Racing Blind?

The Pacific North West has a pile of great race events in the spring. The courses range from low volume class 4 on the East Fork Lewis to the waterfall play ground of Canyon Creek and the dangerous and demanding waters of Robe Canyon. These all sounded like a ton of fun, but the only issue was that I hadn’t paddled any of the sections before. The lack of practice and sleep from the healthy party atmosphere supported by the ultra-friendly local paddlers still couldn’t sway me from competing in these quality race courses.

Robe Race 2015 from Chris Baer on Vimeo.

East Fork Lewis

Showing up to the East Fork Lewis I had the misconception that I was on “Cascade Creek”. Setting my boat down in the top eddy I could see a respectable horizon line. I chatted to a couple others in the eddy and was introduced to Chris and Hillary Neevel, who took me under their wing for a quick practice run down the “race course” section. It was about four miles into the section when Chris looked over his shoulder and stated that he wasn’t sure where the race actually finished. Another mile downstream we reached a fun waterfall, after which we called it quits and hiked to the road to hitchhike back to the starting line. Upon reaching the starting line, we were informed that the course was only a little more than a mile long and we had significantly passed the take out. The race lap went relatively smooth and awarded me a third place finish in the long boat division. 

plopping off the first falls on the East Fork Lewis

high fives on the podium

Canyon Creek

A day later Chris, Hillary, and I were standing around in yet another parking lot talking about the next race, which in my head had to be this “Cascade Creek” I was certain we were racing. Turns out I was wrong again and we would be racing down Canyon Creek. Canyon Creek is a significantly harder course than East Fork Lewis and contains a handful of fun waterfalls. The beta at the top of the run was, “When in doubt go off the middle”. 3 2 1 GO! Pulling hard on forward strokes, the initial rapids went well. A couple of blind turns and the first large horizon line appeared, luckily for me there was more than ample safety on the course and I was able to shout out a quick, “Which way do I go?!” to a safety member. The response was comical, a dropped jaw and an, “A a a right!” The impromptu lines were working out relatively well but were definitely far from the fast race lines. As I fell off the tallest horizon line on the course smack dab in the center of the flow, I clipped a shelf halfway down and started rotating towards my head. Twenty feet below I landed solidly on my side, and with a strong brace and forward stroke pulled away from the veil to see safety members helping a swimmer out of the landing zone. The first of the final two ledges, though, was by far the most entertaining. Again I asked which way to go and this time the safety responded with a strong, “RIGHT!” Looking back at this, what I think he meant was right of center, but that was not where I was heading. I heard RIGHT and I was going RIGHT, all the way RIGHT. On the far right side of the river is a funky curler that led directly into yet another waterfall. A solid stroke onto the curler and my thoughts were that this line was way harder than anything else on the course. A nice boof-to-paddle-twirl and a solid extracurricular line was complete. From there the finish line was in sight, and a new section of whitewater was completed relatively quickly and with almost no beta.

Robe Canyon

stout crew

A few weeks later it was Robe Canyon time. At least I wasn’t still messed up on the name of the run, but yet again I had no practice laps. The Robe Canyon is definitely the most challenging of the three races and getting safety onto the course is difficult at best. So the “organizers” have decided to do the race as a team event. Every racer must complete the course with one other kayaker. This was interesting as some people had been training together and others where finding partners at the put in. I was distinctly in the latter group and was starting to chat up a handful of possible partners when Chris “Topher” invited me to be his partner. The course is spectacular and contains a handful of difficult rapids. Difficult enough to put me upside down not once but twice. A respectable finishing spot was attained and the party commenced at the newly installed commemorative bench.

1. Dave & Will                                29:50
2. Ben & Brian                                30:20
3. Sam & Jordy                               30:42
4. Sam & Benn                               31:00
5.Henry & Adam                            31:29
6. Darren, Scott & Christian           31:40
7. Brad & Evan                               32:15
8. Trevor & Chase                          33:20
9. Joe & Dan                                   33:39
10. Chris & Chris                            33:56
11. Hillary & Ellie                          37:14
12. Jon & JD                                   38:45
13. Chris & Leif                              39:37
14. Steve & Conor                          53:54


Racing blind is almost always guaranteed to give you a horrible finishing placement, but it is a spectacularly silly way to see a new section.

Sea kayaking the San Juans in whitewater kayaks?

looking westward into the San Juan Islands

The spring road trip had brought us to Anacortes, Washington, known to be one of the best sea kayaking destinations in the world. 

After calling a myriad of sea kayaking shops near the San Juan Islands Avery and I were still without any usable beta. The local paddling community was still mourning from a double fatality from early in the month and handing out beta to non-sea kayakers wasn’t going to happen. Some Google research later, and we had a rough idea of tides and a couple camping options on Cypress Island.

camp on Cypress Island

I’m not exactly into paddling non-moving water but that was my first misunderstanding. The water between the San Juan Islands moves at speeds upwards of ten miles an hour. Determining the lulls between high and low tide wasn’t easy, and Avery and I spent close to two hours making a one mile ferry from Guernes Island to Cypress Island due to a minor tidal misunderstanding.

sunsets on the ocean are beautiful

The camping was gorgeous and the fact that we came ashore pre-season meant we had the camp and ample winter driftwood to ourselves.

not your average sea kayak

Checking the weather report before we took off, it looked as if we would catch a small storm overnight with light wind and rain. The ocean showed us who had the upper hand with driving rain and gusts of wind upwards of thirty miles an hour. The Coast Guard issued a small craft advisory, and I’m pretty sure our whitewater boats are smaller than what the Coast Guard fathomed.

awaking to a pair of bald eagles

The next morning we awoke to a clear blue sky, light breeze, and the sound of a mating pair of bald eagles in the trees above. It was exactly what we were looking for, a relaxing morning of instant coffee and fire toasted bagels. We waited and timed our route back to the mainland with the current. Our six hour paddle out turned into a three hour return while using the current in our favor. This included a curious chase where we were trailed by our new friend, an inquisitive harbor seal.

our new friend the Harbor Seal

Sea kayaking will never overcome my love for the river but it is a unique way to see the Washington coast.

