Gradient & Water: Barny Checking in: BC classics and the Stikine!

After arriving in cali late this year I knew the plan would always be to head north towards BC. As always the local cali crew were awesome and it was great to meet up with all the crew ive been lucky to meet in ali over the years. Big shout out to Peacher for picking me up from the Airport! Early on myself and good buddy Will Pruett made plans to head towards BC and after loaded up his dodge ram. After some raging in reno we made way for the North for of the Payette.

Will in his pride and joy, no more breaking down

on the side of the road now.

Jah riding shotgun with the boys.

When you havnt been paddling for 2 months this run is great for kicking your ass quickly and getting you back in shape!! After 3 days here we made our way towards BC, here me and Will were lucky enough to bag some of the whistler classics including the Ashlu Box, Callaghan Creek and a 4wd mission into the sick Tatlow creek.

Will entering the Ashlu 'Box'

Barny getting his first lap of Tatlow Creek.

Van enjoying the taste of Tatlow.

On completion of this Will had work commitments in Cali and had to abandon ship early and the tough decision for me was to head back to the cali sunshine or stay in bc?? After a frantic hour of messaging at the Squamish McDonalds I decided the fire in my belly was to strong to head back to the cali sunshine yet and the eastcoast legends Van and Chance offered me a spot in there rig for a few days. BC it would be! That afternoon we had a sweet low water lap on the Calaghan followed by a whistler bender! For those of you that don't know whistler think Queenstown on steroids.

That night Pete lodge turned on some good kiwi hospitality and introduced me to his friends- Jules and Mathiu - sticking true to the quote "That partying is just as important a part of kayaking as paddling itself" I found out that the boys were heading to the Stikine the next day and the plan was made for them to pick me up of Pete's couch at 8am the next morning. Miraculously after a night of partying Mathiu awoke me at 8am and the stikine mission was on!

Ashlu Mine put in

After 30 + hours of driving and a stop on the way to warm up our big water muscles on the clear water we reached the stikine. If you havnt heard of it before the Stikine is considered one of the biggest and burliest runs in the world! Myself Jules, and Mathiu were lucky enough to spend 3 days descending this amazing canyon, The volume of water in the stikine and the intimidating nature of the canyon means the Stikine is considered, for good reason, one of the hardest rivers in the world. Sheer canyon walls line much of the Stikine's 80km length meaning there is only one way out and that's down.

Myself and the boys are heading back in for another lap of this amazing river tomorrow so I didn't have time to write much more but enjoy the photos from our first awesome trip!