The Canyon on the South Fork - among other things.

The South Fork of the Payette is a stretch of river encompassing several levels of paddling, some of which have already been written about to my knowledge.  Those stretches include the Canyon, the Granjean (sp?), Swirly Canyon, the Garden Valley stretch, and the Lower South Fork.  The Canyon is a pristine wonder of the world.  The canyon itself at any point may be as much as 1000 feet deep as we wander through it in our kayaks, and let me tell you, it is pretty intimidating - but seriously, just beautiful.

Anyway, lets talk about whitewater.  The Canyon as a 13 mile stretch has 3 miles of Class II-III warmup before punching through the Class IV rapid, Gateway, and finding yourself deep inside the canyon.  The 10 miles remaining to be conquered are solid Class III-IV sections of whitewater spliced by the infamous Big Falls, which at the current water level is an unbelievable Class VI unrunnable 35 foot drop.  While Portaging this rapid we took a break and stood off to the side just to see what this "thing" looked like - it was just jaw-dropping.  Super loud, super huge, I think that gave me a new respect for the power of water.

Post-Big Falls is a continuance of the absolute horrorshow, yet super chill, Class IV stretch that we began earlier in the Canyon.  Trashcan was somewhat washed out, but made for a pretty beastly corner with some swirly little eddy lines and whatnot that had Maggie making some weird faces again...but really there's nothing new about that.  Trashcan then led into Blackadar I & II - a series of two Class IV rapids that are named after an Idahoan doctor who then became a pioneer on the kayaking frontier, actually doing the first decent of the Canyon run we then found ourselves on.  This guy sounded like a real BA, but then again something must be loose in his head to be doing solo helicoptered first decents in Alaska.  So Blackadar died on the rapid that now bears his name due to a little hubris on his part - oh, the epic hero.  This series of rapids however, have been voted unanimously (that being by Maggie and myself) as the best rapids on the stretch.  Blackadar hosts some SUPER HUGE wave trains and massive holes that really make you wonder what is going to happen on the other side when you are stuck in the bottom of the trough no longer even close to being able to see the horizon.  

The final section of the Canyon run is a stretch referred to as the "Royal Flush."  These rapids are the Crease, Little Falls, Deck of Cards, and Surprise.  The Crease was washed out at this water level and no one really even noticed the fact that we went through it - it seemed to be the smallest thing we had done all day.  Little Falls ended up being another portage - the move was simple enough: a classic boof off of a rock on far river left (launch yourself off the top of a rock into an eddy (a spot of calm-ish water)); however, since the water level was unusually high, the hole created by the falls was the meatiest, munchiest, meanest, will-chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out hole ever!  Seriously, it was terrifying.  Apparently the day before there was some serious raft carnage there as well as a kayaker that was recirculated for a solid 5 minutes - I think I speak for everyone when I say that the fun of the rapid seemed to be outweighed by the risk if you miss the move - unless you're Ariel the mermaid like Maggie, then you have a thing for being upside down holding your breath for long periods of time where normal people would easily pass out or bail (reference the post on the Lower South Fork).  She would like me to insert here that she is uber-hardcore.

Finally we finished the Canyon with Surprise(!) rapid.  The surprise can be derived in several ways: 1) there is an initial curling wave up top that is basically a slap across the face for the unweary boater, followed by a second wave that you don't know is even there until you find yourself in it head-first 2) There is another super huge hole on the right that you wont know you are in until you're upside down and being thrashed and 3) That massive hole (called surprise) flips rafts and so in a raft there is that "moment of truth" if you make it through or not - and officially the rapid gets its name from reason 3, but we decided that 1 and 2 make more sense (and just sound that much more hardcore).

Having checked out the list so far of what was written I realized that I left out the rapid Lone Pine.  This is a beast Class IV rapid full of holes so running it is like trying to pick your way through a maze if you want to stay upright.  We have tons of pictures from this rapid since the canyon wall was a bit lower here, so it is definitely worth mentioning.  The rapid is named lone pine because it is supposedly marked by a lone pine tree - if you can find which tree is actually the lone pine tree you could make river history! 

So that is basically the Canyon run - an amazing Class III-IV run that is tons of fun for everyone!  Seriously though, this is something very worth doing.  But here we are now, closing up shop on the last day of the trip - what a beastly 19 days!  Many thanks to Sean and Kristin, BSU, and everyone else on the trip and that had a hand in making this happen.  Thanks also to Idaho for being so cool, and weird little ladies showing off their grass and 58 degree water all year round.  This trip was wicked ill and definitely a stable craft.  One day I'll get back out here - the east can hardly even compare.