Opel, and Canyon Creek

Wow, a month in Hood River went fast.
Opel Creek, Canyon Creek and a Horrible swim.

After a couple weeks in Hood it was time to go explore, Opel creek was first on our list.

A stunning hike in threw an old growth forest.



Our first major drop on Opel creek, a funky boof into an ugly hole.



Scott Baker styling the line.



Same drop shot from below,




The last drop on the Opel, a fun two tired item.
There was also another drop spotted on the drive out that we had to stop and look at. 20ish foot water fall that had definitely had some man made help at one point, lots of concrete along the river left side but it did look.... ok


Then we were off to Canyon Creek OR


This run started off awesome, tight little boulder gardens, wood galore, nasty holes, under cut walls, sieves, all the things to make it a manky class5
Scott trying hard to not go under the wall.



Smiling away coming threw another steep wood infested boulder garden.




So this is where I reiterate, NASTY HOLES, check out the one at the top of the picture, walled in, sieved out, boil all the way to the bank... nasty.




So here I am doing a very ugly stern squirt in the fore mentioned hole.

WARNING
This is where the story goes bad.
Mom don't read this.

I stern squirt, get the boat back down, and start paddling like hell. Got flipped, rolled back up facing the hole, and immediately ask for a rope. Then the rodeo session began threw some ends and quickly lost all control. At this point I realized I was not getting out of the hole in my boat.

So now I am getting cartwheeled and flipped around in the hole with my paddle, boat, and camera. I manage to catch a decent gasp of air and see the guys on shore throwing ropes, my hands go up my head goes under and I couldn't find a rope to save my life... literally. I continue to get beat for a while occasionally coming close to the surface and flailing my arms feeling around desperately for the ropes. I tried clawing and kicking off the undercut walls, but nothing was working. A few moments latter I have a decision to make, stay just under the surface and continue to feel around for the rope or to ball up hoping that the water grabs me as a hole and pushes me deep in to the low lying current. Or in this case possible deep under one of the surrounding rocks, a scary decision to make but when faced with no oxygen, and the real thought that this might be it... ball up what is it going to hurt.

I barely went any further down then I had when I was just flailing around, time for other options. The buoyancy of my body and gear was keeping me recirculating in the hole, so it was time to ditch some flotation. I reached a hand up and pulled the latex gasket away from my neck, this would allow any extra air that was trapped in my dry suit to escape. All I felt was 40 degree water coming down my chest. At this point I was on the worst carnival ride ever upside down right side up cartwheeling, the guys on the surface said they could see my hole back on the surface occasionally but I was getting so tumbled I had no idea which way was up.

I was starting to get really tired, the hole event had been going on for close to two minutes now and I had only occasionally had gotten even a mini gasp of air. I thought about trying to take off my life jacket the one last piece of buoyancy, but what would this mean for me further down stream, and... I was too tired. I felt my arm fling limply threw the air above the hole and that really scared me. I was dyeing. A few more tumbles and I felt what I had been looking for the hole time that damn rope. My hands clenched on with every thing left and the guys pulled my blue body out of the water and on shore. They held me there for a while, my legs wouldn't support me. After a minute or so of coughing hacking and my throat burning from the taste of oxygen. I raised my head and said guys we need to go get my paddle and camera.

The guys were all relieved, and I thank them for truly saving my life.

The rest of the run was ok, collected all of my gear minus one elbow pad, and I was happy that there were only a couple more nasty little holes.

Back at the Wreck Center after a scary day.
Thank you Scott Baker for some of the pictures and thanks to Scott Baker, Dan Ingerson, and sketchy Dan, for pulling me out of the damn hole.

Thanks for reading another installment of Where Is Baer, stay tuned in for some Minnesota action up next.
Chris Baer

Pacific North West

Now that is just funny


Wow gang, it has been a couple weeks, and I have been Firing up the goods.
I took the long drive in the WREC Center from Colorado up here to the Pacific North West, and it has been great.
So where do you go to paddle in the Pacific North west, how about the Green Truss and the Little White


BZ falls, this thing has been handing out beatings



The always fun Big Brother




More Big Brother


O yea Eagle Creek...

Well the hike in on this run is a little ruff 5 or so miles up fire up some goods and if you don't have huge cahones and fire up the 90fter your back hiking a mile down...

The good news is that the view the hole way up is amazing.




Then you get to this big boy a 40fter into a tiny pool and then off another 15ft,




A couple of fun middle rapids, watch for wood


did i say the scenery was amazing!



Then you get to this beautiful horizon line Punch Bowl Falls





Yea just kinda pretty and the white water was amazing, remember if you arn't planning on sending 90ft get out after this drop.


We also showed up to an amazing Park and huck on Rock Creek

The Money Drop.