what's so amazing about it.

https://vimeo.com/83941645  This one is a nail biter with Evan Garcia taking a big waterfall with a not so awesome outcome.

https://vimeo.com/80897373  This flick is a sick trailer edit featuring paddling in Canada.

https://vimeo.com/100434412  This video features a bit of history about the NF Payette in Idaho.  The best kayakers around come to the NF Championship to compete on these gnarly rapids.  2014 marks the first year a female paddler competed. Way to represent the ladies Katrina Van Wijk!

https://vimeo.com/72991727  Lady boater, Kim Beckler, will fill you in on boofs and show you some sick moves in her video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Nt1JC_-gc  This video features Sam Grafton boating the local gnar that is Tumwater Canyon.  Really neat footage including some drone footage and a HUGE LOG!  Sam's skills are pretty amazing!
  

Hope you enjoyed these videos as much as I do.  

I've a got a few of my own on Vimeo too.  http://vimeo.com/user7509574  Check out some of my videos!


Anybody got some sick mountain biking videos to share?  Let me know...

Welcome to my new blog!

What is a boof you ask?!  

Boof is a kayaking term.

Boof:  The act of lifting the bow of a whitewater kayak while going over rocks, waves, or waterfalls, in order to launch over hydraulics ("holes") or rocks. I've also heard the word boof came from the sound the kayak makes when it lands back in the water.  

Sugar:  Well we all know what sugar is!

Happy Boofing,

Megan