Flashback....

So, after a fun party for Ira's birthday everyone was excited for our weekend jaunt over to Hood River. Certain members of the group had been planning for weeks. Unfortunately this morning saw a number of the supposed crew waking up with fevers, thus nixing the trip. After so powwows the trip has been tentatively rescheduled for next weekend...with the final destination yet to be determined. There may be a change of venue from Hood River to the North Fork of the Payette. Ever since I started kayaking, particularly class V, I have wanted to run the North Fork of the Payette. Either way keep you eyes peeled after next weekend for stories and pictures.

In the mean time, I just came into possession of some pictures from my 2006 trip down the legendary "Box" on the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River. Ira and I met up with some characters from Bozeman two years ago in mid July for our descent down the "Box." For those of you not in the know, the Box is a two day wilderness trip through the 3rd deepest river gorge in the United States. Only the Grand Canyon and Hell's Canyon on the Snake are deeper. The rapids in the box are generally characterized by big boulders and big sieves and undercuts.



I have been on a lot of multi day trips, but the box ranks up there in memorable rapids, awe inspiring scenery, and scary portages.

The most notable section of river is known as Deliberation Corner. In this section the walls rise up dramatically and the river gets steep. Whether you decide to run the whole corner or not the last drop is mandatory, unless you have rock climbing skills beyond my comprehension.





Dropping the first 15 feet of Deliberation Corner.





The sequence consists of a 15 footer, followed by a boulder rapid into a 20 footer, around the bend to the mandatory 12 footer, followed by another 12 footer with a big hole. On our trip there were three groups that converged at Deliberation corner, and of the 16 people on the river only four of us ran the entire sequence.

Ira and I dropping the 20fter.

Box photos by Matt Rusher.





As memorable as Deliberation, but far less challenging, is the last major rapid on the run, Leap of Faith. Leap of Faith got its name because it is both mandatory to run, and unscoutable. You, have to go off the directions of the people that have been there before.








The author Leaping Faithfully




Shortly after is the final mandatory portage, which is awe inspiring in its own right.











Ira and I back in the water after the final portage, known as the Sunlight Strainers.

Two weeks after our Box trip we loaded down the Kia again, with British Columbia set out as our destination. A short detour through Seattle, to pick up JEB, and we were on our way. Unfortunately we did way too much kayaking to take a ton of photos, but we had some memorable days and got to see some amazing biking at the Kokanee Crank Works freeride festival at Whistler. In 7 days in BC we did about 10 runs on Callahagn Creek, two runs on Rutherford Creek, Rogers Creek, and the Upper Checkamus. We had to cut the short trip and get JEB back to Seattle so he could go to work in AK, but we finished the trip off with a run on the Green Truss and a run on the Little White Salmon near Hood River.

The Crew working towards a putin, with some ugly scenery in the background







Ira dropping in on Rutherford









Rutherford creek was slightly emotional for some of us, as it is the river where we lost a good boating friend, Matt Sheridan. The rapid that was the site of the accident produced a huge rainbow as we scouted, which lifted the heavy mood and got some smiles back on peoples faces. R.I.P Matt "Newschool" Sheridan

That's it for now, or until more photos resurface or I get back on the water. Look for a new post mid week for the pictures of my new ride... (Insert nickname). Hopefully a totally schweet name will come to me soon.

Peace,
Amoose