An Ecuadorian New Year

Mikel Carr and I had almost nonexistent plans for a short Ecuador trip in late December 2019 and the first few days of 2020.  I say “almost nonexistent” because we really did nothing except buy plane tickets and set up a ride from the airport... but beyond that, we had done no planning. This is my normal MO at all. Sometimes I can be an over-planner and an over-packer, in part because I take comfort in knowing I am prepared. However, this trip was the opposite. We knew we had other friends whose time there would overlap with ours and we were ready to follow their lead and just go with the flow (pun intended). 

Luckily for us, my friends Drew Armstrong and Samanthan Brunner were going to be there for most of our trip.  Drew had spend alot of time in Ecuador over 9 different trips and another good fiend Mark Kieran was living in Tena at the time and had offered to show us around a bit in that area.  The whole trip was a whirlwind and was over before we knew it. Looking back at the footage I realized there were several runs I had no footage of at all and the whole experience seemed like a quick glance at the country, the culture, and the rivers. We certainly have a lot more to learn and experience and the only solution is a return trip, hopefully for a longer stay this time. 

I certainly owe a special thanks to Drew and Mark for sharing their knowledge of Ecuador and showing us the lines… on and off the water.  You guys really made the trip as good as it was and I can't thank you enough!

Until Next Time...

Adam Goshorn

A Dominican Thanksgiving

Below: Mark splatting below the big drop on the Upper Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

In November of 2019, John Kern, Margaret Mlynarska, Mark Kieran, and I headed to teh Caribbean for a week of Creeking around the mountain town of Jaragacoa in the Dominican Republic.  Despite our short timeframe of only 9 total days for the trip, we enjoyed a great week of warm weather, good food, and awesome paddling!

Below: Margaret on the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: John on the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Margaret Mlynarska.

Below: Mark on the Upper Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Mark on the Upper Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Video from our trip compiled from footage shot by John Kern and I.

Until Next Time...

Adam Goshorn

Below: Mark splatting on the Upper Rio Jimenoa.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Colorado Fam Jam 2020

Below: Tight meanders on the East River downstream of the whitewater section and upstream of Crested Butte.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

It was a trip that was years in the making.  Since Lulu was born in 2016, Shannon and I had been talking about how to travel as a family and specifically how I could do padding trips that would allow the family to come too.  In the summer of 2019 it finally came together.  We bought a camper in May and planned out a three-week trip to Colorado.  Shannon, Lulu and I would drive out together and after the first two weeks they would fly home.  My brother was able to join me for the final week of boating and then we would drive back across the country together.  As a bonus, our friends Ouzal and Darcy were going to join us for a week as well.

Below: Our campsite in Crested Butte.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Sliding down Daisy Creek.  Photo by Darcy Johnson

Below: Lulu spotting "SNOW!" Photo by Adam Goshorn

Below: Local artist jamming out at camp.  Photo by Adam Goshorn

Below: The view from our campsite outside of Buena Vista.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Ouzal hiking out after a high water run on the Upper East River. Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Ouzal on the Slate River.  Photos by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Ouzal on Big Wood Falls on Daisy Creek.  Photo by Darcy Johnson.

Below:  Shannon and Lulu wading in Lake Wilson.  Photo by Adam Goshorn

Below: Shannon and Lulu high atop Independance Pass on our drive to Aspen to run the Roaring Fork.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: Vitaly testing the fit while outfitting my Machno for himself to paddle for our final week in Co.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Below: I didn't shoot much video on this trip, but I did get enough footage to put together a little tour of Daisy Creek.  Filmed and edited by Adam Goshorn.

Until Next Time...

-adam

Below: A selfie by Shannon of our family on the day we departed for Colorado.  The first of hopefully many many trips together.

kayak session

Cali Quickie 2019

All photos by Emily Raville.  Thanks Emily!

Like most years, the natural progression of spring 2019 led to local water levels dropping throughout April and being dismally low in May.  Dam released runs around the southeast keep us entertained and sharp as we started cooking up plans for summer travel to chase snow melt in the western US.  A plan for a three week trip to CO in July was coming together nicely, but a couple old friends and I were also kicking around the idea of a reunion of sorts for early June in one of my favorite paddling towns, Kernville, CA.

I had spent some time in Kernville on multiple previous trips either to run various sections of the Kern River itself or getting laps on the classic bedrock playgroud of Brush Creek, a tributary of the Kern.  As a paddling destination, the Kern River drainage is a little weird in the fact that if you are there when Brush Creek is running at a good level, the Kern itself is likely to be very high and most of the classic sections above recommended levels.  However, if you are there later in the runoff when a lot of the sections of the Kern are at more ideal flows, Brush Creek is almost certainly low and likely too low.

With the huge snow pack from the winter of 2018-2019 it seemed like we were finally going to get our chance to catch Brush Creek with really good flows.  We only had a week in June when we could go, so with fingers crossed we bought plane tickets and put the plan in motion.  The gamble paid off with a week of laps on perhaps the friendliest 350 FPM creek anywhere!  Over our time there Brush had consistent flows between 3.75 and 4.5 feeding our souls with granit goodness and just enough push to keep our focus.

 Until Next Time...

Adam Goshorn

kayak session