This year's trip out west began like they all do, with a long drive through the night, across the flat plains in the middle of the country. With a dismal snow pack in the PNW and California, our sights were set on Colorado again this year. John Kern and I made the normally 22-hour drive from Chattanooga to Buena Vista in a surprisingly fast 21 hours and were ready to get on the water. After our all night drive we were operating on almost no sleep, so we decided to paddle Browns Canyon of the Arkansas River, thinking that despite the record high water it would still fit the bill as a not-too-threatening warm up run. I had never run Browns Canyon before, but reading the guidebook describe it as the best class III run it the state... it certainly seemed like it could only be made better with extra flow. It was true! At 5200 CFS Browns Canyon was a big water freight train headed downstream in a hurry. The whole run didn't take long at all and despite being more challenging than we expected we were both impressed by the quality big-water feel to this normally Class III run. It was certainly not Class III at that flow!
Below: Adam Goshorn heading down Clear Creek on a different day at a much lower water level. Photo by John Kern
On our second day in Colorado, John and I met up with a friend of mine from Alabama, Kyle Clark, who now lives in Colorado. We met up in BV and then headed up to Clear Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas River, my favorite run in the area. It too was running higher than the recommended maximum, but having run it at a variety of levels over the past decade I felt like it would be fine with our crew. Below is the helmet cam video of our run. As usual, the
helmet cam angle flattens out the prospective considerably and does not do
justice to how continuous and full-on this run is at high water.
While Clear Creek is usually a run that lends itself to multiple laps in a day, on this day, after the first one we all agreed that is was a high quality run, but the level resulted in no practical way to keep an eye on each other or to stop if there had been log or other hazard. "That was fun, but not safe!" -everyone
Below: Adam Goshorn running the low water line on the first drop of Cable Falls on one of several snowy days on Little River Canyon early in the spring. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
The spring of 2015 was not a high water year in and around north Alabama, but luckily for those of us who live here, below average spring rain is still better than most places anyway. The ever reliable Little River Canyon (LRC) stayed at runnable levels almost nonstop from December to April and provided consistent, high quality paddling between the few bigger rain events that we did have. When the rains did come we were able to take advantage, getting some great days on a variety of great creeks and some hucks off Little River Falls, our local favorite.
Below: A compilation of shots from of a variety of runs friends and I paddled from February to April of 2015. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
Below: Adam Goshorn in the run-out below Mr. Bubbles on Little River Canyon just as the leaves were starting to come out. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
Until Next Time...
Adam Goshorn
Below: Hiking in for a solo lap on the Upper Two section of Little River Canyon. Photo by Tom MacMichael.
Below: Santa! Photo by Ruby Compton. Photo by Ruby Compton[/caption]
For the fifth time in six years, in December 2014 I found myself climbing into a Pyranha boat and sliding into the waters of the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona. Previously I've paddled the Grand Canyon with raft-support in an Everest, Burn II, and Shiva; and one self-support trip in the Fusion. This time around my boat of choice was the Burn III, which I have been loving ever since it came out, although, this would be my first chance to paddle it in big-water rapids on a high volume river like the Colorado!
Below: A compilation of video from our trip, edited by Adam Goshorn.
Below: A storm brewing, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: New school meets old school deep in the Grand Canyon, photo by Charlie Mix.
Below: One of a million side hikes, photo by Ruby Compton.
Below: Another day of floating through a geology lesson, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: North Canyon Camp, night two, photo by Blake Burks.
Below: Mandatory visit to the graineries, photo by Adam Goshorn.
Below: Late afternoon mirror imaging, photo by Adam Goshorn.
Below: The upside to rain in the Grand Canyon are the rainbows, photo by Ruby Compton.
Below: Redwall jumpshot, photo by Adam Goshorn.
Below: Blue skies and brown water, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: Deer creek magic, photo by Adam Goshorn.
Below: Another camp... another awesome sunset, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: Ledges camp, deep in the ditch, photo by Ruby Compton.
Below: Another rainy days means another rainbow, photo by Ruby Compton.
Below: Talking Heads Camp, across from Teapeats Creek, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: Our Christmas Tree all lit up. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
Below: Watching the sunset with Diamond Peak in the background, photo by Shannon Goshorn.
Below: Life and death in the ditch, photo by Evan Alfano.
Below: Adam Goshorn on Short Creek, photo by Shannon Goshorn
Fresh off a winter Grand Canyon trip, I probably should be working on sorting pictures and video from that trip. However, ever since I arrived back to my home the opportunities for great boating have kept me happily distracted! The XL Burn III was awesome in the big water of the Grand Canyon and really shines back home creeking too! The past few weeks have included lots of runs down our local favorite Little River Canyon at a variety of levels ranging from 250 CFS to 7,000 CFS. We've also gotten runs on Short Creek, Tellico River, Upper Teddy Bear and Lower Teddy Bear.
Below: Adam Goshorn blasting through holes in Little River Canyon, photo by Ben Bernhard
Below: A mixture of footage from the past few weeks here on Lookout Mountain. Be sure to set the resolution up to 720 for best viewing!
Below: my wife, Shannon Goshorn, boofing her way down Short Creek, photos by Adam Goshorn
Below: Jerrod Jones ripping a boof on Short Creek Falls, photos by Shannon Goshorn
Below: Jerrod Jones on Grotto Falls, photo by Adam Goshorn
Until next time...
-Adam Goshorn
Below: Adam Goshorn in the XL Burn III in Little River Canyon at a healthy flow, photo by Ben Bernhard