Peace,

Harry

Cabarton Stretch

So we're all just sittin' in our kayaks, eddied out above Howard's plunge, waiting for the Sean and Kristin to set up the cameras for as to take pictures and such. Anyway, we're all sitting there and I, being the "coolidictorion" of my high school class, decide to go first. After I peel out, I ferry across and in doing so, drop the upstream edge of my kayak, nearly flipping it. I share this with you because I find it heavily ironic that I would flip before even dropping over the horizon line. that's all. Then as I drop into the rapid its like passing through the mouth of Rasputin (if Rasputin had gene Simmons most righteous tongue, anyway, I think that would be a nice balance). After I slipped off the lickity tip of that tongue, it was all horror show, taking each wave like it has a bounty on my head. My kayak goes "rockity rock rock" as the water comes at me from all sides, like a tree blowing in wake of a storm. Anyway, I'm gonna stop there because i flipped at the bottom and had to swim to shore, of which the story does not share the same grace.

The Main Payette, by Megan

I have three words to describe the Main Payette: foaming white death. This stretch of river was definitely my favorite stretch this whole trip. The Main Payette is a class II/ III stretch that runs for about seven miles. You put in at a town called Banks which consists of a cafe, a restaurant, a bathroom, and a lot of rafters. The first two major raids are class II: Whitewater 101 and Whitewater 102. These rapids are great for warming up. They have big waves and virtually no obstacles. The next rapid is called GLOYF, which stands for Go Left Or You're Fired (or at least that's how W.I.L.D. stated it). It's a class III. It also has huge waves along with a huge hole on the right (hence the name). The waves of the left are massive. When you are in the trough of the wave, all you are thinking is "How am I going to get over this?". It is so exhilarating! The next rapids are Bennett's and Mike's Hole. There's also a rapid we nicknamed Maggie Swirl because Maggie kept getting caught on the swirly eddy lines. The next major rapid is Chief Parrish. Basically, it's a huge wave train with a big pool at the bottom. The next major rapids are Mixmaster and AMF. Mixmaster also has huge waves with a really big diagonal curler on the left. AMF, my favorite rapid, has a huge wave on the left. This one is even bigger than the one on GLOYF, and is a lot of fun to go through. AMF stands for Adios My Friend, but Sean likes to call it Adios Megan Friedman, just to mess with me.
We rafted this trip as well as kayaked it. We did some pretty fun things while rafting, like flipping the rafts and riding on them upside-down, or reenacting The Titanic on the front of the rafts.
This stretch was a lot of fun with a lot of big waves. It was definitely worth getting up at 6 in the morning to paddle it one last time, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

The Gutter

The past few days we have been running the Payette River. At the end of the Payette, there is this awesome place that a power company created, which is called "the Gutter." 3/4 of the river is blocked and the other 1/4 of the river is this cement park that has four parts to it. There is four different slides that create waves and holes... which by the way is really cool. The way it works is that there is this giant inflatable tube (like a bike tube) runnning across 3/4 of the river which is called the bladder. The inflation rate of the Bladder controls how many of the slides are holes or waves. All of the times we were at the Gutter, 2 of the slides were waves and the other 1 was a hole. The other hole was not in because how the bladder was inflated. So the third slide that was a hole which was not to sticky hole that if you swam or flipped you would not stay in it. Also the Gutter is known for being able to boogie board in the hole. So we got 2 boogie boards and surfed in the hole. What you did is you ran from the side of the river in to the hole and you would stay in there and you could sit there... it was really cool. So we spent alot of time there the the last day. We just sat there and boogie boarded and surfed-- it was tons of fun. Also on the last day of the trip we did a service project on the Gutter where we picked up all the trash (and there was alot of trash). We also wanted to put a trash can down there, so we got a trash can and metal chain and padlock. But then we thought if we were to chain up the trash can the company that owns the Gutter might just take it down and throw it away. So we decided to get Sean and Kristin to ask the power company if it would be ok if we did that. The gutter was UNBELIVELIBELY FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

