West Cherry - All good things come to an end

In 2008, while on Upper Cherry, I noticed some cascading drops coming in on river right halfway through day two... little did I know this was the "not so but should be classic - West Cherry Creek. With the beta from Josh Hill and some uncanny fortune that seen the A-Team, less the Postman unfortunately, come together... I was walking into West Cherry with great enthusiasm knowing this was going to be my last trip in California for 2010! Flows were a little low but what it took away on day one, it gave back on day two because me and Shannon knew our way down from the confluence and the flow was perfect to run everything.


- Us failing to find the trail head the first time (P. Barny)


- Soaking it all in (P. Barny)


- The Canon (P. Barny)


- Loving one of my last granite slides (P. Snarley)


- Barny on Chuck's Drop (I think) (P. Snarley)


- Snarly on it (P. Barny)


- Me keeping it straight (P. Barny)


- The final boof out of Chucks (P. Barny)


- One for mum ay (P. Barny)


- Pot hole boofs! (P. Snarley)


- Snarley... being snarley (P. Barny)


- Daan featuring in the final gorge, great flow (P. Snarley)


- Yeah... that how we roll! (P. Amazingly kind boat owners!)

What a fitting end to the trip really. Throughout the hole trip things really fell into place logistically in terms of flows, people turning up and pretty much just everything. With the exception of Fantasy Falls, Barny and I pretty much got everything that we were hoping to get and much more. 49 to Bridgeport, Purdons to Bridgeport, Upper Middle Consumes, Devils Canyon of the Middle Feather, Yuba Gap, Little White Salmon, North Fork of the Clackamas, South Branch of the Feather, Kimshew through Secret Stash, Upper Summit Run, South Mecred, Golden Gate, Royal Gorge, Dinky Creek, Hospital Rock, East Kaweah, West Cherry... some of which we got a few runs down AND I am sure I have forgotten to mention a few! This has just made us even more hungry for cali granite and there is already a plan for a 2-3 week stop over on our way to Norway next year. Now its time to be a tourist in Europe before heading back to NZ for a big summer there. Watch this space


- A-Team Salute!!!

East Kaweah

Last time I was in the states I missed out on this gem, much to my distaste. This year, however, I was fortunate enough to get in there with a great flow (some people thought it was a bit too high). A good friend of mine got a nasty beatdown in double drop and elected to walk out early in the day, which left Barny, Daan, Taylor and myself... a good team, with good lines and an amazing day!


- Barny on double drop (P. Jordy)


- Taylor on the East Kaweah stout (P. Jordy)


- Barny waiting for it (P. Jordy)


- Daan doing it for the cameras (P. Jordy)


- Me about to get it (P. Barny)


- "Barny Young the Preachers Son" (P. Jordy)


- Taylor Havin' a good time (P. Jordy)


- Banry dropping into the Gorge of the Slides (P. Jordy)


- Stout little gorge drop, so good (P. Barny)


- Daangerous Daan (P. Barny)


- Barny showing off his photography skills (P. Barny)


- Hey! Look at Daan boof (P. Barny)

With pretty good access and a reasonable flow window this is a sick run. I would go in higher but am also gutted we didnt get to run triple drop. Moral of the story is go to Three Rivers, paddle the East Fork and Hospital Rock and go bear hunting!!!


- Mumma Bear! (P. Jordy)

Dinkey Creek - Waterfalls Section

Well the name of this run sum it up really... waterfalls! Plenty of clean waterfalls over 6 miles, in one of the coolest places I have paddled. Once you've got the shuttle sorted, thanks Airika and Katie, you have a 45 minutes hike (try do it faster) down to the put in. Due to a fast pace and fading light, thats what putting on at 4.45pm does, we didnt get many photos of day one's bigger drops but I tell you its all good! Here are some of the photos of our trip.


- Me sorting out some foot issues on the hike. (P. Barny)


- Brendon on the first slide... welcome to cali! (P. Jordy)


- Barny firing a shallow drop (P. Jordy)


- Me running the clean 20 footer (P. Barny)


- Portaging is always interesting (P. Barny)


- me running the most stout drop on day one (P. Barny)


- me running the drop right before camp (P. Barny)


- Just chilling at camp


- Snarly early on day two (P. Jordy)


- Barny firing it up (P. Jordy)


- Coming in hot (P. Barny)


- B and Snarley in the gorge, such a sweet section (P. Barny)


- Barny rocking the old school werner (P. Jordy)


- Me boofing into the gorge (P. Snarly)


- Snarly entering the crap shoot (P. Jordy)


- Snarly and Barny running as B put it, "the cleanest waterfall you'll ever see" (P. Jordy)


- B running a sweet slide (P. Barny)

This run is pretty damn good. Not super hard but just a whole lot of fun, definately not a thing to miss if its in while your in Cali.

Back to Royal... this time with the Canon

With my lost post you can gather how much I like this run. This time the water was a lot lower (boo) but we recruited Shannon the Canon who was all fired up. After testing the structural integrity of AT paddles (failed twice), we made our way down in very good time running the same drops we did last time and the Canon fired Heath Two and Snarley and Shanon ran Wabena. Here are some photos from the trip, much less camera work this time... more routing. Enjoy.


- Me on Heath One (P. Barny)


- The postman (P. Barny)


- The Canon on Heath Two (P. Barny)


- My view of the pre-cave drop (P. Jordy)


- Snarley on Rattlesnake (P. Barny)


- The Canon on Rattlesnake (P. Jordy)


- Snarley coming into Wabena (P. Barny)


- Pre-paddle ditch (P. Jordy)


- The A-Team stoked on Royal (P. Jordy)

There is a big week ahead with heaps of things flowing in Cali... watch this space