Photographer Steve Lapenske took this photo of me on my new jag on the Green River Cleanup. That big black mass over my right shoulder is a bag of garbage. Bring it on!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Marsh Creek in less than two weeks!
My first experience with Marsh Creek is now less than two weeks away, with launch scheduled for May 24th. It will be ten guys and nine catarafts for 5 nights on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, and then move on to the Lochsa for a couple days. About 10 days total. This trip should make for some great photos with 9 cats on the beach at each camp. I really can hardly wait. Not only will this be the first time I’ve been on the Middle Fork in a couple years, but the whole Marsh Creek experience, launching from the highway bridge, and running Dagger Falls, etc. Just a lot of adventure to look forward to.
The flow will be anybody’s guess. The Middle Fork is currently running between 4-5 on the lodge gauge, with a big snow-pack still left to come off. I only hope with the hot weather predicted this week in Seattle that it doesn’t go completely sky-high like it did in 2006 at the time we launch. I don’t want my first Marsh Creek/Dagger experience to be at 9’. But a good peak between now and when we launch might clean out some of the wood from last year’s fires. But then again, that wood could get plugged up at Pistol Creek. My fingers are crossed big-time. It will be an adventure, for sure.
This is not the trip I was thinking I was going to take. The first one (actually several back-to-back) fell apart a week ago due to the permit holder’s health problem. So thankfully I got invited on this other Middle Fork trip. I’m doing a little packing almost every night. There are always lots of little projects to do for the first trip of the year. For instance, last year we had some problems with our huge kitchen shelter (“Big Top 440” model). The shelter would lift off the 10’ oar we used as the center pole in wind gusts. So we started jacking the oar up off the ground on a stack of ammo cans and such to lift the shelter higher and in doing so, create more tension and down-force. So this weekend I cut up an old Carlisle oar blade, and glued it into about a 4.5’ piece of ABS tubing. Should work pretty slick; remove the blade from that center oar, insert this thing, it snaps into place like the blade, and presto, a 14’ center pole! ABS doesn’t weight very much. But it looks kind of goofy – I’m gonna call it the ‘null blade’. Snap it onto your oar shaft and you can row in circles forever!
The flow will be anybody’s guess. The Middle Fork is currently running between 4-5 on the lodge gauge, with a big snow-pack still left to come off. I only hope with the hot weather predicted this week in Seattle that it doesn’t go completely sky-high like it did in 2006 at the time we launch. I don’t want my first Marsh Creek/Dagger experience to be at 9’. But a good peak between now and when we launch might clean out some of the wood from last year’s fires. But then again, that wood could get plugged up at Pistol Creek. My fingers are crossed big-time. It will be an adventure, for sure.
This is not the trip I was thinking I was going to take. The first one (actually several back-to-back) fell apart a week ago due to the permit holder’s health problem. So thankfully I got invited on this other Middle Fork trip. I’m doing a little packing almost every night. There are always lots of little projects to do for the first trip of the year. For instance, last year we had some problems with our huge kitchen shelter (“Big Top 440” model). The shelter would lift off the 10’ oar we used as the center pole in wind gusts. So we started jacking the oar up off the ground on a stack of ammo cans and such to lift the shelter higher and in doing so, create more tension and down-force. So this weekend I cut up an old Carlisle oar blade, and glued it into about a 4.5’ piece of ABS tubing. Should work pretty slick; remove the blade from that center oar, insert this thing, it snaps into place like the blade, and presto, a 14’ center pole! ABS doesn’t weight very much. But it looks kind of goofy – I’m gonna call it the ‘null blade’. Snap it onto your oar shaft and you can row in circles forever!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Aire Jaguarundi is quite a boat!