The Lower South Fork of the Payette River

During our 8-Day kayaking expedition on the Payette River, everyone kayaked over and through the massive, rollercoaster-like wave train rapids. Like I mentioned in my last "blog," the wave trains of the East are nothing compared to the wild West. Sean and Kristin immediately began to push Harry and me out of our comfort zones (in a good way, of course) in order to prepare us for the Lower South Fork of the Payette, which is home of the three class IV rapids--Bronco Billy, Staircase, and Slalom. After a few days of hard work and skill development, Harry and I were ready to take on the raging waters of the South Fork. At the put in both of us had a look of terror plastered on our faces; however, our fear was quite irrational, since both Harry and I were quite ready skill wise for this stretch of white water. The beginning of the South Fork is pretty mellow with a few miles of nice class II and III warm-up rapids so by the time the three of us (Harry, Sean and myself) reached the eddy above Bronco Billy we were all ready to bust down some big water. Bronco Billy is probably my favorite rapid out of the three because of the incredibly huge wave in the middle. No joke, the wave is so huge that I thought I was going to slide backwards rather than go up and over. Bronco Billy is not as technical as the other two class IV rapids; although, I had to paddle my heart out in order stay right-side-up. After Bronco Billy there are a few fun class III rapids--Dog's Leg and Tight & Right--and then the adrenaline rushing fun starts up again with Staircase rapid. There are quite a few staggered holes that kayakers must avoid while paddling down; therefore, we got out of our boats before-hand and scouted the rapid in order to choose the best line. I am not going to lie, my stomach churned as I looked at what I was about to paddle down. Both Harry and I hit the correct line and got down safely with smiles on our faces. Sean turned to Harry and I and asked us if the first two class IV rapids compared to the class IV rapids that we run on the Ocoee River in Tennessee--the response was NO! Truly, nothing in the East can compare to the West. After Staircase, we paddled toward the last rapid, Slalom. For me, Slalom was the most difficult rapid on the stretch, since I went down the entire rapid with an Ariel the Mermaid view. I flipped at the very top of the rapid and therefore spent the rest of the rapid upside-down attempting numerous times to hit my roll. I think I finally rolled back up on the 8th or so try. Good thing I am comfortable upside-down in my boat, because I was not about to swim down that rapid.
Harry and I decided to take on the South Fork once again the very next morning, and I am glad to say that I got to see Slalom rapid from a new perspective--an upright perspective. The second run was amazing; however, our third trip down was even better since we had a third student go with us. Max, the youngest of the five paddlers, got to run an abbreviated version of the South Fork, taking out just above Staircase. He bombed down Bronco Billy with a great big smile on his face, and enjoyed every second of the run.
Overall, the Lower South Fork of the Payette was a experience that I will never forget. I cannot wait to return to Idaho, so I can paddle this incredible stretch some more--three times is just not enough!
-Maggie

W.I.L.D Idaho Expedition by Max

For the past 3 days we have been on the South Fork of the Boise, rafting and kayaking and on the Hagerman-to-Bliss section of the snake . We used the big oar rafts to cary all our gear.  Sean and one other person were in the raft the whole time.  Kristin stayed in a kayak the whole time and every one else switched off from being in a kayak to raft the whole time. Harry was in the raft for the first part of the day. Then he switched with Maggie so she was in the raft for the second part of the day. We found a campsite which we stayed at for the night... it was really nice campsite.  We had a good dinner and then went and talked and did our 3 day forecast. We woke early the next morning  and packed up and got going on the raft. I was the first person on the raft with Sean that morning.  So then we got going down the river... I was in the raft for a little bit but Challis started to get a little spooked kayaking, so I switched with him and I was the person kayaking.  We went for a while and then ran down "Raspberry Rapid."  Megan did really good and then we got going we were finishing up the last part of the river were Megan was in the raft. Then we got to the take out, packed every thing up, and drove 3-4 hours to the Snake River, where we camped for the night.  We woke up early, packed up our gear, and drove to the put-in. Sean ran shuttle, literally running back to the put-in, and we got going the river was really good the waves were really good.  And then we got to the Bliss Wave, which made this section famous. It was AWESOME... the wave was huge and fun!

Later, Max

Grocery Shopping, by Megan

Yesterday was the halfway mark for our trip. It has flown by so quickly. We had to restock on food, and instead of Kristin and Sean picking out everything, they let us plan out our meals and do our own shopping. Everyone was allotted five dollars per person per day, for a total of thirty-five dollars. On the drive back to Boise from the Snake River, each student planned out three meals, figured out quantities needed, and came up with a price estimate. Before we came back to BSU, we stopped at Win-Co. We spent about an hour and a half shopping for groceries. It was exciting seeing all of us run around the grocery store trying to find obscure items on our menus. Eventually we all found everything, checked out, and headed back to the Outdoor Program. 

Even a task as simple as grocery shopping was a really eye-opening experience. Having a tight budget but still making sure to get enough to suffice everyone was more difficult than I had originally perceived. It definitely helped my leadership skills, and I think it helped everyone else as well.