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