Caribbean Creeking: Dominican Republic 2017

Below: The swinging bridge at the take out for the Upper Rio Jimenoa, which is also the put in for the Staircase Section. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

With a 10,000 foot peak in the middle of the island, there is plenty of gradient to be had in the Dominican Republic.  It just takes rain to bring the mountain streams to life and turn it into a paddler’s paradise. Since my first trip there in 2015, I’ve wanted make it back and in December of 2017, Matthew Beauchamp, Spence Hall, Sarah Koering, Sam Roy and I headed down for a quick trip.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp, photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp, photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp, photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp, photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: The video from our time in the Dominican Republic in December of 2017.  Filmed by everyone in the group and edited by Adam Goshorn.

Until Next Time…

-adam

San Luis Potosi, Mexico - November 2017

In November of 2017 several friends and I headed down to San Luis Potosi, Mexico to forget about winter and live the good-life for a while. It was my 10th time traveling to the region to paddle over the previous 13 years, but the warm water, clean waterfalls, and awesome food in San Luis Potosi never get old and being able to drive down from the southeastern U.S. makes it by far the cheapest tropical paddling destination.  Check out my favorite 10 photos and the video from our trip!

Below: Christine and John at the put in for the Rio Minas Viejas. Photo by Darcy Johnson.

Below: Chandler running the rowdiest rapid on the Minas Viejas. Photo by Christine Vogler.

Below: Christine on the same drop, shot from downstream. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Chandler approaching Cascada de Tamul, the take-out for the Rio Santa Maria.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Chandler dropping into a twisting rapid in the second canyon of the Rio Verde. Photo by Christine Vogler.

Christine hucking and tucking on the largest drop in the second canyon of the Rio Verde. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Adam Goshorn boofing over the hole at Nemo on the Salto Section of the Rio Valles.  Photo by Christine Boush.

Below: Adam Goshorn at the lip of El Trampolin on the Salto Section of the Rio Valles. Photo by Christine Vogler.

Below: Chandler running the signature drop on the Salto Section of the Rio Valles. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Chandler running the put-in drop on the classic Cascadas Micos section of the Rio Valles. Photo by Christine Vogler.

Below: Enjoy these video highlights from our trip and be sure to stick around to see a little carnage after the credits!

Until Next Time…

Adam Goshorn

Summer 2017

Summer means a chance to chase snow melt in the western US and usually means returning home to a fairly predictable rotation of dam-released runs in the southeastern US.  However, summer 2017 surprised me with local rain and natural flow before, between, and after my various western travels.  It was so great, in fact, that it was the middle of August before I had to start frequenting dam released runs.

The first western trip of Summer 2017 started with Brandon Dale and I heading to Moab, Utah for a good friend's wedding.  On the way we were able to slip in a run down Straight Canyon on Cottonwood Creek, a run neither of us knew much about, but it was on our way driving from Vegas to Moab so we stopped and checked it out.  Despite the remote location and desolate road, we lucked out being able to hitch-hike shuttle with a couple fisherman and enjoyed 8 miles of fun read-and-run.

After a fun time reuniting with old friends in Moab, we busted out an 11 hour drive to Kernville, California, picking up Josh Huber from the Vegas airport along the way.  Once in Kernville, we me up with Mikel Carr, Jason Bordwine, and Daniel White to camp and paddle for the rest of the week.  Over the course of four days we did 10 laps as the level dropped from 2.75 to 2.0 over the course of the week. This video is a compilation of footage from those 4 days, but most of the up-close, river-level shots were taken on the last day with the level around 2.0. The video features the first two thirds of the run and shows the rapids in order.

After a couple weeks at home, HP Dave, Jerrod Jones, Ouzal Hinz, Cameron Mitchell and I headed out to Colorado to take advantage of the remaining snow melt. We drove 23-hours straight to get there, paddled seven days in a row, and drove 23 hours straight come home. Over the course of those seven days we did 14 runs on nine different sections. Here are some highlights from a few of the runs we paddled.

Until Next Time...

-adam goshorn

Spring 2017

Below: When the water is high enough, the spout on the dam at Lake Lahusage on the East Fork of the Little River makes a nice park and huck.

Spring of 2017 was a great one for paddlers in North Alabama with ample rainfall relatively warm temperatures.  When my new Pyranha Machno arrived I was able to paddle it for eight days straight on several different local rivers and creeks at a variety of water levels.  It quickly became obvious where there was so much buzz surrounding this design and it has become my go-to boat for anything new or pushing my limits ever since.  Here is a little compiliation of footage from my first week in the Machno!

There was so much good local boating in the spring of 2017 it was hard to even keep up with the media side of things, hence why I'm playing catch up now.  However, I did manage to put together a little Spring Wrap Up video featuring some of the more obscure local runs that most people don't even know exist.

Until Next Time...

-adam

Below: Lining up the big boof on the second tier of the put-in falls on the West Fork of the Little River.

kayak session

Winter 2016-2017

After the painfully long local drought in the second half of 2016, the new year started off great with plenty of water around Lookout Mountain.  January 3, 2017 Little River Canyon reached a great level for LRC Falls and we headed out for a huck with some other friends along to shoot photos. 

After an impressive 10 years in production, it was announced that production of the Pyranha Everest would stop at the end of 2016.  In a time when most models of whitewater boats are replaced or redesigned every few years, a decade long production run just goes to show how awesome and loved the Everest was among paddlers world wide.  It was certainly my primary creekboat for many years and while more modern designs have eclipsed it, I wanted to take it out for one final spin before retiring mine for good.  In January of 2017 it had easily been over two years since I had paddled an Everest.  I met my friend HP Dave at a local favorite, Johnnies creek for a couple of laps.

January and February of 2017 were especially good for kayakes as warm weather and good rain events combined to give lots of opportunities for paddling.  I fished the first two month of the year with 26 days on the water on a variety of runs all within 30 minutes of my house, it just doesn't' get any better.  One of my local favorites, Teddy Bear, ran much more often than normal and I put together this little video of some of my favorite rapids.

Until Next Time...

-adam

kayak session