Here we have Brian Randall golden stroking his way to Tennessee.
Stateline Falls, Watauga River

Watch out for that rain.  I heard it makes the rivers get all brown and inundated.

Peace,  Rob

As most everybody knows the Green Race is upon us.  Its the time of year to bust out your long boat, dust off those smack talking skills, and get out there and post your time.  Here are some shots to inspire/ remind/ intimidate/ etc. ya’ll now that we have almost reached the one week countdown.  Look for me at the lip of Gorilla to capture you during the race.  See ya’ll out there!

Toby McDermott doin what he does. Apparently he's done this a few times...

Chad Pickens gettin it done at Sunshine

The black and white is kinda cool, isn’t it?

Peace

Rob

Gene checking out the guide book on the drive up.

Jacob taking a break on the paddle in

Jacob getting some serious air at the first rapid: Applesauce

Gene in the middle of Gore Rapid

Looking upstream through the canyon

 About a week later, I headed up there again with some of the folks that I work with.  Keith Kirchner, my boss, has been a Gore guide for years, but wanted to get a practice run in before the season started up.  Here he is making it look good, and bad.  Carnage is awesome.  

Gore Rapid

More Gore Rapid

This is when it gets good…

Tunnel Falls

Everyone enjoys a good dump

Keith ended staying under for quite a while. All was good though.

Well, I’m signing out from the West.  Hopefully I will see ya’ll soon on the rivers of the Southeast.

Peace

(All Photos: Rob Hurst)

Welcome to New Mexico

Last wednesday, Nate Elliott, Mark Miller, Rob Hurst and I loaded up Grace’s brand new truck and hit the road. After rigging some bomber racks onto the truck and figuring out how to squeeze 5 people’s gear, a pa system, jumbotron, and hundred or so DVD’s into the truck we were ready to go kayaking.



Our destination was the Rio Embudo, which we knew little about other than Atom Crawford was hosting a race and party there and it was supposed to be a killer run. 25 Hours later we found Atom’s place at the takeout, just in time to tag along with a group down the river.



The Embudo is 6-7 miles of continuous, tight class V in a beautiful granite gorge in the middle of nowhere. If that’s your game, be sure to check it out sometime. Big waves, holes, and curlers keep you booking down the gorge at a steady pace.



The river picks up pace as you continue downstream finishing in a small gorge with some sturdy rapids.



Saturday, Atom and some other local boaters organized the first ever, unofficial, annual Embudo Team Race. 3 people had to race as a team down the river, first team to the bottom wins. High water reduced the field to two teams. Tons of spectators hiked in to catch a piece of the action in the crux of the run, a rapid called Slots of Fun. Fun it was. The crowds were delighted with lines both smooth and terrifying all day.



Evan Ross, Tim Kelton, and Rolf Kelly from the first team pulled away with the win and some nice lines through the slots, both fast and slow. Tim displayed his more reckless side, but Rolf was by his side to keep an eye on him. On a side note, Rolf stepped up to race after fighting a bout of food poisoning all night but managed to vomit only once in the race. Props to the second team as well, Oliver Deschler, Kyle McKutchon, and Luke Pennington worked hard but didn’t quite come through fast enough. Here are some more pictures:

Kyle tapping in to some laminar flow.

Grace posing for the camera.

That evening, Atom hosted a great party complete with raffle, awards, and jumbotron screening of the day’s action. More on that later, we’re going kayaking…

A good party indeed.

Grace and his famous Jumbotron

The Winners: Rolf, TK, Evan, and Atom

Winding down.

Photos: Rob Hurst