Floated the Green River Gorge last Saturday as part of the Green River Cleanup. Lots of people, lots of rafts, and lots of fun. I've floated the gorge about 30 times in the last 10 years and it's a treat every time, rain or shine. The new Jag was a kick too; a great addition to my boat collection. Mine is the new, improved ( 2007+) model. It tracks much better than my 14X24 Sotar, and even surfs better. Not quite as fast to spin, but that's to be expected due to the 16X24 size. The new hull shape and rocker make it a very sweet ride.
This was the try-out for running the Jag with my old frame (a 12-year old Ron McLay design) as I will be running this configuration in a couple weeks on the Middle Fork. So I tried out both 10' and 8.5' oars during the run. Both had advantages, but I think I'll take the 10 footers when running with a load. I can't say enough about the Jag. I'm just very glad to have it, and just pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.
This was the try-out for running the Jag with my old frame (a 12-year old Ron McLay design) as I will be running this configuration in a couple weeks on the Middle Fork. So I tried out both 10' and 8.5' oars during the run. Both had advantages, but I think I'll take the 10 footers when running with a load. I can't say enough about the Jag. I'm just very glad to have it, and just pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.
Friday, May 2, 2008
The white water rivers website
So my most recent website, www.whitewaterraftingrivers.com is a test-bed. I really much prefer Google Earth, but the Google Maps API allows me to host and interact with it from a website. The site is a good way to try out some user experience ideas that may make their way into the rewrite of the campsites website. While I make my living in the Microsoft world, I’m pretty disappointed with their Virtual Earth effort in comparison to Google Earth. Unfortunately, Google Earth is a COM app and, being a .NET bigot, I’d prefer to not ever have to work with COM again. Plus, Google Earth installs locally and, while you can feed it a KML file full of waypoints, the user experience is all about Google Earth. I want to have the map be a part of the experience, rather than the whole enchilada.
So, until the right solution comes along, I’m content to just assemble the waypoints for all these rivers and post them, visually, on the rivers website. I do like the terrain maps feature of Google Maps with the topographic lines appearing as you zoom in. But Google Earth is still the cool way to go - the goal to strive for. Maybe I’ll stumble into a way to have my cake and eat it too. In any case, I’m grateful to the folks who have been sending me waypoints for the rivers website. Once again, it’s a community effort. Having sites like this benefit us all as we explore the rivers of the west.
Having noted that I’m a big Microsoft fan, the irony is that I’m very impressed with Apple and Steve Jobs. I started my career long ago working on TRS-80 and then Apple II computers. I was a Mac guy long before I was a Windows guy. So it’s interesting to once again be a big fan of Apple (and glad I bought some stock at $125 earlier this winter). I can’t wait for June with the promise of a new 3G iPhone.
Next up, what’s it take to build a new raft frame? I'll go through my thought-process in coming up with the design for my new frame, and show some photos. And tomorrow is the Green River Cleanup and my first trip down the gorge with my new Aire Jaguarundi tubes. Weather should be fine, but the water level remains the question (every year).
So, until the right solution comes along, I’m content to just assemble the waypoints for all these rivers and post them, visually, on the rivers website. I do like the terrain maps feature of Google Maps with the topographic lines appearing as you zoom in. But Google Earth is still the cool way to go - the goal to strive for. Maybe I’ll stumble into a way to have my cake and eat it too. In any case, I’m grateful to the folks who have been sending me waypoints for the rivers website. Once again, it’s a community effort. Having sites like this benefit us all as we explore the rivers of the west.
Having noted that I’m a big Microsoft fan, the irony is that I’m very impressed with Apple and Steve Jobs. I started my career long ago working on TRS-80 and then Apple II computers. I was a Mac guy long before I was a Windows guy. So it’s interesting to once again be a big fan of Apple (and glad I bought some stock at $125 earlier this winter). I can’t wait for June with the promise of a new 3G iPhone.
Next up, what’s it take to build a new raft frame? I'll go through my thought-process in coming up with the design for my new frame, and show some photos. And tomorrow is the Green River Cleanup and my first trip down the gorge with my new Aire Jaguarundi tubes. Weather should be fine, but the water level remains the question (every year).
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