Grand Canyon of the Elwa

The Grand Canyon of the Elwa is an amazing Wilderness run on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. The 8.5 mile hike-in keeps the pretenders away and if that does not work then the knowledge that almost everything in there that is class V is must run and scouting is VERY limited. With all this in mind Peter Westman and Myself headed out there in hope of the goods... and we got it.

Peter on the Hike in

My ghetto rig - worse than the Upper Cherry rig

Me sitting at the campsite

Me boofing the entrance into 'Eskimo Pie'

Scouting the drop above nightmare

Me running the entrance into Landslide

Myself running 'Landslide'

The Grand Canyon on the Elwa is pretty awesome. The hike in is not too bad, the scenery throughout the whole run is amazing and the whitewater is pretty hard and really consistent. Known to be a trip done by walking in one day and paddling out another I would suggest walking in early and paddling out the same day. Get it done.

.

Washington - Local Seattle Runs

Since Upper Cherry I went to the High Sierra Music Festival, travelled to Oregon where I paddled the Miracle Mile and stayed with Dan, and then climbed Mt Adams. Climbing Mt Adams put me in hospital as I did not have sufficient (any) eye protection. Anyway, since then I got over the pain and back into my boat to get onto some of the less known local runs of the Seattle area. Peter Westman was my 'guide' and also let me couch surf for the week. Here are some shots of the runs we done, Fall in the Wall, Robe Canyon and the Upper Tye. Enjoy

Fall in the Wall -

Peter running the Fall in the Wall entrance 20footer

Me on the 20 footer - I got SUPER flat

Peter running where I told him to - he done well considering...

Robe Canyon - South Fork of the Stillaguamish River

Peter running down blind

Me on the lead in to 'sunsine'

Peter on the lead in to 'sunshine'

Me making 'sunshine' look easy

Peter not so much - but we both avoided 'swimming into the lake'

My favourite drop of the day - that hole was SCARY

Me entering lower landslide

Showing Peter the line he should have run

Happy days on the river

Upper Tye - Tye River

Peter on the drop below Log-Jam Falls

Me on the same drop - you can just see my new white helemt

Me paddling on the dark side

Peter entering 'Paranoia'

Peter about to launch over the beefy log-infested hole.

Peter on the 'staireway to heavan'

Me running the first drop on the second run.

These are three great manageable class V runs that are definitely worth paddling if you are in the area while they are flowing. Classic Washington boating for sure.

High Sierra - Upper Cherry Creek

This trip was probably the most impressive, demanding and worthwhile of my life. Starting a hike early in the morning with a 90pound kayak, due to having to carry camping gear and food for three days, and covering the 11miles along Kibbie Ridge in 8hours to finally arrive at Lord Meadow Lake. From there, we would kayak two full on days back to civilization.

The view from the trailhead

Get your ghetto rig out

Kayaks are so photogenic

We even had Jesus (dan) with us

The granite was amazing but hot to walk on in the final two miles

Absolutely amazing

Camp for night one, never camp here the Mozzys are horrible

Peter and I tried to hide from the Mozzys on dusk by hiking.

My amazing mexican hat... people in Groveland didnt recognize me without it

Tight granite... loving it

Making sure I get right and away from the cave

Some nice tea cups in the first gorge

Me sleeping under my kayak at lunch on the first day of kayaking

Tea cups leading into Flintstone Camp

Scouting Cherry Bomb Gorge

Double drop just below a 30 footer

Get some

Tommy leading the way

Dan and Peter blue-angels style

Entrance into the final gorge

Dan right behind me

Dan said it went... and it did

Giving some hand signals

The team Me, Dan, Tom and Peter. We didnt get a lot of photos as we had no idea how long each day was going to take but you can still get an idea of how amazing it was in there. Best trip of our lives... hands down... tits up... flip it down.